Another Liberal Hypocrite........

Angelina Jolie's Freedom of Press, on Her Terms

Thursday , June 14, 2007

By Roger Friedman

Angelina Jolie's Freedom of Press, on Her Terms

Angelina Jolie's true colors came out Wednesday as she promoted a film

about freedom of the press and then tried to censor all her

interviews.

Jolie is touting press freedom these days, playing the widow of

murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in a new movie

called "A Mighty Heart."

But Jolie turns out to be a mighty hypocrite when it comes to her own

freedom of the press. Her lawyer required all journalists to sign a

contract before talking to her, and Jolie instructed publicists at

first to ban FOX News from the red carpet of her premiere.

Ironically, Wednesday night's premiere of the excellent Michael

Winterbottom-directed film was meant to support an organization called

Reporters Without Borders. Jolie, however, did everything she could to

clamp down on the press and control it.

Reporters from most major media outlets balked Wednesday when they

were presented with an agreement drawn up by Jolie's Hollywood lawyer

Robert Offer. The contract closely dictated the terms of all

interviews.

Reporters were asked to agree to "not ask Ms. Jolie any questions

regarding her personal relationships. In the event Interviewer does

ask Ms. Jolie any questions regarding her personal relationships, Ms.

Jolie will have the right to immediately terminate the interview and

leave."

The agreement also required that "the interview may only be used to

promote the Picture. In no event may Interviewer or Media Outlet be

entitled to run all or any portion of the interview in connection with

any other story. ... The interview will not be used in a manner that

is disparaging, demeaning, or derogatory to Ms. Jolie."

If that wasn't enough, Jolie also requires that if any of these things

happen, "the tape of the interview will not be released to

Interviewer." Such a violation, the signatory thus agrees, would

"cause Jolie irreparable harm" and make it possible for her to sue the

interviewer and seek a restraining order.

I am told that USA Today and the Associated Press were among those

that canceled interviews, and eventually Jolie scotched all print

interviews when she heard the reaction.

"I wouldn't sign it," a reporter for a major outlet said. "Who does

she think she is?"

A call to Offer was apparently one that could be refused. He didn't

return calls. An associate, Lindsay Strasberg, said, before hanging

up: "You're a reporter? I can't talk to reporters. Goodbye."

So much for reporters without borders.

That's not all: Jolie told Paramount Pictures publicists to ban FOX

News Channel and all FOX News affiliates from covering the "Mighty

Heart" premiere on the red carpet. It was only with the intervention

of mortified Paramount staff that an FNC camera crew was allowed to be

present.

Apparently, no one told Jolie of the highly positive review FOX News

had given "A Mighty Heart" from Cannes.

Jolie is famous by now for directing press and selling rights to her

photos. She has long been in business with People magazine,

orchestrating photo shoots of her children. The money, she says, goes

to charity.

This column reported a year ago, on June 8, 2006, about how Jolie and

Pitt were responsible for the expulsion of journalists in Namibia

where the couple went to have their child, Shiloh. Their bodyguards

regularly got into fights with local photographers hoping to make some

money from the couple's colonial residency in their country.

After Shiloh was born, Jolie and Pitt gave a news conference, but

limited it only to Namibian journalists. No reporters from neighboring

countries were allowed.

The couple sat on the dais with Sam Nujoma, Namibia's first president,

aka dictator, who ruled for 15 years.

In 2002, Nujoma abruptly appointed himself minister of information and

broadcasting. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists,

Nujoma has routinely attacked reporters from his country calling them

"unpatriotic" and "the enemy."

During the time Pitt and Jolie were in the country, a former

photographer for the Namibian, the daily newspaper, was arrested twice

for trying to get a picture of the couple.

South African John Liebenberg was arrested on municipal property

during the Jolie-Pitt stay and pronounced guilty of trespassing. His

passport and camera equipment were confiscated as well.

Treatment of the press is so bad in Namibia, in fact, that an

organization called the National Society for Human Rights was formed

several years ago to protect reporters' rights.

The NSHR, which is usually busy with more important matters, issued a

statement on April 24 strongly condemning the deportation of foreign

journalists from Namibia who wanted to cover the Pitt-Jolie visit.

"As the principal human rights monitoring and advocacy organization in

this country, we strongly repudiate this unprecedented and blatant

violation of the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and

expression, which includes freedom of the press and other media," the

statement read.

It's a little unclear how Mariane Pearl, whom Jolie plays in "A Mighty

Heart," feels about her portrayer's position on freedom of press for

some, but not all. On Wednesday, I spoke to Jeff Julliard, the

editorial director of Reporters Without Borders in Paris.

"Paparazzi should be allowed to do their job," he said, adding that he

condemned Jolie's banning of FOX News and actions taken on her behalf

in Namibia.

Paul McCartney: Heather Who?

If you thought Paul McCartney was licking his wounds thanks to his

nasty divorce from Heather Mills, guess again.

On Wednesday night, McCartney - just days away from his 65th birthday

- pulled out all the stops for a surprise rock show in a small club in

Manhattan.

Drawing in around 700 fans to the High Line on 16th Street and 10th

Avenue, McCartney and a four-piece highly charged rock band put on a

nearly two-hour show that covered his Beatles years, a little bit from

Wings and a couple of tracks from "Memory Almost Full," his excellent

new album on Starbucks/Hear Music Records.

And there were just enough luminaries scattered about to give the

event some glitz, like Whoopi Goldberg, Elijah Wood, Little Steven Van

Zandt, New Line Cinemas chairman Michael Lynne, Steve Buscemi, Aidan

Quinn and Elizabeth Bracco, music manager Danny Bennett and a good

portion of the Eastman family, Paul's always in-laws. Wood, in

particular, was wide-eyed.

"I've never seen him live before," he said.

McCartney devoted a lot of the show to the Beatles, with "Drive My

Car," "I'll Follow the Sun," "Hey Jude," "Let it Be," "Long and

Winding Road," "Blackbird," "Lady Madonna," "I Saw Her Standing

There," "Back in the USSR," "I've Got a Feeling" and "Get Back."

Songs from his solo and Wings years were scarce. The beautiful but

little-known "Calico Skies" was resurrected from the "Flaming Pie"

album. He dedicated "Here Today" (1982) to "our fallen heroes: John,

George and Linda."

>From the new album, McCartney showed off his mandolin playing on

"Dance Tonight" and reveled in the drama of "House of Wax."

For some reason, he failed to play the album's centerpiece, "Ever

Present Past," but did justice to the jolly autobiographical number,

"That Was Me."

There were no surprises per se except that McCartney looked terrific

and sounded even better. How he's singing so well at this age is a

mystery; he hits all the high notes, and gives out a yelpin' Little

Richard-like rock scream that seems impossible.

Because of the odd angle of our position in the mezzanine, we also got

to see a lot of his boogie-woogie piano playing. It's solid and really

cool to behold.

Later, at an after-party held on Norfolk Street at the Back Room,

McCartney held court, greeted friends like actor Clive Owen and told

me that he had be on tour in 2008.

He is also going to Las Vegas at the end of this month to celebrate

the one-year anniversary of the Beatles "Love" show with Cirque du

Soleil. Also, there should be a small club show like this one in Los

Angeles right after that.

When is the show, I asked Paul?

"I have no idea," he said with a grin. "I just go where they tell me."

Odds 'n' Ends

That was Donna Pescow, known to 1970s TV viewers as "Angie," playing

Pat Parisi's mom who couldn't tell a joke in the final episode of "The

Sopranos." ...

Many kudos to our pal Jim Kerr, the legendary New York DJ at Q104.3

FM, the only classic rock station left in our fair city. It was Jim's

voice that woke up Tony Soprano at the start of the final episode on

Sunday. The song he was playing was Vanilla Fudge's rendition of "You

Keep Me Hangin' On." ...

Thursday would have been the 63rd birthday of my great friend,

novelist Laurie Colwin, who died unexpectedly in 1992 at age 48.

As her many fans know, Laurie's wonderful novels, books of short

stories and essays are all still in print. From the gloriously funny

"Happy All the Time" to the trenchant "Another Marvelous Thing" and

"Home Cooking," Laurie - who wrote for the New Yorker and discovered

Fran Lebowitz - was a unique and resonant voice in modern literature.

She truly lives on in her work. ...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,282173,00.html

"Greg Brown" <gregvbrown@hotmail.com> wrote in message

news:1181849853.988070.315270@g37g2000prf.googlegroups.com...

> Angelina Jolie's Freedom of Press, on Her Terms

You agree with "Fox News" that Michael Moore's new movie is genius?

turk

--

"Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions."--Jerry Falwell

On Jun 14, 1:25 pm, "turk" <tur...@noway.nohow> wrote:

> "Greg Brown" <gregvbr...@hotmail.com> wrote in message

>

> news:1181849853.988070.315270@g37g2000prf.googlegroups.com...

>

> > Angelina Jolie's Freedom of Press, on Her Terms

>

> You agree with "Fox News" that Michael Moore's new movie is genius?

>

Translation: You can't defend the hypocrisy and point of the post, so

you make a lame attempt to spin!

"Greg Brown" <gregvbrown@hotmail.com> wrote in message

news:1181859151.027787.52880@d30g2000prg.googlegroups.com...

> On Jun 14, 1:25 pm, "turk" <tur...@noway.nohow> wrote:

>> "Greg Brown" <gregvbr...@hotmail.com> wrote in message

>>

>> news:1181849853.988070.315270@g37g2000prf.googlegroups.com...

>>

>> > Angelina Jolie's Freedom of Press, on Her Terms

>>

>> You agree with "Fox News" that Michael Moore's new movie is genius?

>>

>

>

>

> Translation: You can't defend the hypocrisy and point of the post, so

> you make a lame attempt to spin!

>

Typical loon evasiveness.

Jim E

"Greg Brown" <gregvbrown@hotmail.com> wrote in message

news:1181849853.988070.315270@g37g2000prf.googlegroups.com...

> Angelina Jolie's Freedom of Press, on Her Terms

> Thursday , June 14, 2007

>

> By Roger Friedman

>

>

> Angelina Jolie's Freedom of Press, on Her Terms

>

> Angelina Jolie's true colors came out Wednesday as she promoted a

> film

> about freedom of the press and then tried to censor all her

> interviews.

It's quite reminiscent of a George W. Bush press conference. So, how

is this being hypocritical? She is promoting a film in which she

stars. She is not advocating anything. There is no evidence that she

had any involvement in the formulation of the contractual agreements

regarding any interviews that she gives.

You are really reaching on this one.

"Greg Brown" <gregvbrown@hotmail.com> wrote in message

news:1181859151.027787.52880@d30g2000prg.googlegroups.com...

> On Jun 14, 1:25 pm, "turk" <tur...@noway.nohow> wrote:

>> "Greg Brown" <gregvbr...@hotmail.com> wrote in message

>>

>> news:1181849853.988070.315270@g37g2000prf.googlegroups.com...

>>

>> > Angelina Jolie's Freedom of Press, on Her Terms

>>

>> You agree with "Fox News" that Michael Moore's new movie is genius?

>>

>

>

>

> Translation: You can't defend the hypocrisy and point of the post, so

> you make a lame attempt to spin!

Actually, I already covered how much of a stretch that is in another post.

You neocons repeat yourselves so much since you all get the same marching

orders from the idiot neocon media disgraces and White House press releases.

You're all sheep. You literally have to tune in to Hannity, O'Reilly,

Savage, Tony Snow, etc. to be told exactly what to think. This is about as

true as you dumbfucks always claiming prayer is banned in schools.

By the way, why aren't you over in Iraq fighting your war? The military is

desperate for soldiers and you haven't enlisted to fight for business

profits? I guess that's another way you emulate your heroes: Too cowardly

to fight your own battles.

turk

--

"Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions."--Jerry Falwell

On Jun 14, 3:37 pm, Greg Brown <gregvbr...@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Angelina Jolie's Freedom of Press, on Her Terms

> Thursday , June 14, 2007

>

> By Roger Friedman

>

> Angelina Jolie's Freedom of Press, on Her Terms

>

> Angelina Jolie's true colors came out Wednesday as she promoted a film

> about freedom of the press and then tried to censor all her

> interviews.

>

> Jolie is touting press freedom these days, playing the widow of

> murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in a new movie

> called "A Mighty Heart."

>

> But Jolie turns out to be a mighty hypocrite when it comes to her own

> freedom of the press. Her lawyer required all journalists to sign a

> contract before talking to her, and Jolie instructed publicists at

> first to ban FOX News from the red carpet of her premiere.

>

> Ironically, Wednesday night's premiere of the excellent Michael

> Winterbottom-directed film was meant to support an organization called

> Reporters Without Borders. Jolie, however, did everything she could to

> clamp down on the press and control it.

>

> Reporters from most major media outlets balked Wednesday when they

> were presented with an agreement drawn up by Jolie's Hollywood lawyer

> Robert Offer. The contract closely dictated the terms of all

> interviews.

>

> Reporters were asked to agree to "not ask Ms. Jolie any questions

> regarding her personal relationships. In the event Interviewer does

> ask Ms. Jolie any questions regarding her personal relationships, Ms.

> Jolie will have the right to immediately terminate the interview and

> leave."

>

> The agreement also required that "the interview may only be used to

> promote the Picture. In no event may Interviewer or Media Outlet be

> entitled to run all or any portion of the interview in connection with

> any other story. ... The interview will not be used in a manner that

> is disparaging, demeaning, or derogatory to Ms. Jolie."

>

> If that wasn't enough, Jolie also requires that if any of these things

> happen, "the tape of the interview will not be released to

> Interviewer." Such a violation, the signatory thus agrees, would

> "cause Jolie irreparable harm" and make it possible for her to sue the

> interviewer and seek a restraining order.

>

> I am told that USA Today and the Associated Press were among those

> that canceled interviews, and eventually Jolie scotched all print

> interviews when she heard the reaction.

>

> "I wouldn't sign it," a reporter for a major outlet said. "Who does

> she think she is?"

>

> A call to Offer was apparently one that could be refused. He didn't

> return calls. An associate, Lindsay Strasberg, said, before hanging

> up: "You're a reporter? I can't talk to reporters. Goodbye."

>

> So much for reporters without borders.

>

> That's not all: Jolie told Paramount Pictures publicists to ban FOX

> News Channel and all FOX News affiliates from covering the "Mighty

> Heart" premiere on the red carpet. It was only with the intervention

> of mortified Paramount staff that an FNC camera crew was allowed to be

> present.

>

> Apparently, no one told Jolie of the highly positive review FOX News

> had given "A Mighty Heart" from Cannes.

>

> Jolie is famous by now for directing press and selling rights to her

> photos. She has long been in business with People magazine,

> orchestrating photo shoots of her children. The money, she says, goes

> to charity.

>

> This column reported a year ago, on June 8, 2006, about how Jolie and

> Pitt were responsible for the expulsion of journalists in Namibia

> where the couple went to have their child, Shiloh. Their bodyguards

> regularly got into fights with local photographers hoping to make some

> money from the couple's colonial residency in their country.

>

> After Shiloh was born, Jolie and Pitt gave a news conference, but

> limited it only to Namibian journalists. No reporters from neighboring

> countries were allowed.

>

> The couple sat on the dais with Sam Nujoma, Namibia's first president,

> aka dictator, who ruled for 15 years.

>

> In 2002, Nujoma abruptly appointed himself minister of information and

> broadcasting. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists,

> Nujoma has routinely attacked reporters from his country calling them

> "unpatriotic" and "the enemy."

>

> During the time Pitt and Jolie were in the country, a former

> photographer for the Namibian, the daily newspaper, was arrested twice

> for trying to get a picture of the couple.

>

> South African John Liebenberg was arrested on municipal property

> during the Jolie-Pitt stay and pronounced guilty of trespassing. His

> passport and camera equipment were confiscated as well.

>

> Treatment of the press is so bad in Namibia, in fact, that an

> organization called the National Society for Human Rights was formed

> several years ago to protect reporters' rights.

>

> The NSHR, which is usually busy with more important matters, issued a

> statement on April 24 strongly condemning the deportation of foreign

> journalists from Namibia who wanted to cover the Pitt-Jolie visit.

>

> "As the principal human rights monitoring and advocacy organization in

> this country, we strongly repudiate this unprecedented and blatant

> violation of the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and

> expression, which includes freedom of the press and other media," the

> statement read.

>

> It's a little unclear how Mariane Pearl, whom Jolie plays in "A Mighty

> Heart," feels about her portrayer's position on freedom of press for

> some, but not all. On Wednesday, I spoke to Jeff Julliard, the

> editorial director of Reporters Without Borders in Paris.

>

> "Paparazzi should be allowed to do their job," he said, adding that he

> condemned Jolie's banning of FOX News and actions taken on her behalf

> in Namibia.

>

> Paul McCartney: Heather Who?

>

> If you thought Paul McCartney was licking his wounds thanks to his

> nasty divorce from Heather Mills, guess again.

>

> On Wednesday night, McCartney - just days away from his 65th birthday

> - pulled out all the stops for a surprise rock show in a small club in

> Manhattan.

>

> Drawing in around 700 fans to the High Line on 16th Street and 10th

> Avenue, McCartney and a four-piece highly charged rock band put on a

> nearly two-hour show that covered his Beatles years, a little bit from

> Wings and a couple of tracks from "Memory Almost Full," his excellent

> new album on Starbucks/Hear Music Records.

>

> And there were just enough luminaries scattered about to give the

> event some glitz, like Whoopi Goldberg, Elijah Wood, Little Steven Van

> Zandt, New Line Cinemas chairman Michael Lynne, Steve Buscemi, Aidan

> Quinn and Elizabeth Bracco, music manager Danny Bennett and a good

> portion of the Eastman family, Paul's always in-laws. Wood, in

> particular, was wide-eyed.

>

> "I've never seen him live before," he said.

>

> McCartney devoted a lot of the show to the Beatles, with "Drive My

> Car," "I'll Follow the Sun," "Hey Jude," "Let it Be," "Long and

> Winding Road," "Blackbird," "Lady Madonna," "I Saw Her Standing

> There," "Back in the USSR," "I've Got a Feeling" and "Get Back."

>

> Songs from his solo and Wings years were scarce. The beautiful but

> little-known "Calico Skies" was resurrected from the "Flaming Pie"

> album. He dedicated "Here Today" (1982) to "our fallen heroes: John,

> George and Linda."

>

> >From the new album, McCartney showed off his mandolin playing on

>

> "Dance Tonight" and reveled in the drama of "House of Wax."

>

> For some reason, he failed to play the album's centerpiece, "Ever

> Present Past," but did justice to the jolly autobiographical number,

> "That Was Me."

>

> There were no surprises per se except that McCartney looked terrific

> and sounded even better. How he's singing so well at this age is a

> mystery; he hits all the high notes, and gives out a yelpin' Little

> Richard-like rock scream that seems impossible.

>

> Because of the odd angle of our position in the mezzanine, we also got

> to see a lot of his boogie-woogie piano playing. It's solid and really

> cool to behold.

>

> Later, at an after-party held on Norfolk Street at the Back Room,

> McCartney held court, greeted friends like actor Clive Owen and told

> me that he had be on tour in 2008.

>

> He is also going to Las Vegas at the end of this month to celebrate

> the one-year anniversary of the Beatles "Love" show with Cirque du

> Soleil. Also, there should be a small club show like this one in Los

> Angeles right after that.

>

> When is the show, I asked Paul?

>

> "I have no idea," he said with a grin. "I just go where they tell me."

>

> Odds 'n' Ends

>

> That was Donna Pescow, known to 1970s TV viewers as "Angie," playing

> Pat Parisi's mom who couldn't tell a joke in the final episode of "The

> Sopranos." ...

>

> Many kudos to our pal Jim Kerr, the legendary New York DJ at Q104.3

> FM, the only classic rock station left in our fair city. It was Jim's

> voice that woke up Tony Soprano at the start of the final episode on

> Sunday. The song he was playing was Vanilla Fudge's rendition of "You

> Keep Me Hangin' On." ...

>

> Thursday would have been the 63rd birthday of my great friend,

> novelist Laurie Colwin, who died unexpectedly in 1992 at age 48.

>

> As her many fans know, Laurie's wonderful novels, books of short

> stories and essays are all still in print. From the gloriously funny

> "Happy All the Time" to the trenchant "Another Marvelous Thing" and

> "Home Cooking," Laurie - who wrote for the New Yorker and discovered

> Fran Lebowitz - was a unique and resonant voice in modern literature.

> She truly lives on in her work. ...

>

> http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,282173,00.html

Let's see:

-- Fox "news"

-- Reporters pissed because this woman wants to focus on the story she

is telling, not on rumors about her personal life.

-- And the rightwingers attack her as a hypocrite.

My vote goes with Angelina Jolie -- reporters can go fuck themselves.