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Television
and print interviews with various former members of the Manson Family. In
and out of prison.
Many interviews have been done over the
years with members of the Manson Family, especially Charles Manson who has been
a media sideshow over the years. He has done 100's of newspaper and
magazine interviews and countless television appearances from behind prison
walls.
In the mid 90's a new law was passed in California that
prohibits convicted murderers to give interviews to the media, re-telling
of their crime and profiting from it. Up until that point there had been
countless interviews with various former members of the Manson Family.
The first ever interview was given by
Susan Atkins when she told her story to Lawrence Schiller through her
attorney, Richard Caballero and together they sold the story to the LA
Times and several European publications and published the paperback
"The Killing of Sharon Tate". Most of the money went to Caballero
and the author, Susan saw very little if any of it.
During the trials both Manson and Atkins
held press conferences and gave several interviews.
In 1975, Stan Atkinson, an anchor for
KTVU in Oakland
scored the first television interview with Charles Manson and Susan Atkins
after their incarceration. It was broadcast the week of March 7th,
1975 in San Francisco
and again nationally a few months later. Manson appeared incoherent and
bitter and Atkins confessed her new found faith in Jesus and cried when
describing the murders. The show was a success and offers for more
interviews pored in.
Charlie Manson became somewhat of a
media darling in the 80's, turning down more interviews than he could give.
Prison officials at the time allowed inmates one interview every three
months. In the 80's and 90's Manson gave interviews to ABC, NBC, CBS, AP,
UP, FOX, CNN, every network, independent, cable, magazine and newspaper
available. To everyone from Tom Snyder to Geraldo.
Leslie Van Houten gave her first
television interview to Barbara Walters during her re-trials in 1977 but
after that she didn't do many interviews although she took part in a prison
special in 1982 where Walters interviewed her again. In the 90's, when she
was working hard at earning parole, Leslie gave several high profile
interviews. First with Dianne Sawyer and then Larry King. She also appeared
in prison documentaries on A&E.
Of the three women Susan Atkins has
probably done most interviews, especially in the 70's and 80's. She did one
memorable one where she appeared with her new husband at the time, fake
millionaire and Texan, Donald La$iure. The last
interview she did was with Australian 60 Minutes in 1989. It was a disaster
for Atkins. The interviewer attacked her and put her in a very bad light,
against Doris Tate. It was a brilliant interview as he threw tough
questions at her such as "why did you taste the blood of Sharon
Tate?" and "Did you have an orgasm as you plunged the knife into
her body?" She refused to do any more interviews after that.
Patricia Krenwinkel has only done two
interviews since she landed in prison. She took part in ABC's Turning Point
where she was interviewed by Dianne Sawyer. Van Houten and Manson were also
interviewed for this 25th Anniversary special. Susan Atkins
declined to take part in it. Krenwinkel was also interviewed by BBC in 1994
after Van Houten had declined.
Tex Watson has stayed away from the
mainstream media but has produced himself several Christian interviews and
documentaries with his then wife Kristin. In one video he teamed up with
the daughter of Rosemary LaBianca, Susan LaBerge.
He has also been interviewed several times on the 700 Club. He did give an
interview to Channel 7 in Los
Angeles in 1979, KABC.
Bruce Davis and Bobby Beausoleil have
also done a few television appearances.
Aside from Manson, the most outspoken of
the Manson Family has to be Sandra Good and sometimes Lynette Fromme. Through the years they have maintained a
constant public campaign for Manson's environmental organisation ATWA.
Sandra Good has been the subject of many news stories, interviews and talk
shows, where she hurls out threats and tries to justify the murders. In the
90's she maintained a website about Manson but the site went off line a few
years ago along with Sandra who has disappeared from public.
As of 1995, television interviews with
convicted murderers were outlawed in California
and banned by law. It was highly criticized at the time. So there are no
more interviews for Charlie Manson and his murderous followers.
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