Live To Tape

Jeffrey L. L. Diamond

Jul 2017 · Page Publishing Inc

About this ebook

Ethan Benson has no idea his life is about to change forever when he walks through the door of The Weekly Reporter where he's starting a new job as a senior producer, charged with managing the show's mercurial anchorman. As he settles in on his first day, he's summoned by the executive producer and assigned to a story about a rich heart surgeon who's confessed to the salacious murder of a young runaway he picked up on the gritty streets of a South Boston combat zone. At first, the story appears to be a random sex crime: the case two years old, the investigation long wrapped and mothballed, the killer convicted and locked away for the rest of his life. But as Ethan begins exploring the facts and meeting the principal characters, he unravels a sinister conspiracy by law enforcement officials, a pervasive cover-up driven by money, greed, and fear, and a dark secret hidden by the maniacal killer for decades. Steeped in the nuances of television production, Ethan takes the reader on a fast-paced journey through the underbelly of society using every skill at his fingertips to uncover the truth, while fighting his own inner demons in a bottle of Scotch. A true thriller, Live to Tape paints a raw, inside picture of broadcasting with its infighting and backstabbing that will keep readers asking for more.

About the author

 Jeffrey L. Diamond is an award-winning producer with forty years of experience in television news. His career began in the early 1970s at ABC News where he produced at Special Events, Weekend News, and World News Tonight, before moving to the weekly newsmagazine, 20/20. His body of work includes breaking news specials, major news-maker interviews, entertainment profiles, investigative reports on consumer products, and hundreds of crime stories. During his long career, he collaborated with some of the biggest names in the business—with anchors Barbara Walters, Charles Gibson, and Stone Phillips and correspondents Tom Jarriel, Lynn Sherr, and Deborah Roberts. After taking a break from storytelling in 1991, Mr. Diamond embarked on a decade-long journey as an executive producer—managing broadcast, cable, and syndicated programming. He created Dateline NBC in the early 1990s, ran Martha Stewart Living Television in the mid-1990s, and launched Judith Regan Television in the late 1990s. As a show runner, he oversaw million-dollar budgets; supervised hundreds of producers, writers, directors, editors, and camera crews; and planned the creative content of his programming. Mr. Diamond returned to his roots during the final decade of his career, devoting all his creative energies to producing stories, once again, for 20/20. He’s been nominated for dozens of journalism awards and has won six national Emmy Awards, two Dupont-Columbia Awards, one Peabody Award, one National Press Club Consumer Journalism Award, two CINE Golden Eagle Awards, and countless others. Mr. Diamond lives in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, where he writes the Ethan Benson crime series. A graduate of Lehigh University, he’s married, has two sons, a daughter-in-law, two grandchildren, and a golden retriever named Bailey.