Diane Dimond (born November 15, 1952) is an American

investigative journalist Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

syndicated columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the form of a short essay ...

, and TV commentator. She is best known for breaking the story of child molestation allegations against singer

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

and her coverage of the subsequent criminal trial. She has worked as a correspondent for ''

Hard Copy ''Hard Copy'' is an American tabloid television show that ran in syndication from 1989 to 1999. ''Hard Copy'' was aggressive in its use of questionable material on television, including gratuitous violence. The original hosts of ''Hard Copy'' ...

'', ''

Extra Extra or Xtra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper * ''Extra!'', an American me ...

'', ''

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

'', ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Para ...

'', ''

Court TV Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former cable television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cove ...

'', and ''

Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Ameri ...

''.

Early life

Dimond was born in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

, the only child of Ruby and Allen Hughes. The family moved to

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

where her parents owned and operated the Hughes Meat Co. While attending Highland High School, Dimond worked as a receptionist at KGGM, a CBS-affiliated television station in Albuquerque. It was there that she became interested in broadcast journalism.

Career

Early career

Dimond began her career working at

KOB The kob (''Kobus kob'') is an antelope found across Central Africa and parts of West Africa and East Africa. Together with the closely related reedbucks, waterbucks, lechwe, Nile lechwe, and puku, it forms the Reduncinae tribe. Found along the ...

Radio as a reporter where she covered legal and police matters. In 1976, she won a

Silver Gavel Award The Silver Gavel Award (also known as the ABA Silver Gavel Awards for Media and The Arts) is an annual award the American Bar Association gives to honor outstanding work by those who help improve comprehension of jurisprudence in the United State ...

from the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

for her investigative news reports about the misappropriation of funds by the Albuquerque Sheriff's Office. In 1976, she moved to

Washington, D.C ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where she anchored newscasts for

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

's ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

''. From 1980 to 1986, Dimond was a congressional and political correspondent for the

RKO Radio Networks The RKO Radio Network, a subsidiary of RKO General, was the first commercial radio network to distribute programming entirely by satellite. When it began operations on October 1, 1979, the initial RKO network was the first new full-service Amer ...

. In 1986, Dimond landed her first on-air television job at the flagship CBS station

WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station WL ...

in New York City. Over the next four years, she won several awards for high profile scandals including an investigative series on chromium poisoning in New Jersey, a Long Island child molestation case, and the Mary Beth Whitehead/

Baby M Baby M (born March 27, 1986) was the pseudonym used in the case ''In re Baby M'', 537 A.2d 1227, 109 N.J. 396 (N.J. 1988) for the infant whose legal parentage was in question. Origins ''In re Baby M'' was a child custody, custody case that becam ...

surrogacy case. In 1990, Dimond became the investigative journalist for the tabloid television news show ''

''. During her seven-year tenure, she covered some of the most scandalous criminal cases in the country. In addition to covering the O. J. Simpson case, she conducted interviews with

Heidi Fleiss Heidi Lynne Fleiss (born December 30, 1965) is an American former madam. She ran an upscale prostitution ring based in Los Angeles and is often referred to as the " Hollywood Madam". Fleiss has also worked as a columnist and was a television per ...

, Hollywood Madame;

Pamela Smart Pamela Ann Smart (née Wojas; born August 16, 1967) is an American woman who was convicted of being an accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and witness tampering. In 1990, at age 22, Smart conspired with her underaged ...

, who was convicted of convincing her high school student/lover to murder her husband,

Kenneth Bianchi Kenneth Alessio Bianchi (born May 22, 1951) is an American serial killer, kidnapper, and rapist. He is known for the Hillside Strangler murders committed with his cousin Angelo Buono Jr. in Los Angeles, California, as well as for murdering two mor ...

, the Hillside Strangler;

James Earl Ray James Earl Ray (March 10, 1928 – April 23, 1998) was an American fugitive convicted for assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. After this Ray was on the run and was capt ...

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

’s assassin; Jeffrey MacDonald, the Green Beret Killer; and

Richard Allen Davis Richard Allen Davis (born June 2, 1954) is an American convicted murderer whose criminal record fueled support for the passage of California's "three-strikes law" for repeat offenders and the involuntary civil commitment act for sex offenders a ...

, murderer of Polly Klass.

Michael Jackson case

In September 1993, while at ''Hard Copy'', Dimond reported accusations of an inappropriate relationship between

and a young boy named

Jordan Chandler In 1993, Evan Chandler, a dentist and screenwriter based in Los Angeles, accused the American singer Michael Jackson of sexually abusing his 13-year-old son, Jordan Chandler. Jackson had befriended Jordan after renting a vehicle from Jordan's st ...

. Jackson would eventually settle a law suit brought by the Chandler family, in an out of court settlement of more than $25 million dollars. Criminal charges were never filed. Over the course of her investigation, Dimond interviewed freelance writer, Victor Gutierrez, who claimed that he had a video tape of Jackson molesting Jeremy Jackson, Michael Jackson’s nephew. In 1995, Dimond was interviewed on a KABC-AM morning show, hosted by Roger Barley and Ken Minyard, where she repeated Guiterrez’ claims to have the video. It was later proven that Gutierrez had fabricated the story and that no video existed. Jackson subsequently filed a $100 million slander lawsuit against Dimond, Paramount Pictures Corp (producer of Hard Copy), and KABC-AM. The case was ultimately dismissed. Jackson filed a separate case against Gutierrez, winning a $2.7 million award for slander.

NBC

In 1998, Dimond moved to

news, partnering with

Geraldo Rivera Geraldo Rivera (born Gerald Riviera; July 4, 1943) is an American journalist, attorney, author, political commentator, and former television host. He hosted the tabloid talk show '' Geraldo'' from 1987 to 1998. He gained publicity with the liv ...

on ''UpFront Tonight'', a

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...

nightly newscast where she co-anchored the broadcast and covered some of the high-profile stories of the time, including former

President Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again f ...

’s impeachment trial. She went on to cover the 2000 Presidential election and Florida recount for MSNBC as a daytime anchor. After leaving MSNBC in the summer of 2001, Dimond began her freelance career working as an anchor for Court TV and after the

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

terror attacks, as an anchor for FOX News "War on Terror" coverage. Dimond also served as a guest on-air correspondent for a variety of other shows and stations, including CNN.

Michael Jackson Criminal Trial

In 2003, British journalist

Martin Bashir Martin Henry Bashir (born 19 January 1963) is a British journalist. He was a presenter on British and American television and for the BBC's ''Panorama'' programme, for which he interviewed Diana, Princess of Wales in 1995. Although the intervie ...

released a documentary called ''

Living with Michael Jackson ''Living with Michael Jackson'' is a television documentary in which the British journalist Martin Bashir interviewed the American singer Michael Jackson from May 2002 to January 2003. It was broadcast in the United Kingdom on ITV (as a ''Toni ...

'' which focused on the story of a young cancer victim, Gavin Arvizo and his family who had lived with Jackson since 2000. In the documentary, Jackson described having sleep-overs with Arvizo and other children. The documentary outraged viewers and launched a new investigation into allegations of child molestation. In the wake of a new round of accusations against Jackson, Dimond was promoted by

to become their full-time Chief Investigative Reporter to cover the investigation and subsequent trial. It was during this time that Dimond began writing about her decade long involvement with investigating the case. Her book ''Be Careful Who You Love: Inside the Michael Jackson Case'' was released by

Simon and Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

/Atria in 2005. During the Jackson trial, Dimond became of the focus of an intense stalking and harassment campaign orchestrated by Jackson fans who claimed that Dimond’s coverage was biased and anti-Jackson. Despite getting a restraining order, the harassment continued. After Jackson was acquitted in 2005 and her contract with Court TV ended, Dimond took a break from broadcasting, only appearing occasionally on TV as a special guest correspondent. In 2013, Dimond attended Gavin Arvizo's (Jackson's accuser in the 2005 trial) wedding. Also present was retired prosecutor Ron Zonen, who represented the state in the 2005 trial.

Syndicated Columnist and Investigation Discovery TV

In 2007, Dimond began writing a weekly column for the

Albuquerque Journal The ''Albuquerque Journal'' is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of New Mexico. History The ''Golden Gate'' newspaper was founded in June 1880. In the fall of 1880, the owner of the ''Golden Gate'' died and Journal Publishing Company was c ...

. In 2008, her column was syndicated by

Creators Syndicate Creators Syndicate (also known as Creators) is an American independent distributor of comic strips and syndicated columns to daily newspapers, websites, and other digital outlets. When founded in 1987, Creators Syndicate became one of the few suc ...

. and newspapers nationwide began publishing her take on crime and justice issues. Her work has been published by ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'', ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'', ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'', and ''

Women in Crime Ink ''Women in Crime Ink'' is an American daily crime blog that publishes both original and aggregated content. The blog was founded on March 10, 2008, as "a well of thoughts on crime and media issues from women criminal justice professionals and auth ...

covering high-profile criminal cases, including the

Casey Anthony Casey may refer to: Places Antarctica *Casey Station *Casey Range Australia * Casey, Australian Capital Territory * City of Casey, Melbourne * Division of Casey, electoral district for the House of Representatives Canada * Casey, Ontario * Ca ...

murder trial and the child molestation case against

Jerry Sandusky Gerald Arthur Sandusky (born January 26, 1944) is an American retired college football coach and convicted serial child molester. Sandusky served as an assistant coach for his entire career, mostly at Pennsylvania State University under Joe Pa ...

. Between 2008 and 2010, Dimond appeared regularly on ''Disorder in the Court'', a reality TV show where she provided narration to footage of shocking behavior inside real courtrooms and as a regular contributing correspondent for CBS's ''

''. Also in 2010, she released her second book, ''Cirque Du Salahi: Be Careful Who You Trust'', the story behind Tareq and

Michaele Salahi Michaele Ann Schon (born Michaele Ann Holt; born October 1, 1965), formerly Michaele Salahi, is an American television personality and model. In 2010, she was a cast member on the reality show '' The Real Housewives of D.C.'' She and her then-hu ...

, the so-called White House gate-crashers. In 2015, Dimond made her directorial debut in ''Theater Trial'', which followed the trial of Aurora Colorado Movie Theater mass killer, James Holmes. Dimond’s third book ''Thinking Outside the Crime and Justice Box'', a compilation of some of her most compelling opinion and case commentary, was released in 2016. In that year, she also joined ''

''’s ''An American Murder Mystery'' TV series as a legal commentator, covering the cases of JonBenet Ramsey,

Chandra Levy Chandra Ann Levy (April 14, 1977 – May 1, 2001) was an internship, intern at the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, D.C., who disappeared in May 2001. She was presumed murdered after her skeletal remains were found in Rock Creek P ...

, and Michael Peterson. Currently, Dimond is working with ''

''’s ''An ID Murder Mystery'', to cover more headline grabbing cases including the disappearance of

Madeleine McCann Madeleine Beth McCann (born 12 May 2003) is a British missing person who disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on the evening of 3 May 2007, at the age of 3. ''The Daily Telegraph'' described the disappeara ...

and real estate tycoon and accused murderer Robert Durst. She is also conducting research for her next book, ''The Final Racket: How the US Justice System Cheats the Elderly''.

Personal life

Dimond's first husband was news anchor Chuck Dimond with whom she has a daughter, Jenna. They divorced in 1974. Dimond married broadcast journalist, CBS Radio News anchor, and voice over artist Michael Schoen in January, 1991.

References

External links

Official Website of Diane Dimond
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dimond, Diane 1952 births American bloggers American radio reporters and correspondents Television personalities from Los Angeles American women television personalities CNBC people Living people People from Albuquerque, New Mexico People from Burbank, California American women bloggers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American biographers American women biographers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American biographers Journalists from California American women radio journalists