Murcoch and control

[Tas]

On the surface you might think 'so what' of below story because it is apparently about celebrity. But I pondered there is a slightly deeper concern there, a bit sinister really. When a media organisation takes on a strategy to block access, what other strategies they employ to either block a view, block a political party, block a series of events etc. A challenge to integrity, even though we know it's all about the advertising & revenue, guess there's always a glass half full hope that the editors of influential news outlets have some...

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/mov ... 16z8y.html

The world's largest media company, News Corporation, is threatening to deny coverage of movies starring artists who routinely refuse to give interviews to its outlets, one of its senior journalists has revealed.

The different arms of News Corp are working together to ''push back'' against the publicists to movie stars who are blocking media access to their charges, said News Ltd's entertainment editor-at-large, Rebekah Devlin.

''They are very quickly becoming the most powerful people in the world,'' Devlin told the Caxtons advertising conference. ''More and more actors have it in their contract that they don't want to do publicity for a film. So how are you going to get access to the likes of Katherine Heigl if she's doing a film but refusing to do interviews.''

She said the News Corp chairman, Rupert Murdoch, or ''Uncle Rupe'' as she called him, was involved in drawing up a strategy of how to deal with what she said was a ''big challenge'' for media organisations. It is not known whether the issue will be on Mr Murdoch's agenda when he arrives in Australia this week for his annual visit.

The different divisions of News Corp had previously tackled the issue independently, but executives were to present a united front, she said.

''Before we were quite disjointed as a company … but we are really getting together now to say 'OK, if you don't want the help of the Fox network then let's see how your film goes'. We are really starting to push back,'' Devlin said.

For years studios have relied upon stars to do the publicity rounds to promote their film, while the media have used the opportunity to carry interviews with stars so as to boost TV and newspaper audiences.

It is unlikely that Devlin, who fronts News videos on entertainment, which are then streamed to its websites, was referring to artists that are on contract with 20th Century Fox, which is a News Corp-owned studio.

What it will mean for the rest of the Hollywood studios - Sony, Paramount, MGM and Disney - remains unclear as they face the prospect of being denied any air time on Sky, Fox News and Foxtel or coverage in The New York Post, The Times and The Sun in Britain or Sydney's Daily Telegraph.

[Fat Bob]

Who is blocking access? The actor or actress who won't give an interview, or the company that won't show the movie containing the actor or actress? Can't you get a DVD or download it from iTunes instead?

I think you're being over cynical here: I can't see how a stand in the entertainment business will lead to a similar stand in news and current affairs shows (aside from any bias that is already there).

[Joseph27]

Murdoch is an asshole... James Murdoch is a dangerous angry asshole....

[Lichtgestalt]

The big question is why the artists don't want to give interviews and if it's to the News Corp only?