It has been awhile since I wrote about extreme media relations. An article in the NY Times today gave me fodder for a new post.
When you think of hardball, take-no-prisoners PR, you might think of a number of areas – politics, sure, the tech field, OK, sometimes. But opera?
Yet there it was in the Times, an article about how the Met is trying to silence media and bloggers. Here’s an excerpt:
Opera News… said on Monday that it would stop reviewing the Metropolitan Opera, a policy promoted by the Met’s dissatisfaction over negative critiques…The decision by the magazine, which is funded by a Met… affiliate… is the latest sign of sensitivity from the Met under its general manager Peter Gelb, in the face of criticism over its productions.
In an interview, Mr. Gelb defended his decision; the Times wrote:
…he never liked the idea that an organization created to support the Met had a publication that… “continuously rips into it”
I agree that Mr. Gelb has a point, and applaud his honesty. The topic raises interesting questions about editorial independence. If you read further however, you might begin to wonder where internal politicking crosses the line and becomes thin skinned, maybe even extreme media relations:
Last month Mr. Gelb protested to WQXR over a blog posting that called his leadership into question… Last year the Met asked a blogger to stop revealing progamming choices… before the official announcement… the blogger complied.
Mr. Gelb has it in for bloggers that cause problems? Oh well. A blog with the word Revenge in its name can’t tread lightly. These are the risks we take. If Flack’s Revenge goes dark for awhile, you will know why!
