Comments on On An Overgrown Path: Record companies, newspapers and reviews

Sorry to stick my oar in again - but on the last ...

2006-12-19T20:16:11.663Z

Sorry to stick my oar in again - but on the last point, I disagree with 'M'; "Receiving the ticket frees you to be critical and not hoping to get your money's worth."
On the contrary – a free ticket generally obliges the bearer to venture backstage after the performance to engage in various sycophantic activities.

As pleased as I am to find others agreeing with me for once, I find the whole impartiality thing as depressing as it is unsurprising.

Email received ....Hi Pliable, A quick thought: Wh...

2006-12-19T19:21:21.116Z

Email received ....

Hi Pliable,

A quick thought: When you pay for a ticket or buy a CD, you want to enjoy yourself and like what you hear even more than when it's given to you. Receiving the ticket frees you to be critical and not hoping to get your money's worth. These items aren't "outside support," in my point of view.

All best,

M

I'm still trying to get my brain round that one - Pliable

Alex, thanks for your clarification. But please re...

2006-12-19T14:24:39.006Z

Alex, thanks for your clarification. But please read my post.

I did not say the critics who went to Vienna for "The Flowering Tree" were “bought and sold by the powers that be”.

What I did say was “Now, in the further interests of clarity, can we be told who paid ‘most of the costs’ for the journalists (who didn’t include Charlotte Higgins) responsible for the glowing reviews of the Vienna premiere of John Adams' A Flowering Tree? – a work that will shortly be seen in London, Berlin and San Francisco.”

Your response answers my question.

But I asked the same question about the Dudamel concert in Rome, and it turns out that the critic in question was not paying their own way. So the question was hardly going too far.

This debate has centred on travel costs, but it is useful to know whether concert tickets and review CDs fall within the definition of ”outside support”?

Pliable, I think you are going too far in suggesti...

2006-12-19T13:49:26.846Z

Pliable, I think you are going too far in suggesting that the critics who went to Vienna for "The Flowering Tree" were bought and sold by the powers that be. I knew many of the critics there personally, and their publications were paying their own way. It is a strict policy at the New York Times never to accept any support whatsoever from outside sources. I follow the same policy at the New Yorker, and I believe that holds true for all serious American publications. I know less about the internal politics of English and European papers, but, again, I don't think the serious ones would print a "paid review." Most of the reviews of The Flowering Tree were in fact negative. Those of us who did write positively about the piece perhaps did so because we liked it.

Charlotte has now blogged on this.Follow this link...

2006-12-19T10:39:37.833Z

Charlotte has now blogged on this.

Follow this link.

Today, in key areas of public life, including poli...

2006-12-19T08:45:46.856Z

Today, in key areas of public life, including politics and business we demand transparency, and declarations of interest. Even in the Guardian Travel section it is noted if a reviewed holiday is provided free by a travel company. Yet in the arts sector we are just accepting that impartiality has disappeared. Are the two holy grails of new audiences and sponsorship blinding us to what is really going on?

Guthry and Sfmike are knowledgeable about the recording industry, and understand the hidden agendas below the surface of arts coverage. But more than 1000 readers a day arrive On An Overgrown Path from Google and other search engines. These are people who see a passing mention of Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in the Guardian or other media, and want to know more. They have no idea that Rattle shares an agent with Dudamel, or that the Guardian concert coverage came from a trip paid for by Dudamel’s record company. If they did they would be interested – and surprised.

I totally agree with Guthry that Charlotte’s article was inspirational. But to be informative it should also have covered the points above – which are all in the public domain. But perhaps that would have spoilt “a good story”?

Dear Pliable: I'm going to have to side with Guthr...

2006-12-19T05:51:03.830Z

Dear Pliable: I'm going to have to side with Guthry's comment on this one, and am frankly surprised (since you were in the recording business yourself) that you would be surprised by the idea that the "press has abandoned impartiality in all of its coverage of arts stories."

Maybe it's different coming from the United States, but there's no such thing as impartiality in the coverage of arts stories here, and probably never has been. It's all driven by the market.

Guthry, you say “Do people really still suppose th...

2006-12-18T23:14:16.466Z

Guthry, you say “Do people really still suppose that the press retains strict impartiality in all its coverage of arts stories?”

My response would be are we just going to accept that the press has abandoned impartiality in all its coverage of arts stories?

I was slightly astonished by your surprise when I ...

2006-12-18T19:10:52.093Z

I was slightly astonished by your surprise when I read your original article Pliable. Do people really still suppose that the press retains strict impartiality in all its coverage of arts stories? It seems to me that there are plenty of obvious examples of publicity driven articles whose origins are to be discovered in the work of record company or management press officers, who’s job it is to attract as much media attention as possible. The arts sections of newspapers are as full as the airwaves with such infotainment. What are programmes such as Radio 4’s Front Row and Radio 3’s In Tune all about if not publicity?

Perhaps it matters which section of the newspaper or on which type of radio programme such material appears. Or perhaps I’ve missed the point.

By the way, I found Charlotte Higgins’ article most informative and inspirational.