Betsy West, the CBS News senior vice president who sent off the letter to Lynch’s family and military representatives, was careful to include cutesy caveats along the lines of “CBS News maintains editorial independence from the entertainment division” and “we wanted to make sure that CBS News’ proposal was being considered as a single entity.” (Pssst, Betsy, here’s a tip: if you want to make sure your proposal is being considered alone, don’t include all sorts of other options in your pitch letter.) West’s pitch wasn’t only shameless, it was a bad business proposition, at least from Lynch’s perspective. If Lynch is really set on maximizing her exposure (and her payday), she’d be much better served by getting an agent and working on individual deals with publishers, studios, etc.

But West, who didn’t return calls seeking comment, inadvertently highlighted a fascinating aspect of the hypercompetitive world of TV news magazines: the “get,” the mad dash to land the interview of the moment. A 2001 Inside.com story ranked Monica Lewinsky’s first TV interview as the biggest get of all time. Lewinsky, like many other big gets (Tonya Harding, a post-Mia Woody Allen) wasn’t strictly a news story; by the time she sat down with Barbara Walters, she had been transformed into a cultural icon more than anything else. Whereas 25 years ago Zbigniew Brzezinski (Jimmy Carter’s national-security adviser) might have been considered a great get for one of the networks’ morning shows, these days the only Slavic names you’re likely to hear during the first hour of the “Today” show are those belonging to the Sapphic teenage rock duo t.A.T.u. The shift from an emphasis on hard news to entertainment packages, combined with the exponential explosion of available outlets, has meant that it’s become harder and harder for TV producers to distinguish their pitch from the dozens of others pouring in each day.

“There was a real sea-change shift in the mid-1990s,” said a former booker who no longer works in television (and wishes to remain anonymous). “There’s O. J.–essentially a tabloid story turned into a major news event. And there was the incredible proliferation of outlets. Suddenly, you weren’t just competing with “20/20” and “60 Minutes.” There were five nights a week of “Dateline.” There was Larry King. There were all the cable channels and cable shows.” As TV news programs (and magazines and newspapers) started looking for ways to draw in viewers, they began to go after subjects that were likely new to the media world, subjects who aren’t necessarily schooled in the blurry ethical lines governing how to land a hot scoop. The consolidation of giant media companies, as evidenced by West’s letter, has only served to blur lines further.

It can be a little confusing even for those in the middle of the hunt. For instance, virtually all news organizations, with the notable exception of the supermarket tabloids, refuse to pay for information or for an interview. But let’s say you happen to be the get of the week and you have some candid childhood photographs you’re willing to lend out. Don’t be surprised if you’re offered a couple of grand for “exclusive rights” to the pictures–to accompany an interview, of course. If you have some handwritten letters, well, that’s a couple of grand more. Reporters are always allowed to take sources out for an expensive meal, but give an interview subject $5 and you’ll be drummed out of the business. TV producers (and magazine reporters and editors) regularly send flowers to prospective interview subjects. But nonperishables are a no-no. (Last August, a “Today” booker got in trouble for buying an $80 pair of pants for a teenage rape victim who was eventually interviewed on-camera by Katie Couric.) Package deals, like the one West was accused of hinting at, are considered totally off-limits. But if an interview subject asked a CBS producer for the names of good book publishers, it’d be totally fine to steer him or her toward someone at sister company Simon & Schuster. Indeed, while the reaction within CBS News to West’s letter was a mixture of anger and embarrassment, there was also a sense that increasingly it can be difficult to tell exactly what is considered aboveboard and what’s over the line. “Nobody in the news media is wearing a white, white hat and has clean, clean hands–not the magazines, not the newspapers, not the broadcast nets and not the cables,” said one network executive. “That said, I think everyone tries to act as ethically as they possibly can.”