Introducing Ask Mr. Fish: a media advice column

Just prior to the long weekend, FishbowlLA received the following email, which made us realize that the media professionals of Los Angeles need an advice columnist. There are a lot of Los Angeles-specific conundrums out there after all. And we'll un-conundrum them for you! Send your problems to FishbowlLA with 'Advice' in the subject line and we'll do our best to solve them. Love? Career? WGA credit arbitration? No personal crisis too big or small. Anonymity guaranteed (although we may make up a funny name for you like 'Frustrated at the Formosa' or whatever). Dear Mr. Fish, I'm writing a profile of [celebrity] for [glossy gossip magazine]. I've done a bunch of these things, so it's usually pretty pro forma. But here's the thing, this time, when we met for lunch, [celebrity] was in terrible mood and actually insulted me as we were leaving. (I don't want to get into the details, because, really, it was pretty mean. Too bad I had stopped the tape at this point.) That night, she sent me flowers to apologize, along with a note saying 'I hope you understand-- my life is very challenging and I'm under a lot of stresss.' Yes, stress with three sss. The next morning her publicist left me a voice mail to see how the lunch went. I didn't call back because I don't know what to say. Do I write a puff piece or do I tell the truth? Obviously, the fact that she insulted me is not really 'news' but on the other hand I feel weird ignoring it. On the other, other hand I have my career to worry about. Anyway, my deadline is Thursday... -- R. in Bel-Air R.'s problem is solved after the jump. R., Tough call. Do you think the apology was sincere, despite the mis-spelling? If so, then I would write the piece as if nothing happened. After all, celebrities deserve the same emotional generosity and forgiveness that you (I hope) extend to other people you encounter. On the other hand, if you think the flowers were a craven attempt to manipulate you, you have an obligation to your fellow journalists not to stand for it, and write the incident up. (Of course, your editor may kill the piece, in which case we'll run it on Fishbowl.) As such, you are required to look deep into the soul of [celebrity] and determine her fundamental moral nature. Not a simple task, but as an entertainment journalist, you are a natural seeker of spiritual truth. I will say that I saw her at Doughboys once and she was immersed in a Haruki Murakami novel-- and not even the overrated one that everybody and their personal trainer reads. So I suspect that she is in fact a morally complex and sympathetic creature. In fact, can you introduce me? Hope this helps, Mr. Fish

Fishbowl

Introducing Ask Mr. Fish: a media advice column

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