speech and respect - College of Social Sciences and International ...

Notes
relations agent required journalists invited to a press junket for "Far and
Away" to agree in writing to publish interviews only in connection with
the initial theatrical release and not sell them to tabloids. Even without
explicit constraints, the need for access limits candour. The editor of
Premiere conceded: "It's easy to be blackballed in that world as a writer.
It's very hard to shake a reputation as a killer if you've done one tough
piece." After the journal published a strong article about "Aliens 3," 20th
Century Fox pulled its ads for the movie. Warner Brothers barred the Los
Angeles Magazine critic from future screenings after he wrote a critical
piece about "Batman Returns." Paramount withdrew all ads indefinitely
from Variety following a critical review of "Patriot Games." Its vicepresident
for communications said: "the trade [papers] are there to assess
the commercial viability of a film and give exhibitors and industry people
an enlightened interpretation of what the film can do. It's not like a review
for The New York Times. . .that would be assessing the merits of the
film." Variety's small circulation (well under 20,000) made it highly
dependent on advertising. Its editor apologised and promised that the
reviewer (who had almost 20 years experience) would never again be
assigned a Paramount film and might be fired. He warned the reviewer
that he objected "when [your] political opinions. . .(a) color the review
emotionally, and (b) negatively critique the work done by artisans such as
the composer, cinematographer, etc. . . these views are not subject for
intellectual discourse; they are policy." New York Times D1 (June 1,
1992), B3 (June 10, 1992). A group of Indian film stars retaliated against
six movie gossip magazines by refusing them any further interviews. New
York Times s.1 p.5 (September 6, 1992).
When the editor of Automobile attacked General Motors at the annual
Automotive Press Association dinner for closing 21 plants and eliminating
74,000 jobs, calling GM management "piano players in the whorehouse,"
the carmaker withdrew Oldsmobile and Buick ads for three
months. The editor said that GM's 50-60 pages of advertisments a year
(out of 900) could make the difference between profit and loss. The GM
vice president for marketing and public affairs responded that "all G.M.
vehicle divisions make their own decisions about how to spend advertising
dollars." Toyota pulled its ads from Road and Track when it failed to
make the 1991 "10 Best List." GM did the same when Car and Driver
photographed an Opel Kadett in a junkyard and called it "the worst car in
the world." New York Times C9 (June 26, 1992).
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Kennedy (1971). "A good lawyer is like a good prostitute . . . If the price is
right, you warm up your client." Tybor (1978: 18), quoted in Galanter
(1983: 159).
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Before Duckworth published D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers, Edward
Garnett cut 10 per cent of the text without consulting the author, partly
because it was sexually too explicit. The complete version is being
published by Cambridge University Press. New York Times B3 (May 6,
1992).
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