The Page Six gossips at The New York Post reported the other day that newly minted MSNBC host Ronan Farrow could not be asked any sticky personal questions -- mostly about his warring family over charges of sexual abuse by Woody Allen against his sister Dylan Farrow -- at an event where he was winning a "Cronkite Award" after being a journalist for three days.
Who demanded the brand-new journalist not be asked tough questions by journalists? In an update after the event, the group honoring Farrow, Reach the World, first told Page Six it came from Farrow’s publicists, then completely flip-flopped and claimed it wasn’t Farrow’s publicists:
Halstead told us in writing, “We would like you to sign the form or indicate by return email that you understand our goals to stay completely on message given the surrounding circumstances. We will not tolerate press questions about personal or family affairs related to Mr. Farrow in any circumstance at this event.”
We then asked who the directives were coming from, and Halstead responded via email, “His team direct to you, but we would do it anyway any time there were circumstances such as these that required it.”
Following our report, Ronan’s team went into full spin mode, with his rep insisting he was not aware of the restrictions and had not asked for them. Under pressure from Ronan’s team, Reach the World issued a press release with Halstead saying, “Ronan and his team did not request any restrictions whatsoever on reporters’ questions. Communication between Reach the World and members of the press have been the sole responsibility of RTW. We apologize to Ronan for the error.”
Despite the fact that we dealt with her directly, Halstead then falsely told The Wrap, “There was a misinterpretation between the Page Six reporter and our event planners.”
We’ve re-read Halstead’s emails, and the misinterpretation was not ours.
Farrow himself tweeted: “Oh, you so crazy, rumor of the day – I’d never demand anyone not ask me anything, obviously. (Doesn’t mean I have to answer though.)” And, “Maybe I can earn a Cronkite award by investigating how long it’ll take me to actually live up to a Cronkite award?”
