VARIETY EDITOR LASHES OUT AT L.A. AND N.Y. TIMES

VARIETY EDITOR LASHES OUT AT L.A. AND N.Y. TIMES

Variety Editor in Chief Peter Bart has criticized the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times for overplaying the Anthony Pellicano wire-tapping case. In today's (Monday) edition of the trade publication, Bart writes that the two newspapers "have invested enormous amounts of journalistic real estate in the story, darkly suggesting that major Hollywood careers were about to be destroyed. The photos of [Paramount Chairman] Brad Grey and [Universal Studios Chairman] Ron Meyer were repeatedly run, as though to suggest that their positions were in jeopardy. Guess what? Nothing has happened to them or anyone else in the power structure." All of which raises the question, Bart writes, "Why would two major newspapers become so obsessed over the Pellicano affair that they would run interminable page-one stories impugning reputations and presaging corporate upheavals? In short, why did the journalists allow themselves to become the center of the story?"



24/07/2006