Reply #1: I can only speak from first hand experience about one show [View All]

[onenote]

Several years ago, there was show on CNN called "Sonya Live". A friend of mine who was friends with a scheduler for the show asked me if I knew anyone who would appear on the show to discuss a particular issue. I did and that person was contacted and it was arranged for him to appear on the show. I went with him and we went to CNN's studio in DC. He was interviewed live in the studio with one other guest; a third guest was interviewed by satellite feed from Los Angeles. He was not paid. And apart from some scripted Intro/outro information, none of the guests nor the host had a specific script.

I stuck around to watch another taping of a different show. Can't remember who the host was, but the guest was Jesse Jackson, whom I got to meet and talk to in the "Green Room". Again, I saw no evidence of the interview being "scripted" beyond the questioner having some notes in his lap that he referred to in conducting the interview.