Shadowing Blagojevich

Thursday, we talked about reporters gaining permission to do extended interviews, shadowing a source under terms negotiated prior to the session. On the New York Times website, there is a photo/audio interview covering Rod Blagojevich's last day in office. This is a collaborative report between two photographers actually staying with the ex-governor and a single reporter recording audio of the Blagojevich's final thoughts.

I've been trying to guess the agreed conditions of this report, and from what I can see, the photographs do not present Blagojevich in any particularly negative light. The reporting done underneath each slide is in more of a documentary style, and the audio only provides Blagojevich's voice in a long personal statement. The agreement, in my mind, heavily favored the politician, wanting to have his voice heard. I assume the motivations of the reporters and photographers taking this deal would have to be the message this report sends to future prospects. "We'll play ball for an exclusive." What do you guys think? Playing nice with politicians during controversy may get you a lot of work.