Peabody winner rejects award for Pol Pot story
May 18, 1998
AP Online
05-18-1998
NEW YORK (AP) _ Nate Thayer, a Bangkok, Thailand-based journalist who sold a story about Cambodian leader Pol Pot to ABC's ``Nightline,'' rejected the prestigious Peabody award for the piece, saying ABC and Ted Koppel stole his work.
Thayer, 38, said in the May 25 edition of New Yorker magazine, that Koppel promised the story would be a one-week exclusive with North American television rights only.
But before the story went on the air, Thayer said ABC shipped photos of the footage worldwide, put the news on its Web site and allowed The New York Times to preview part of the story in a publicity effort. The effort scooped Thayer's own print account for the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review.
In a letter rejecting the Peabody, Thayer said ``Ted Koppel and `Nightline' literally stole my work, took credit for it, trivialized it, refused to pay me and then attempted to bully and extort me when I complained. They should not be rewarded for this behavior and I under no circumstances want my name associated with these egregious violations of basic journalistic ethics and integrity.''
ABC said the pre-broadcast publicity is common practice for such an exclusive story.
Koppel said he was sorry Thayer chose not to accept the Peabody, broadcasting's equivalent to the Pulitzer.
``While he rejects the award, I don't want to reject the enormous contribution that he made to bringing the world this story,'' Koppel said last Monday at the 57th annual awards luncheon.
Thayer was paid $350,000 last month for the story, which aired last July. The video captured the show trial of Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge leader blamed for the deaths of up to 2 million of his countrymen. It was the first time in nearly 20 years the Cambodian dictator, who died in prison in March, was caught on camera.
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