Some journalists are getting impatient. A local critic of the National Coverage is standing by and so is a lawyer who is making sure no more reporters get arrested. Remember that from back in august, a number of reporters arrested . There are some claims a reporter was also arrested last night. Well try to check it out. Lets get an update from ferguson. Sara sidner is joining me live. Sara, can you tell us the latest sense of timing about when we may hear something from the grand jury, from the Prosecutors Office . Reporter look, i want to speak to some of what you talked about. Evan perez had some great sources. Hes been coming out and saying the time something perhaps friday, maybe its going to happen sunday. Now he has reported that his sources say that the grand jury did not finish and they are going to resume on monday. There is a lot of frustration here, as you might imagine. This is perhaps one of the longest grand juries in history. Its been three months they have had ahold of this case and a lot of people dont understand why it is taking so lock bng but ths a very different scenario. Theyre basically being asked to investigate far more than any grand jury normally does. They have a very low flethresho. They have to decide whether they think a crime has been committed and then its up to the prosecutors and a jury of their peers to decide whether to convict or not. And so i think theres just a lot of confusion on peoples part as to why this is taking so long. There is also a lot of frustration about our coverage, i will admit, because people get frustrated when they get worried and nervous that, oh, my gosh, today is the day. You dont know how many emails i get from people who live here, residents saying i just heard you said today is the day and im worried, is it true . And so i think one thing we need to mention is that the sources who are talking dont actually know the exact timing of this because the only people who know are those people who are on the grand jury and they are not supposed to be talking, brian. Thats crucial. To be honest, i have goten from complaints from other journalists saying why are cnn and other Television Networks hyping the possible deadline days for the grand jury . It seems to me no one truly knows and as long as we make that clear in our coverage, in our banners on the bottom of the screen, then it does seem appropriate to be telling people we are expecting news soon, we just dont know quite when. I think thats really fair. The truth is there are 12 people that know exactly where they are and how long they think this might take. None of them are supposed to be talking. So all of this is people who are saying, okay, i know theyre meeting now, i think it might happen. I think we need to be careful with this idea of hyping. This community is already on pins and needles. They have been nervous for months and they are tired of it. They want, as they have said to me many times, to rip the bandaid off and give us a decision so we can go forward with our lives so the city can start to try to deal with whatever that aftermath is, brian. Sara, stand by. Frank aebischer is a local media critic. Frank, there have even been some claims in recent day that is Networks Like cnn want some violence to happen, want riots to break out after this result comes down. Whats your view in st. Louis of the National Media coverage of this story . I think we dont have frank yet. Let me turn to another guest i have standing by. Benjamin litman, a lawyer in st. Louis. He specializes in media issues and hes represented some of the journalists who were arrested covering the protests in august. Now hes helping news outlets preserve their rights in this situation. Can you hear me . Yes, i can. I want to go back in a moment to that issue of violence but in terms of arrests, what are you doing on the ground to make sure reporters can cover protests freely . We have done a number of different things. First is dealing with talking to Law Enforcement ahead of time trying to explain what we think are the rights of the reporters under the First Amendment in the hopes that we can get ground rules, i guess, so everybody is in agreement what the reporters can and cant do. Then, excuse me, in the rare circumstances, if a reporter is arrested, all you can do is try and communicate with Law Enforcement or whether its the judge or the prosecutors to try and get them out as quickly as possible, and then deal with the fallout afterwards. Unfortunately, when youre talking about covering protests where everything is so fluid and theres so much going on at the time, theres not really the opportunity to stop and discuss it when its happening, and it really comes down to trying to get ground rules ahead of time and deal with it in the aftermath. Were showing some pictures from one of the arrests of a photographer that happened in august but there was a report last night the st. Louis county police say they took one reporter from washington into custody. The name is trey yingst. He was taken into cut for failuredisburse. Trey wrote back and said at this time he cannot do an intrve for legal reasons. But he says he was just exercising his first maement rights trying to cover the story. This is actually what he wrote last night saying he was just exercising his First Amendment rights on a public sidewalk. The controversy is whether he was on the sidewalk or in the street it seems like. Hes an example of a reporter in town not from a big name media outlet but someone on the ground trying to cover it identifying as a journalist. I wonder if you have some issues on the ground about people not from the New York Times or cnn, may not have that kind of press credential to show a Police Officer but say they are journalists, last week he had bassam massri on the program. Hes a live streamer who holds his phone up and records protests. How does the definition of journalist play in this issue . From a constitutional standpoint, the definition of journalist shouldnt play in. From a practical standpoint it sometimes does because i think that the Law Enforcement understands that the press has a role in this and if somebody is displaying press credentials, i think that goes a long way. We certainly encourage our clients to have their press credentials handy and showing because i think the police do give them some leeway to do their jobs, but the constitution protects all of us to be in Public Places and to watch whats going on and to record it if we want to. If any person, whether journalist or not is standing on a public sidewalk and not interfering in any way with Law Enforcement, then they should have a right to go ahead and stand there whether theyre filming or not. Sara, let me bring you back into this conversation. I mentioned a couple moments ago this issue of some people at home thinking the media wants violence to happen. Its a tweet from gwen ifill fromp bs who said is it just me or is it beginning to seem like there are some folks who will be disappointed if theres not riots in ferguson . Have you heard some of the same criticism and what is your point of view about that, sara . We dont want violence but we want some sort of resolution here. I have absolutely heard some of that criticism, and i think for a lot of people in watching this they feel like it is being hyped up and talked about far too much. But some of that is coming from the response from people who are here. I can tell you weve seen in our own hotel folks who have come in from out of town who have brought their phones and are ready to record and they have all their equipment to come out and take part in this. And so theres a really Big Conversation going on right now. I can only speak for myself. I can tell you i have now been in this community for more than two months now, and i would hate to see something happen here thats destructive. The people and the places i have gone in this town, they are wonderful people, and i am talking about those who are here protesting from ferguson, those businesses that are here who are serving the people of ferguson. Even some of the city officials in ferguson. Everyone is talking about this, but i have met some wonderful, wonderful people here, and it breaks my heart to sort of see them in this level of fear that theyve been living with for a few months now. So in my estimation, i would hate to see something go wrong here. What i do want to see and what Everyone Wants to see is some kind of resolution. What is that grand jury deciding and then lets go forward from there. Onnesty is really important. This has brought up a huge ssh in this country, and i think thats fair to say that there is an issue between africanamericans and police. I dont think there are many people that dispute that. But theres a way to deal with it, and a lot of folks here are hoping its dealt with in a peaceful manner, and to be clear it has been mostly peaceful. There are some folks who come and stand in the middle of the street and bait police, but for the most part over more than 100 days we have only seen a couple arrests. So i think we need to keep that in mind. There has been no looting, no burning down anything, no destroying anything other these past 90 or so days. There were some issues in the very beginning, brian. Thank you, sara. This is not just about Michael Brown anymore. The logo on screen might say the death of Michael Brown but its about a movement now. I think you would agree with that, this is about a movement, not just that one moment in time. Thank you ben lippmann and sara shider in, thank you for being here. We will talk more about ferguson, the invisible man, Darren Wilson, because there are a few Television Anchors that have actually seen him and spoken to him but theyre not allowed to tell you about it. Im going to tell you why. My exclusive reporting on this right after the break. [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, weve always been on the forefront of innovation. When the world called for speed. When the world called for stealth. Intelligence. Endurance. Affordability. Adaptability. 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One verizons the largest, most reliable 4g lte network in the country. Thats right america. With xlte in over 400 markets. Two and heres something for families to get excited about. Our best pricing ever get 2 lines with an incredible 10gb of data to share for the low price of 110 or just 140 for a family of 4 and three get 150 credit for every line you switch. The more you switch, the more you get. Verizon. I take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heartburn. Because it gives me. Zero heartburn prilosec otc. The number 1 doctorrecommended frequent heartburn medicine for 9 straight years. One pill each morning. 24 hours. Zero heartburn. Welcome back here. The world knows very little about Darren Wilson other than these grainy pictures of him. We barely know what he looks like. And he hasnt said a word publicly about the death of Michael Brown. But now im going to let you had in on a secret. Some high profile news anchors have met wilson. Theyve talked with him oneonone in secret locations entirely off the record all in the hopes of landing his First Television interview. Because it was off the record, those anchors cant talk about the meetings and their networks cant really even confirm the meetings happened but here are the anchor names i know with the caveat that others may have met with him. Nbcs matt lauer, abcs george stephanopoulos, cbss scott pelley and both the prime time anchors at cnn Anderson Cooper and don lemon. Maybe other anchors as well. I have a feeling some okay yar at fox i just dont know the name but thats what my sources are telling me. This pursuit of an interview its always a high stakes game. The media play it is in every big legal or criminal case. And jim moret, the chief correspondent for inside edition has been involved in these efforts and he joins me from los angeles to shine a light on how it works. Jim, you were the winner in one of these big booking contests. Its weird to describe it that way but thats how its talked about in tv. Tell me about how it works. The example youre talking about was some time ago but it was a big interview for us, George Michael had been arrested in los angeles for exposing hymns in a mens room in los angeles. I nomar rea shriver at dateline was close to locking him up. We on friday had made arrangements to go live to tape and broadcast friday night and it would be international then saturday morning over in england, and that was really the Pivotal Point for George Michael because we didnt realize it at the time, but on sunday, that sunday, the tabloids were going to out him as gay. He knew about it. We didnt know about that. But he chose us because our venue, our network, cnn i was with at the time, was able to trump those british tabloids. So its really a couple of things. Look, the anchor names that you mention, think about the heady experience for an individual who is approached by matt lauer, by say Anderson Cooper wants to talk to you. You know, and the currency that they have and the only currency i would offer is does somebody like me . Does somebody trust me . You want to give them the opportunity to make their case. Its about establishing comfort with the possible interviewer, right . Absolutely, absolutely. And, look, if anderson called me, i know anderson from tv. I have met him. I like him. I trust him. Trust is his currency really. But you have really a couple things to consider. Is the network live . Is it a taped show . Fast forward to last year. Sidney leathers was in that controversial texting or sexting with anthony weiner. She didnt feel comfortable going live at that time. We got her because we were tape. I spoke with her. You know, its interesting. When you talk about being first, its not just the viewers you get for the interview. Its the publicity you get after and with this fractured environment where networks get 500,000, 1 million, 2 million views instead of 10 and 20 million. If Anderson Cooper gets an interview, if wolf blitzer gets one, if we get one, the real value also in addition to people watching our show then is other networks rebroadcasting with our little bug on so that promotes the show. And thats really a value, too. You know, this is a little awkward for me to ask because im talking about a couple of my colleagues and several other Network Anchors but do you think it affects the coverage at all. If you sit down with them off the record, you cant talk about what you learned from them but might it in some subconscious way affect the coverage . I dont think so. I think were all professionals. Im a lawyer as well. Sometimes you may like a client, but you may not like what theyve done. Youve got to defend them. You have to ask tough questions. I never make any deals not to ask questions. My goal is to be respectful so that when they leave, even if its a tough interview, they feel like theyve gotten a fair shot and speaking of those deals, jim, i got to ask about the financial relationship sometimes. Someone like Darren Wilson doesnt seem to be as likely but in some of these cases arent their pictures licensed so the interview subject gets some financial reward out of it . All of the networks, most of the networks, for example the today show will fly somebody in, put them up in a hotel. But its not like a bargain where you say well send you to some broadway shows, give you a fun time. Its not like that. You do license photos in many cases. Youre not talking about a lot of money. Youre also not buying their statements. You dont wanted to influence what they say based upon licensing a photo and i dont think any News Organization or any program really wants to do that. Where do you think Darren Wilson will ultimately end up going when it comes to these Television Interviews if he ever speaks. He shouldnt assume he will. George zimmerman after the Trayvon Martin case after the trial ended, he spoke to sean hannity at fox news and then a number of other interviewers. Well, i think in that case George Zimmerman went to a network he felt would be favorable toward him. Whether they were or not, i couldnt say, but nbc was critical of George Zimmerman, and there was a controversial report they had issued and whether or not they would actually doctored a tape that was shown on tv. Right. I think the perception of the network, the perception of the venue and the perception of the interviewer all come into play. All of it play in. Jim, thanks for being here. Interesting conversation. My pleasure. Thanks for asking. My sense by the way from my sources about Darren Wilson is