About
Diane Dimond has enjoyed an award winning career in radio, television and print. Her expertise is in the crime and justice genre and she is the author of four books.
Dimond may be best known for breaking the story of child molestation allegations against singer Michael Jackson in late 1993, and again in 2003, and following the story through the entertainer’s criminal trial in 2005. Dimond’s book, “Be Careful Who You Love: Inside the Michael Jackson Case,” (Simon & Shuster/Atria 2005) is seen by many as the definitive work about the downfall of one of the most talented and controversial figures in the entertainment industry.
Dimond’s book on the abusive and often criminal element within the nation’s guardianship/conservatorship system – the culmination of her more than eight years of investigation – was published by Brandeis University Press and released in late September 2023. We’re Here to Help: When Guardianship Goes Wrong is a stark look at a system that was designed to protect the nation’s at-risk population but, sadly, has morphed into a predatory playground for greedy bad actors. The Britney Spears’s case revealed to the public the failures of the California system (called conservatorship,) but Dimond’s book highlights the nationwide scandal as seen through the eyes of victims and their family members.
Beginning In 2015, Dimond began investigating a flaw in the American court system that allowed exploitation of the elderly through the guardianship system which was originally designed to protect vulnerable seniors from neglect, abuse and financial exploitation. She soon discovered the victim pool had expanded to include all sorts of citizens – entrapping the old, the young, those with disabilities and those who had suffered a stroke, a traumatic brain injury, or other temporary condition. Even after they recovered many could not escape guardianship’s grip. Dimond also discovered how incredibly easy it is for a total stranger to seek and obtain guardianship over another. Her in-depth six-part series entitled, “Who Guards the Guardians?” was published by the Albuquerque Journal at the end of 2016, and for that work she won multiple investigative awards. The Institute for American Studies (affiliated with Stanford University) awarded Dimond’s series Best Investigation of 2016 and the New Mexico Press Association awarded her first place in the Best Public Service Reporting category, and second place in the Best Investigative category.
Dimond began her journalism career in her hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico. As a radio newscaster and crime reporter for KOB Radio (now KKOB) she exposed corruption within the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department, put a sheriff in jail and won acclaim from the American Bar Association when the group presented her with their coveted Silver Gavel Award for Outstanding Public Service reporting.
As a news anchor on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, a Capitol Hill correspondent for the RKO Radio Networks, a correspondent for WCBS-TV in New York and the Senior Investigative correspondent for the syndicated program Hard Copy Dimond built a reputation as a dogged investigative journalist. Her strength is in translating complicated stories and presenting them in conversational and understandable nuggets – be it on television, radio or in print.
Dimond also worked for CNBC as co-anchor of UpFront Tonight a nightly news program with co-host Geraldo Rivera; at MSNBC as a political correspondent and anchor; at Fox News as a freelance weekend anchor following the September 11th attacks; and at Court TV Dimond was an anchor of daytime court coverage and Chief Correspondent of the CTV investigative Unit. It was during this time at Court TV that Dimond exclusively broke the story of a second young boy’s sexual abuse allegations against Michael Jackson. She also covered the entirety of Jackson’s criminal trial in Santa Barbara County, California. Jackson was acquitted on all counts.
In 2008, Dimond began writing a weekly syndicated crime and justice column. Distributed by Creators Syndicate and distributed to newspapers nationwide. She prides herself on writing about wide-ranging crime and justice topics designed to raise public awareness and promote outside-the-box thinking.
In 2010, her book, “Cirque Du Salahi” was published debunking the idea that an obscure couple from Virginia had actually “crashed” President Obama’s first state dinner. In 2016, “Thinking Outside the Crime & Justice Box” an updated compilation of her most popular columns was published.
As a long-time contributor for TheDailyBeast.com Dimond covered multiple stories, including several high profile criminal trials. Among them: The Casey Anthony murder trial, the political corruption trial of former Senator John Edwards and the child molestation case against former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky. She has also contributed to Newsweek, RealClear Investigations, the Albuquerque Journal and other print publications.
Dimond is one of the few journalists who can claim proficiency as a crossover media personality – proficient in radio, television and print. She lives in Rockland County, New York with her husband, Michael Schoen, a long time CBS Radio News anchor and voiceover artist. They have one daughter, three grandchildren and two mischievous black cats.
