Friday, June 15, 2007

Fox News Really Seem To Have A Case Against Angelina Jolie

All news outlets looking to cover the A Mighty Heart premiere and attendant promotional interviews have been asked to sign a very stringent contract - which, okay, isn't really too different from the norm. Things were a little tighter than typical this time though: the film's publicists were even asked to ban Fox News from the premiere's red carpet completely.

Of course, this is a film that is at least partly about freedom of press, which makes this all seem very hypocritical indeed. The Fox news piece levels a number of accusations at Jolie and the PR team which seem entirely fair. Trust me: Fox news and I don't generally get on. At all. But they do seem to have a case here.

The contract included the following:

The interview may only be used to promote the Picture. In no event may Interviewer or Media Outlet be entitled to run all or any portion of the interview in connection with any other story. The interview will not be used in a manner that is disparaging, demeaning, or derogatory to Ms. Jolie.

Hopefully this will force Jolie into a no-holds barred interview or two, in an attempt to restore some dignity and stop her developing a reputation as a controlling, censorous manipulator. I would imagine she's too easy a target to risk turning large quarters of the world's press fully against her, but she's certainly in danger of doing so if she continues in this fashion.

I'd be very disappointed to think this was conceived as a liberal-friendly publicty stunt and we were all supposed to blindly side with Jolie and he PR because the targets were Fox news. I wouldn't be entirely surprised, but I would be disappointed.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, I do wish all the journalists covering the interview had refused to sign the contract. Maybe that way the woman could have been silenced for a bit.

That woman (and Madonna) also do so much harm to inter-country adoption that it's about time somebody said 'no' to her so that she can used to it.

Anonymous said...

Fox News really is the Sunday Sport of televisual news in the US. I'm not particularly a fan of Jolie but why should she speak to certain journalists if she doesn't want to?

Brendon said...

It isn't the not speaking to these people, it is controlling a) who can even be at the premiere and b) what people - all people - say about her.

Anonymous said...

Why should she answer to the obviously right wing totally unfair and unbalanced media whore mongers at "fox news"?
If I were a person of some import I would certainly never give fox news any access to or any right to publish anything I might have said.
This is not censorship.
This is choosing wisely who you wish to carry the message you are trying to get across.
She does more to help the helpless than any of us that comment here.

Brendon said...

So, I could raise freedom of press again, or freedom of speach, or just talk about how dangerous militant attitudes are at both ends of the political spectrum or...

Basically, I could contest most of this in a million ways.

Excluding certain press outlets is one thing. Making ALL journalists sign an agreement before an interview telling them that they MUST only be positive. That's another.