Philly.com reports ABC paid for a coach class ticket for Anthony Rakoczy to Florida to claim his daughter Julia. The network also paid for two tickets for their return. An ABC News producer and crew accompanied Rakoczy on both legs.

In what was part of an elaborate hoax, Julia Rakoczy was taken to Disney World by her mother Bonnie Sweeten. Sweeten was in a Florida court this morning where she waived extradition and could be headed back to Philadelphia today.

The payment for the flight was disclosed on Nightline last night and on Good Morning America this morning. The shows also labeled the reunion with family back in Pennsylvania as “Exclusive.” According to ABC, Rakoczy chose to avoid other reporters because he felt overwhelmed by the crush of interview requests, not because he was paid to avoid them.

An ABC News spokesman denied this was a quid-pro-quo arrangement and told the Philly News, “ABC News does not pay for interviews.”

A similar situation happened in December when ABC News paid for a three-night hotel stay at a Central Florida Ritz-Carlton for the grandparents of murdered toddler Caylee Anthony. In that case, ABC did not get an interview with the Anthonys.

Is Paying For Access Getting Out Of Hand?(opinion polls)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

George Anthony and Cindy Anthony stayed at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes from Dec. 11 to 14 &mdash in the days after Caylee’s remains were found near their home.

The Orlando Sentinel was first to report the story after a judge overseeing the case released an 80-page transcript which included the new details.

An ABC producer named Kaitlyn Folmer made arrangements with then-Anthony spokeswoman Michelle Bart to put up the couple and two of their investigators at the hotel. Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton run from $249 to $739 per night.

An ABC insider tells TVNewser the pricey hotel was picked because it had the best security. And with a horde of media trying to secure an interview with the Anthonys, ABC was simply being competitive. As it turns out, ABC did not get an interview that week, nor have they since.

During the first night of the stay, the Anthonys also dined at a restaurant inside the hotel. The ABC producer, Folmer, was also at the dinner. But it’s not known who paid. The ABC insider tells us, taking interview subjects out to dinner “is not a problem.”

The details were part of an interview the Anthony’s private investigator Dominic Casey gave to an Orange County Sergeant and an FBI Agent in early January.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We’re told yesterday brought the most emails ever for Grace, with 1,928 (normally she averages around 500). The majority of the messages were to thank her for her memorial coverage.

No cable news personality has been more closely associated with the Anthony story than Grace, and her ratings have reflected the developments in the case.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

After running the numbers, our unofficial tally puts Grace’s 8pmET average at 590,000 and Bill O’Reilly‘s at 609,000 (through December 23). Countdown with Keith Olbermann is expected to come in third and Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull will come in fourth in the time slot.

This follows record ratings for Grace’s program following the discovery of Caylee Anthony‘s remains. From the day that news broke, Grace’s program finished first in the demo every night.

We’ll have more on the December and full year ratings tomorrow.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Dateline averaged 7,087,000 Total Viewers, compared to 5,799,000 for 20/20. In the A25-54 demo rating, Dateline had a 2.7 and 20/20 a 2.1.

It was the largest Total Viewer audience for Dateline Friday since April 18.

Dateline spent the entire hour on the Caylee Anthony investigation, while 20/20 spent the first 20 minutes of the program devoted to the story.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Grace’s 1,003,000 in the demo and 2,375,000 Total Viewers far surpassed her previous day’s high, on October 14, when she had 636,000 in the demo and 1,566,000 Total Viewers.

Jane Velez-Mitchell‘s “Issues” at 7pmET topped any Glenn Beck broadcast ever as well.

HLN had the top rated program in the demo at 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10pmET, meaning Grace’s repeat at 10pmET won as well.

This is the 2nd time ever since the launch of Headline Prime that the network won demo prime time. On the other CNN network, the two-hour premiere of “Planet in Peril” brought the network a fourth place finish in the demo prime time.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

At 8pmET, FNC’s The O’Reilly Factor had a 2.3 overnight rating, HLN’s Grace had a 1.6, MSNBC’s Countdown had a 1.3 and CNN’s Campbell Brown had a .8.

The overnight numbers are based on 52 metered markets. The actual ratings will be released sometime around 4pmET today.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We reported that ABC News in September and NBC News in October paid licensing fees for pictures of the Caylee and Casey Anthony.

According to the couples attorney Mark NeJame, spokesperson Larry Garrison was taking the money for himself.

“I never agreed to go on any shows for money,” Cindy told the Sentinel. “I was told numerous times that nobody was making any money.”

Garrison denies the claim, saying he resigned “due to the erratic behavior of the Anthony family over the last two months.” He says he was the “story broker” and negotiated payment with the news agencies.

In news that should surprise no one, Garrison was part of the last major mainstream media story of a missing person, the Natalee Holloway investigation.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Back from vacation on Monday, she performed well the first night, but on Tuesday she registered her best ratings ever in both Total Viewers and the A25-54 demo.

At 8pmET, she finished 2nd on cable news in the demo (behind FNC) and 3rd in Total Viewers (behind FNC and CNN).

The main story Grace has been covering for more than a month has been the Caylee Anthony case.

CNN Worldwide EVP Ken Jautz tells TVNewser, “Nancy’s incredible ratings this week illustrate not only that she’s a great talent with a devoted fan base, but that our complementary programming strategy remains a success. If our viewers want to check out the best political coverage on TV, they can tune in to CNN. If they want to see Nancy do what she does best — shine a light on legal news and advocate for crime victims — they’ve got her Headline News show.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

“Just search inside yourself, you know, before you ask me a stupid question that I can’t answer, please,” Anthony pleaded with Van Susteren. Anthony came on the show to keep her granddaughter’s story in the news and her image on the air. Van Susteren pressed on for another nine minutes asking questions about Casey Anthony, the little girl’s mother, Cynthia’s daughter, who is in jail for lying to police. “Let the attorneys and the detectives talk about what’s going on with Casey. Let me talk about why we need to bring Caylee home,” Anthony said.

The interview drew to a close as Anthony asked Van Susteren, “Help me get out the word, sweetie.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.