Los Angeles considers law to curb paparazzi

Posted by Jeffrey Blyth on 4 August 2008 at 10:31
Tags: Journalism, Photography

New laws to protect celebrities from the paparazzi are being considered in Los Angeles.

Lately the hordes of photographers - many of them amateurs with camera-phones - have created mob scenes and even brawls that resulted in injuries.

Celebrities have complained, and so have some police who have to spend so much time protecting the stars. One of the suggested remedies is a local anti-paparazzi law that would create a “personal safety zone” between photographers and their subjects.

At a meeting in Los Angeles City Hall, attended the by representatives of both sides, it was claimed that controlling photographers’ behaviour was a matter of public safety. It was claimed that photographers run in packs, ignore red lights and make illegal u-turns in pursuit of their quarry.

Occasionally this has resulted, it was claimed, in personal injuries. Some photographers have had their toes run over by celebrities fleeing in their heavy SUVs. Others have been hurt in fist fights.

The Los Angeles Police Department, trying to maintain a neutral stance, did not attend the meeting. Police chief William Bratton dubbed the hearing a waste of time and even suggested that sometimes the fracas are as much the fault of the celebrities as the cameramen.

“If you notice, since Britney started wearing clothes and behaving, Paris is out of town not bothering anybody, and evidently Lindsay Lohan has gone gay, we don’t seem to have much of an issue,” the police chief said.

US Esquire tries electronic magazine cover

Posted by Jeffrey Blyth on 23 July 2008 at 09:32
Tags: Magazines

Magazines with covers that flash an electric signal to attract buyers will soon be appearing on American news-stands.

The first will be the cover of the September issue of Esquire, which the New York Times reports will flash the message “The 21st Century Begins Now”.

It’s the idea of Esquire editor in chief David Granger, who admits it is something of a gimmick, already in use in supermarket displays, but one that has not yet been tried in publishing.

The secret is a miniscule battery. small enough to be inserted into a magazine’s cover pages, which Hearst, publisher of Esquire, helped finance.  It was developed - and is now being produced - in China. The batteries  are inserted in the magazine at a plant in Mexico.  One problem is that although tiny they have to be inserted in the magazines by hand. And  the copies have to be kept chilled until they reach the distributors.

It means that only about  100,000  copies of the magazine that reach news-stands will carry the electronic message. That’s about a seventh of  Esquire’s  overall circulation of about 720,000.

Helping bear some of the additional cost is the Ford Motor Company, which will have an advertisement inside the magazine cover using the same technology to promote a new mini sports vehicle that seems to be actually  driving across the page.

Thomson appointment no surprise to Wall Street Journal union

Posted by Jeffrey Blyth on 22 May 2008 at 09:27
Tags: National Newspapers

The appointment of Robert Thomson, a veteran News Corp journalist, to the top job at the Wall Street Journal came as no surprise to the head of the paper’s biggest trade union.

“This is what everyone expected,” said Steve Yount, who, represents over 2,000 Dow Jones employees as the head of the local chapter of the Association of Puiblishers’ Employees.

But no one should have been surprised, Yount told Editor & Publisher, that Murdoch would appoint someone well-known to him to the most important post at the paper.

The former Times editor was appointed publisher of the WSJ in December, shortly after News Corp had completed its multi-billion dollar acquisition of Dow Jones. It’s expected Thomson will hasten the many changes that Murdoch has in mind for the Journal, including the launching of a new glossy magazine due to debut later this year, and edited by another former Times journalist Tina Gaudoin.

Another News Corp veteran, former News International boss Les Hinton, has been assigned the position of publisher, the job that Thomson previously held. This is in addition to Hinton’s job as chief executive of Dow Jones.

Yount was not sure, he admitted, whether the changes Murdoch makes will affect the Journal’s integrity. “At least,” he added “he hasn’t placed naked women on Page Three. Is that an encouraging sign?”

To his members who recently signed a new contract that runs through to 2010, he had this advice: “Just buckle down and do your job.”

‘Queen of the Tabloids’ Bonnie Fuller leaves American Media

Posted by Jeffrey Blyth on 14 May 2008 at 08:48
Tags: Magazines

Bonnie Fuller, once dubbed Queen of the Tabloids, is giving up her job as chief editorial director at American Media, the company which publishes the weekly Star.

She had a year to go on her contract and both she and David Pecker, who heads American Media, insisted she is voluntarily giving up her job - which reportedly paid her over a million dollars a year She will remain linked to the company as a consultant and as “editor at large” for The Star.

“It was my decision,” the 53 year old Canadian-born newswoman insisted.

Nevertheless there have been reports lately that the weekly.

In the words of the trade journal MediaWeek has been “showing signs of strain” The Star has been facing increasing competition from In Touch, Life & Style and the American version of OK. Once one of the top sellers, The Star, although still regarded as a major player , has lately trailed the almost two million circulation US and of course sells much less than People which has a circulation of almost four million

In her career, which spans 25 years, and began on the Canadian fashion magazine Flare, she has worked for several top publication including Marie Claire, Glamour and Cosmopolitan (where she succeeded long-time editor Helen Gurley Brown) but it was in the tabloid world that she really made her name. She master-minded the successful ascent of US and increased its news-stand sales into the millions.

She was a tough editor, difficult to please. She supposedly “burned up editors”. Punishing hours were routine. All night editing sessions were commonplace. Even picture captions had to have her OK. But at every place she worked she boosted circulation - and made her name. Twice she won the title Editor of the Year.

Fuller, who recently finishing redesigning three other American Media titles — Country Weekly, Fit Pregnancy and Men’s Fitness — says she is looking forward to new ventures - but didn’t specify what they might be.

Politics displacing stars in US celebrity magazines

Posted by Jeffrey Blyth on 9 May 2008 at 10:59
Tags: Magazines

There a time — not long ago — when celebrities’ weddings and their babies were considered the big sellers in the celebrity magazines.

But things are changing, very fast.

There was also a time when a former editor of People magazine, Richard Stolley, laid down some rules for his staff. They included: young is better than old; pretty is better than ugly; television is better than music; movies are better than sports, and anything is better than politics.

But those rules have changed too. The current American presidential campaign, and the people involved, are taking up more and more space in the celebrity mags. Larry Hackett, managing editor of People, told the New York Times: “People are craving it They are really very interested in what’s going on, so we are covering it more than ever”.

(more…)

Are celebrity baby pictures worth millions?

Posted by Jeffrey Blyth on 6 May 2008 at 12:43
Tags: Journalism, Magazines

The millions of dollars that American celebrity mags are reputedly paying for stars’ wedding and baby pictures are only marginally beneficial, the New York Times suggests today.

Once considered ethically questionable, paying a fortune for a celebrity’s family snaps has now become fairly routine among US celebrity weeklies, particularly Time Inc’s People and the US version of Northern & Shell’s OK!.

Newsstand sales of a magazine with a an exclusive cover can increase sales but rarely enough to justify a payment of $1 million (£500,000) or more. Even at full price, each additional copy generates less than $2 (£1) in extra income.

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The price of babies is going up

Posted by Jeffrey Blyth on 27 March 2008 at 16:20
Tags: Magazines

The price of babies is going up.

For the covers of celebrity magazines, that is. The first record breaking price was the reputed $1.5 million (£750,000) that People magazine paid for the first pictures of Christina Agullera’s baby Max.

That was back in February. (more…)

Ashley Alexandra Dupré an online music hit as US media use MySpace pictures

Posted by Jeffrey Blyth on 17 March 2008 at 16:49
Tags: Journalism

The $4,000 (£2,000) which former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer shelled out for his two-hour tryst in Washington with a high-price call girl turns out to be small beer compared to the money she is now raking in.

The would-be singer who turned to prostitution — codenamed “Kristen” identified by the New York Times as Ashley Alexandra Dupré - is making money from songs she recorded for use on her own website, but has had million-dollar offers from American magazines.

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