BOSTON: Yet another controversy surrounding the hot-button issue of press junkets bubbled to the surface last week, as a Boston-based NBC affiliate was accused of violating a recently enacted network-wide policy forbidding journalists to accept free meals, lodging or transportation.
BOSTON: Yet another controversy surrounding the hot-button issue of
press junkets bubbled to the surface last week, as a Boston-based NBC
affiliate was accused of violating a recently enacted network-wide
policy forbidding journalists to accept free meals, lodging or
transportation.
Local NBC outlet WHDH was criticized for airing an exclusive interview
with Leonardo DiCaprio conducted in Hawaii by entertainment reporter
Sara Edwards. 20th Century Fox, which released DiCaprio’s latest opus,
The Beach, paid Edwards’ expenses. The trip was in apparent violation of
a new NBC policy, enacted Jan. 1, urging all affiliates to pay for their
own travel and transport costs for such assignments.
WHDH director of press Ro Dooley responded to accusations that the
station had deliberately contravened the policy by claiming that the
interview had been recorded months before the new edict went into
effect. She also suggested that the issue had probably been raised by
competitors eager to discredit the station’s exclusive with DiCaprio,
which was heavily promoted during the mid-February sweeps period.
’We think a rival station tried to make an issue out of this,’ Dooley
said. ’The DiCaprio interview was recorded in advance of the new
policy.’
Still, one Hollywood film publicist said a policy like the one enacted
by NBC is unlikely to have much of an effect. ’The reality is, this is
the most efficient way to conduct these interviews. The entertainment
industry is not about hard-core reporting. This is the only way these
stations would get access - the star would not come to the local
stations.’
