So, I saw that Angelina Jolie was in Yahoo’s Top 10 searched items Friday and I wondered why. She hadn’t been making a splash anywhere the last few days. Then, I found the New York Times article about how Angelina manipulates the media.
First off, I talked about this issue back in February in the post: Everybody plays the fool …
I started out with an attitude reading the NYT piece. After looking over it though, I felt they portrayed the situation fairly accurately … sort of. Now, a day later, I have an attitude back and I’m ready to rant.
The story kind of stays on edge giving subtle digs as well as praises. It’s good journalistic work. I still have a sense though that the writer, Brooks Barnes, is somewhat annoyed about her tactics. It’s like, how dare she try to tamper with our domain.
Listen, I’ve been watching this for years. It’s not like she’s wielding a garden hose which she can turn on and off and direct where the water goes. It’s much more like the media turning a fire hose full blast at her and she’s behind a shield trying to protect herself and direct the water to more useful places where good fruit can grow. Maybe Angelina does likes to get wet “some” with attention … probably not but so what if she does. Everyone needs water to survive … get too much of it though and you’ll drown.
Shifting the focus is one of Ms. Jolie’s best maneuvers, magazine editors and publicity executives say. When she became romantically involved with Mr. Pitt, for instance, she faced a public relations crisis — being portrayed in the tabloid press as a predator who stole Mr. Pitt from his wife, Jennifer Aniston.
This time, it was Ms. Jolie’s charity work that helped turn the story. Long interested in international humanitarian work, Ms. Jolie appeared in Pakistan, where she visited camps housing Afghan refugees, and even met with President Pervez Musharraf. Ms. Jolie and Mr. Pitt made a subsequent trip to Kashmir to bring attention to earthquake victims.
I don’t believe Angelina used the media to save face but rather she saw the opportunity to focus the media on what really matters.
Ms. Jolie’s attempts to lasso the media have occasionally backfired. In 2006, when she sought the privacy of Namibia to give birth to Shiloh, the government refused to grant visas to journalists unless they had written permission from the couple. Magazines complained harshly.
Forget you! The media chases her everywhere across this earth attempting to satisfy our crack addiction for every detail of her life. I guarantee, if there was a cable TV station that had a constant camera on them, that network’s ratings would beat beat a bunch of other channels. It would truly be like The Truman Show. You do what you can to protect your privacy.
Angelina is not a toy that the media can just throw around. She’s the main topic and it’s her right to control how she’s portrayed wherever and however possible. Most of the time, it’s totally out of her control. Most media outlets run with “whatever” story about Brad and Angelina that will land them some bucks. It’s not the media’s rightto have total control of the situation. “Magazines complained harshly.” ... oh please! It was a foreign country. Western “rights” do not have to be honored in Namibia. Why do you think they went there? ... to … get … away … from … you … vultures.
You media guys use Angelina for your own profit. She uses you for the good of mankind. Guess what, she’s winning the battle and that does makes her scary smart.
Megastar fame has ruined many people (Michael Jackson, Marlyn Monroe, ...). They are/were ultimately responsible for their own outcome but I believe the media certainly played a big part in their destruction and those guys end of reaping a great amount of money from it too. Both Brad and Angelina should be greatly commended on how they have survived their fame so far and even directed it for worthy causes. I believe Brangelina realizes fame is both temporal and trivial (... now they have the tougher task of surviving parenting.)
I guess it boils down to what do you think Angelina Jolie’s deepest motive is: her own fame or helping the world.
P.S: CBS is now reporting that you got your facts wrong Mr. Brooks Barnes.
People magazine is said to have paid $14 million dollars for the photo spread of her newborn twins. The cover of Baby Shiloh reportedly fetched more than $6 million.
But, according to The New York Times, the magazine also had to promise positive coverage of the star family.
People Deputy Managing Editor Peter Castro flatly denies it, saying it’s “absolutely not true. People magazine never promises good publicity or any kind of editorial control. ... I guarantee you that, if Angelina Jolie screwed up, People magazine, along with a lot of other magazines, would be all over that story.”
CBS goes on to say:
People at the U.N. think of her almost like a diety,” says Hollywood image expert Michael Levine. “She’s almost like a beautiful Mother Teresa.
Stop complaining and deal with it Mr. Brooks Barnes.
