Los Angeles Times' editorial page editor Andres Martinez resigned this week after offering a guest editorial opportunity to Hollywood producer Brian Grazer. What's the problem? Connect the dots: Martinez the editor has been dating PR person Kelly Mullens. Kelly Mullens has done work for producer Grazer. Ding, ding, ding, ding. We have a winner. We've just drawn a picture of a conflict of interest and/or the appearance of one. And as every journalists is trained to know, perception is reality. By the way, while this was all being hatched, no one bothered to clue in the newspaper's publisher. Ooops. Oversight?

Here's the story.

No body's saying Editor Martinez was unaware of his girlfriend's relationship with producer Grazer. No body. Apparently none of the named parties saw anything wrong with any of this.

That's curious. Let's say you're bigtime Producer Herkimeyer Geoffrey Jones and Brian Grazer is a rival. So Sunday morning you take your umbrella drink out to the pool, slap open your Sunday Times and there's an opinion piece by Mr. Grazer. You wonder, "How'd he get that choice real estate?" Later you learn that someone who has done PR for Mr. Grazer has been dating the guy who lets out the real estate on the editorial page. You got a problem with that?

People will say Mr. Grazer deserved the guest editorial. That's probably not disputable. It's also totally not the point.

They'll say people's personal lives are personal, which in this case is, to be polite, pure nonsense.

Share This

In the April 2, 2007, News & Insights section of BusinessWeek online, in a report on Twitter entitled All Trivia, All the Time, writer Heather Green quotes our AgencyNext’s very own Vice President Dave Cote:

"We’re hitting a world where we’re constantly connected," says Dave Cote, a marketing consultant who wrote a blog post entitled Twitter is for Twits. "It’s creepy to me. Why does someone need to know I am putting on my socks?" he asks.

BTW, Dave doesn’t wear socks.

Ms. Green’s report can be seen in its entirety here.

Dave’s famous post entitled Twitter is for Twits is here.

I’m selling 8"x10" black and white autographed glossies of Dave. First come, first served. A few slots remain for Dinner with Dave. An entire Evening with Dave, during which he will repeatedly don and remove socks is available, but I warn you, it’s pricey! After all, he’s almost nearly getting-there Paris Hilton famous.

Lastly, a special thanks to Steve Rubel at Micro Persuasion for shining a spotlight on Dave’s post and his up-and-coming notoriety. Thanks Steve. Like me, I know you recognize talent when you see it.

—–

Share This