Writing Thursday night at his newsletter site Status, conservative media Benedict Arnold and former senior CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy threw a fit over the company now overseeing the Golden Globes – Jay Penske’s Penske Media Company (PMC) – allowing conservative and other non-liberal podcasters like Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson to be eligible for a new category for best podcast.
Darcy has not only been paddling the struggle boat over that, but the prospect of said podcasters being allowed to indulge in “pricey packages to boost their Golden Globe prospects—an awards show he also owns.”
All this, Darcy insists, has “sent shockwaves through his newsrooms, Status has learned, reverberating across the various Hollywood trade publications that he owns and prompting internal concern that was communicated to senior editors.”
Earth to Darcy: Have you not heard of massive publicity campaigns movies and shows push out on TV, socials, and even in print newspapers like The New York Times for shows like The Oscars?
He explained not only is a “pay-to-play” scheme troubling, but that said “toxic right-wing figures” on the shortlist would be allowed to lobby the roughly 300 entertainment reporters who vote on the Golden Globes (and replaced the Hollywood Foreign Press Association) and said lobbying efforts costing $75,000 (click “expand”):
According to a pitch deck Status obtained, the $75,000 package includes a “Variety Creative Impact Award” and a feature story across Variety’s magazine, website, and social channels. It also comes with an onstage award presentation at a PMC event. In other words, toxic right-wing figures can pay to be showered in positive coverage.
Suffice to say, the pay-to-play offer has not sat well with the publication’s staff— and the discontent has radiated across the broader PMC universe…Colleagues at sister outlets like The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline were similarly unsettled, viewing the scheme as yet another instance that undermined the integrity of the company’s journalism.
(….)
It’s hard to see any principled journalist wanting to associate their byline with the pay-to-play program.
As one person told Status, “If that podcast package is sold, what journalist is going to write a feature about Tucker Carlson, knowing that he bought it himself?”
Darcy has been railing about this for nearly a month. Back on October 20, Darcy reacted to the Penske Media Corporation’s initial “slate of 25 podcasts eligible for the new honor” that Globes boss Helen Hoehne celebrated as embodying “the incredible depth, diversity and creativity thriving in the podcasting world today.”
But because they included Rogan, Kelly, Von, Carlson, and Owens, such consideration on a two-dozen-plus list was proof the company wanted to platform “toxic figures” “who spend their days radicalizing audiences and inflaming the culture wars.”
