Is Tom Cruise building a $10 million bunker to protect his family from space alien attack?
If true (it is posted in one of the ever-reliable British newspapers, quoting the even more reliable Star) like Michael Jackson with , Cruise is crazy like a fox. The publicity value is incalculable.
Tom Cruise doesn’t need any more free publicity, but the German government gave him and the movie Valkryie plenty of it when they refused to let them film the saga of anti-Hitler plotter Claus Van Stauffenberg at the Bendlerblock. It’s now a memorial and part of the German Defense Ministry–but it was where the generals who rebelled against Hitler were tortured and executed in 1944.
Guess what? As we advocated here, the German government had a change of heart and the filming is OKed. From a PR perspective, if an artist wants to tell the story, the government should try to help make it happen–even if that artist is a ‘wacky Scientologist.’
The German government finally realized what a PR disaster it was to look like they were denying Cruise filming rights because of his religion. We know where that goes.
We were right about the free speech issue, but maybe wrong about casting Tom Cruise as heroic anti-Nazi Claus von Stauffenberg. Many have already commented on an unfortunate resemblance to Hogan’s Heroes…
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Valkyrie is set to hit theaters August 8, 2008
Tom Cruise has never won an Oscar, but he has won fame as the world’s best-known Scientologist. To many, Scientology is a controversial, even debatable, religion. It is not recognized as such in Germany.
So when producers of Tom Cruise’s new movie, Valkyrie, asked to film at German military sites, Cruise was refused because he is a Scientologist, according to the German Defense Ministry. (Drudge links here.) Valkyrie is the story of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, leader of the unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the Nazi dictator in July 1944.
Probably a thriller, Valkryie is also the story of someone who, no matter how late and convoluted his reasons, stood up against tyranny. (Sophie Scholl is a better example of suicidal courage in the face of Nazi torture and murder.)
There’s much to admire about the new Germany, from its conscientious efforts to acknowledge the Holocaust to its support of the United States. But from a public relations perspective, Germany should allow Cruise and his team (including respected director Bryan Singer) to film wherever they want, regardless of Cruise’s support of Scientology.
Beyond that, Germany should not be in the position of determining what is a state-approved religion and what is not. We know where that goes.
Every journalist needs sources for his stories. The three-source story is the model, although abandoned in this LA Times piece on Tom Cruise.
Let’s say you were doing a business story on the new Apple iPhone. (A flood of these are coming.) You’d interview someone from Apple (”the vendor”), an industry analyst for third-party commentary, and an end user, a partner like AT&T or a competitor. Story’s done, on to the next.
Because reporters can’t interview themselves, they cultivate sources they can get to say the stuff they want, or at least interesting stuff. They usually have to have some standing as an ‘expert’, such as a professorship or authorship of a book. Some of these ‘quote whores’ are quite promiscuous in who they talk to, and often they’re promoting a book, their brokerage if they’re a stock analyst, etc.
Prof. Robert Thompson of Syracuse University is considered the king of media quotes: from 2000-2002, he was quoted 972 times in articles about popular culture. One poster calls it “‘dropping the Thompson bomb’- something you did when you needed someone else to say the things you were thinking. “
At the Enquirer, we had a group we’d call “trained seals.” Any kind of quote you wanted, they would give you; the standard ‘honorarium’ was $250 per story. The best were psychologists, usually a clinical assistant professor or higher or a book author. They’d earn their fee spending an hour with you on the phone, as you pushed them to explain “how your favorite color reveals your personality.”
Journalists are taught that balanced reporting and multiple voices are important. An accepted way to achieve both is with the three-source story. Whether you blame staff cuts, star power or another explanation, such balance may be a thing of the past. Witness the following AP story which ran in the Los Angeles Times of April 20, 2007, P. E18 and on the Web.
Cruise assists 9/11 Workers
From the Associated Press, April 20, 2007
Tom Cruise’s latest effort isn’t for the big screen. It’s for the New York police officers, firefighters and paramedics of Sept. 11.
Cruise was to appear Thursday at a private dinner in Manhattan to raise money for the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, a program he co-founded in 2002.
The program, based on principles developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, offers free treatment to emergency workers who suffer breathing difficulties and other health problems stemming from exposure to toxins at ground zero after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The program has treated 785 workers since its inception, said Director Jim Woodworth. Each worker is given vitamins and nutritional counseling and participates in daily exercise and sauna sessions.
“We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Tom,” Woodworth said.
Quick quiz: how many sources do you see? How many voices do you get? Is this a press release, or a news article?
Believe it or not, both Fox News and US Magazine took the same material and delivered a much more . Money quote: “‘This is just hocus-pocus,’ said Dr. Bob Hoffman of the New York City Poison Control Center.”