Disney blocks L.A. Times from 'Thor' coverage after Disneyland story

I grew up in a (multiple) college town. The reason people across the country and world know the name is because of those colleges. But, even without those colleges, the town would still exist. The difference would be that people outside the local region wouldn't have heard of it. Being "known" doesn't really change much. The functions of local government would be in place.

Obviously, Anaheim's tax base would be much smaller without Disney. But as you said, that's doesn't mean Disney gets a free pass to do whatever they want.

My extended family still lives in my home town. Whenever the local colleges try to use their clout, it becomes a heated situation. There's a fine line between acknowledging the importance of a large local company (be it Disney, colleges, or some other employer) and avoiding being taken advantage of by that company. No matter what you do, someone is going to be upset.

And in your town I bet the local colleges who peddle influence aren’t buying a whole slate of candidates to manipulate elections in a longstanding pattern, as Disney has been reported... seems bad for business to be exposed for buying candidates, even if Disney is legally allowed to do so.
 
Yikes this seems to be blowing up right now.....probably would have been best to just not given the petty ban.
 
Now four critics' associations, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Boston Society of Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics, have said Disney films will be disqualified from their annual awards as long as the L.A. Times is banned: http://ht.ly/sSZt30gq3rD
 
As a journalist myself, these tactics always confuse me.

In today's vindictive culture, don't be surprised if this becomes the new norm. Anyone giving journalists the finger, especially if they have an agenda (that is about 80% today), is cheered on the sites that are growing much faster than traditional news sites are these days.
 


Now four critics' associations, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Boston Society of Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics, have said Disney films will be disqualified from their annual awards as long as the L.A. Times is banned: http://ht.ly/sSZt30gq3rD

And here is an example of that agenda.
 
Now four critics' associations, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Boston Society of Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics, have said Disney films will be disqualified from their annual awards as long as the L.A. Times is banned: http://ht.ly/sSZt30gq3rD
LOL, I understand their need to "unify" and "show Disney who's boss" but if I'm a Disney exec ... I'm probably thinking I need to diffuse this, but 80% of my brain is saying "aaaaaand, we're still making $1b every time we churn out a Star Wars movie."

And if it were just the amount of money that Disney churns out for tax revenue, I can see being a lot more strenuous with them, but when they hire 19% of your population? Holy moly, that is a big issue because your decisions affect a fifth of your population.
 


LOL, I understand their need to "unify" and "show Disney who's boss" but if I'm a Disney exec ... I'm probably thinking I need to diffuse this, but 80% of my brain is saying "aaaaaand, we're still making $1b every time we churn out a Star Wars movie."

And if it were just the amount of money that Disney churns out for tax revenue, I can see being a lot more strenuous with them, but when they hire 19% of your population? Holy moly, that is a big issue because your decisions affect a fifth of your population.

It's bad publicity for Disney the longer this goes on.

I'd really rather not have this thread turn into a debate about the merits of the original L.A. Times story. It's too politically charged a topic if we're getting into tax incentives for a major corporation, political action committees supporting candidates which back Disney's position, etc.

I will say as a journalist I saw nothing unfair or biased about the Times series. Disney's rebuttals were included and it had firm figures on what the resort provides in tax revenue to Anaheim. Disney's provided no evidence the reporting was wrong other than its own word. It's very plausible the company would try to muddy the waters on a story which portrayed it negatively by claiming it's all a bunch of lies. Happens all the time.
 
It's bad publicity for Disney the longer this goes on.

I'd really rather not have this thread turn into a debate about the merits of the original L.A. Times story. It's too politically charged a topic if we're getting into tax incentives for a major corporation, political action committees supporting candidates which back Disney's position, etc.

I will say as a journalist I saw nothing unfair or biased about the Times series. Disney's rebuttals were included and it had firm figures on what the resort provides in tax revenue to Anaheim. Disney's provided no evidence the reporting was wrong other than its own word. It's very plausible the company would try to muddy the waters on a story which portrayed it negatively by claiming it's all a bunch of lies. Happens all the time.
I'm being totally serious here and not sarcastic: what were you expecting from the direction of this thread when you posted it? What facet are you trying to explore?
 
I'm being totally serious here and not sarcastic: what were you expecting from the direction of this thread when you posted it? What facet are you trying to explore?

The fairness of Disney taking away press access for what it saw as unfair coverage. Plus, it's Disney news. Most people seemed to agree it was a dumb tactic by Disney which only attracted more attention to a two-month-old story, though few really cared about not getting Disney movie reviews in the newspaper because of the ban.
 
Yikes, well this was a huge hubub that I fear made everyone seem petty. And really, even if both sides of this boycott had remained in place, the effect would be minimal: select critics are barred from advance screenings (even though Disney has rapidly shrunk how far out they hold industry screenings from their premieres. Force Awakens only got screened a day before opening and that trend is increasing), and Disney is ineligible for local critics awards that they dont campaign for anyway (again with Force Awakens as an example, it hadnt screened before any critics awards and most guild awards, and therefore was not nominated). And now the almost-zero-sum-game is over with the ban lifted...? Sort of making a mountain out of a mole hill no? This didnt need to be an ugly national news story.
 
If you read Disney’s statement it was pretty funny how they still tried to act like they were victorious in this matter.
Maybe Disney should buy the LA Times and install new bosses if they don’t like being reported for manipulating elections and buying candidates.
Again, I’m not saying Disney’s actions are illegal.
 
If you read Disney’s statement it was pretty funny how they still tried to act like they were victorious in this matter.
Maybe Disney should buy the LA Times and install new bosses if they don’t like being reported for manipulating elections and buying candidates.
Again, I’m not saying Disney’s actions are illegal.
Not illegal but in poor taste. That’s the summary of this whole incident
 
No, of course it's not illegal. It's just an ill-advised tactic as Disney clearly found out.

I appreciate the rational discussion of this here. The Facebook comments about this story have been the exact opposite. Lots of ALL CAPS responses and shouts of "Fake News!" and rants about "THE MEDIA." I'm still waiting for my invite to this journalist cabal where we decide to lie about everything in our reporting.
 
Why would they buy the LA Times? It is another dying ink on dead tree medium. L A Times circulation was 1.5 million and now it is less than 700,000. Disney already owns ESPN so owning another obsolete media company would not be in their self interest.
 

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