Walt Disney Studios won’t give customary access to film critics from the “Los Angeles Times” for advance screenings because of displeasure for the newspaper questioning in questioning if an area Disney theme park pays its fair share of local taxes.
The “Los Angeles Times” published a note to readers that accompanies its holiday movie section: “This year, Walt Disney Co. studios declined to offer ‘The Times’ advance screenings, citing what it called unfair coverage of its business ties with [Disney’s theme park in] Anaheim. ‘The Times’ will continue to review and cover Disney movies and programs when they are available to the public.”
As part of its comprehensive coverage of the matter, a Hollywood Reporter article by Paul Bond published a Disney statement on the dustup: “We regularly work with news organizations around the world that we don’t always agree with, but in this instance the ‘L.A. Times’ showed a complete disregard for basic journalistic standards.” Disney calls the articles “biased and inaccurate.”
The Los Angeles Times article in dispute outlined what it asserts are secret cozy relations between Disney and the city of Anaheim, CA, where Disneyland is located, and asserts that Disney negotiated to be shielded from local taxes.
Press bans erupt sporadically. According to the third edition of book “Marketing To Moviegoers”, “In late 2001, Warner Bros. clashed with ‘Entertainment Weekly’, which [then was] in another division of its parent Time Warner. ‘Entertainment Weekly’ published a big story on ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ without cooperation from Warner Bros. and just ahead of studio-arranged stories by other publications. According to the ‘Wall Street Journal’, the studio retaliated by not running movie ads in ‘Entertainment Weekly’ for three months and not inviting the magazine’s film critics to screenings until both sides patched things up.”
Such boycotts are distressing to filmmakers involved because their films will suffer from diminished publicity when the distributor puts up barriers to press coverage.
Related content:
- Disney Bars ‘L.A. Times’ Reporters From Film Screenings
- Is Disney Paying Its Share in Anaheim?
- Note to Readers: Walt Disney Co. studios declined to offer ‘The Times’ advance screenings
- Disney Bans ‘LA Times’ Reporters From Advance Screenings After Critical Article (Update)
- Disney Ends ‘LA Times’ Ban After Film Critics Threaten Boycott
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