Open letter: It’s time to put an end to the toxic West End PR culture.
For too long PR and The Daily Mail have had a toxic relationship with ‘scoops’ being handed over to their ‘Entertainment Reporter’ Baz Bamigboye. London theatre PRs extend Baz preferential treatment — when they owe equal attention to all media.
But the more you find out about theatre, and the more you find out about the way theatre works, don’t you find yourself realising that nothing, not even Baz’s scoops, really happen by accident?
The Daily Telegraph Chief Theatre Critic, Dominic Cavendish summed it up recently with this Tweet.
Friday morning is mainly waiting for the press releases confirming things that Baz has reported in his Daily Mail showbiz column. A kind of comfort in that.
— Dominic Cavendish (@domcavendish) February 2, 2018
Arts journalism and arts journalists deserve better. What are we, the theatre-consuming community, to take from all this? Well we can simply say that enough is enough.
I call on the following Press Managers / Publicists to restore the Arts PR business in the interests of preserving the sense of an inclusive, free and fair press and in recognition of transparent arts journalism.
I will be updating this blog in 7 days time – I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Carl Woodward
