That pink sheet for New York’s media cognascenti — The New York Observer — yesterday published an internal New York Times email sent from standards editor Phil Corbett to the newsroom.In it Corbett points out the “pitfalls” of quoting “consultants” whose financial ties to a story are murky. He writes: “This is not a new…… Continue reading Deceptive PR Practices
Category: celebrity
Hannah’s Handlers
When we last visited Montana, the excursion traversed the career gaffe her handlers made in allowing their youthful charge to succumb to the allure of a racy Annie Leibovitz photo shoot for Vanity Fair.Boy did Miley Cyrus ever pay the price! Soon thereafter, Disney seemed to toss aside its unfathomably popular child star and puts…… Continue reading Hannah’s Handlers
Free At Last
When the NY Post yesterday reported that NBC Universal chief (and former “Today” EP prodigy) Jeff Zucker made a personal plea to Paris Hilton’s father to trump Barbara Walters for the privilege of Ms. Hilton’s first post-jail interview, the network went on full damage control: “NBC News has not and will not pay for interviews,”…… Continue reading Free At Last
Paris’s Prison Break
Good for Paris. Bad for Paris. TMZ breathlessly reports this morning that the faux celeb has managed to extricate herself from the discomforts of prison life, making a mockery of the 45-day sentence she earned.This unforeseen (and boffo) piece of news may be good for Ms. Hilton’s beauty sleep, but the expected public backlash over…… Continue reading Paris’s Prison Break
Whining Pitch
I’ve known Hollywood publicist and media strategist Howard Bragman for far too many years either of us would care to admit. We share Burson-Marsteller in our backgrounds, but then again, how many thousands of others have B-M in their past?Howard went on to form Bragman Nyman Cafarelli, which was sold to Interpublic for more than…… Continue reading Whining Pitch
Celebrity Stokke Stalked
In an age when the lure of celebrity is like a drug — and for some, literally — it was refreshing to read about one talented young athlete who declared enough is enough. Allison Stokke, a record-holding pole vaulter from Newport Beach, Calif., became famous through no fault of her own. She now wants out…… Continue reading Celebrity Stokke Stalked
Exposure & Contempt
This blog occasionally reports on the media’s obsession with the misdeeds of misanthropic celebrities — though mostly in the context of how those misdeeds relate to the notion that “all publicity is good publicity.”Last night, Forbes.com posted a piece on a study that tested this axiom by measuring the effect of excessive media exposure –…… Continue reading Exposure & Contempt
Paris’s Prison (Career) Break
Conventional PR wisdom tells us that Ms. Hilton’s 45-day lock-up will make the bubbleheaded caricature relevant once again. The AP grabbed a couple of PR types to offer up the usual observations in the age of celebrity: “It will actually increase her star appeal in a very sick and demented way,” said longtime publicist Michael…… Continue reading Paris’s Prison (Career) Break
PR Tack-tics
I don’t know what to make of one L.A. publicist’s efforts to create a bold name for himself in the Big Apple.On the one hand, he gets a star turn in Radar online’s “Flacklife” “FlackWatch.” On the other, it points to a side of PR that would make Sidney Falco blush, let alone many others…… Continue reading PR Tack-tics
Georgia Off My Mind
The last time we checked in with Ms. Lohan, it concerned her unintelligible electronic eulogy for Robert Altman relayed via PDA to her publicist while teetotaling in Tinseltown.With its April issue, the folks at GQ are giving us another variation of that theme with a Blackberry interview that reached a high enough threshold (in terms…… Continue reading Georgia Off My Mind