Publicists and reporters have an evolving relationship in the strange world of 21st Century journalism, and the rules seem to be changing every day.
While writing his new book, “The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History,” journalist John Ortved received letters from corporate lawyers and resistance from Fox Corporation. In a Daily Beast essay, he described how he struggled with publicity while writing about the television show, The Simpsons.
Here’s one passage from the article: “Something I gleaned early from this experience is that Hollywood publicists are so used to journalists kowtowing to their every request that they no longer understand what journalism actually is. We’re talking about cartoon characters here, not Watergate, but the light subject matter doesn’t exclude the possibility of doing real research and telling interesting stories. They actually thought that we were all on the same team, trying to get their client the maximum exposure, using our words and outlets only to extend their message.”