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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1984)
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Come to the Green wood Inn, Pacific Room, in Beaverton on Thursday, June 7, at 6 p.m. EVERCLEAR PRSIER OFFER For your full color 18" x 22" Everclear poster, send $3.00 in check, money order or use your Mastercard or Visa to: Everclear Foster Offer 500 3rd Avenue West Seattle, WA 98119 25 r>ii<in— . -.- - . -..-.-—.—.- ■ CinrrttaMi—. .- Zip 7tm Kama* #. • Inn OS»f9o«Jml»anhr OOMvodi Or Wortdt .-. fap — vpfuh^nttdby law Ho Taking note On a recent Monday morning Mary Decker was seen at a local restaurant reading The Register-Guard. It was the day after she took a wrong turn at a road race, and ran the "fun run" instead of the 10K — by mistake. The R-G photographer had caught the track star in an unflattering pose that appropriately illustrated her confusion. Decker was the portrait of befud dlement and not the glamorous woman the public has grown accustomed to seeing on magazine covers, Kodak endorsements and Nike ad spreads. While Decker was trying to digest her breakfast, the story goes, she picked up The Guard, looked with disgust at the picture and slammed the paper down on the table. Periodical ly, she'd glance at the article and throw it down with an increasing degree of horror and disdain. How could the press do such a thing to its local celebrity? The Guard had caught her off-guard, and Decker didn't look like she likes to look. The interesting thing is that Decker has come to do a very clever job of controlling her image. She requests that certain photographers take her picture, she has called a moratorium on speaking News and newsmakers: Who's controlling whom? Angela Allen Morgan with the press until the Olympics, and she now issues statements to the media through her coach. The hotter a commodity she becomes with the press and public, the more attuned she is to her role as a media product. Great athlete who she is, she has become a kind of rock star. The media uses her — while she's big — and she's using the media — while she can. This whole phemomenon of image controlling, especially in amateur athletics, was an alien concept a decade ago. To many purists, even today, it's nauseatingly contrary to the principles of "non-paid" sport. In the entertainment business, image-controlling is almost second nature. There must be some relationship. The rock industry is the most obvious perpetrator. Anyone who has been to a Hult Center rock or pop concert this year has tem porarily suspended his or her rights during the assiduous pre-concert searches for cameras and tape recorders. However many dollars the public laid out for a ticket (the top-price ticket for a Hult rock show was $18.50 for The Dead, according to Rollie Howell, a Hult ticket office worker) the groups still manage to dutifully protect themselves from image- or sound-making over which they could lose control. Most often a con tract agreement between the Hult, the promoter and the groups themselves, this kind of ques tionable security system has made it possible for big names to keep the corner on their marketabili ty, and to keep their image "clean." Last summer when The Tubes came to town, an Emerald photographer and reporter wheeled and dealed through a local promoter to shoot pic tures of the popular band's concert. Somewhere in the negotiations, the Emerald agreed to use the photos only for the Emerald. Later on some trouble arose when the photographer agreed to let Ken Babbs, editor of The Bugle, run a couple of the photos. The Tubes' promoter, Jane Hoffman of Jensen Communica tions in Burbank, got wind of this and reacted vehemently. The Emerald had betrayed its original agreement, but Hoffman was more enraged over the possibility that the rock stars' photos might be used counterproductively to their “image." Who knows, the reasoning went, the Bugle could be an unknown, disreputable and sleazy rag — no place for The Tubes. The problem was resolved when the Emerald agreed to send the photo contact sheets to Bur bank so Hoffman could "okay" the "publishable" material. In the process, she crossed out nearly 50 percent of the frames. These photos, Hoffman wrote in a return letter, were never to be used. The Tubes are just one of the many entertain ment goldmines who have managed to keep such a tight grip on what the public sees and hears of them. Def Leppard, Big Country, Duran Duran and a number of the biggies that Northwest pro moter John Bauer represents almost unequivocal ly, according to Bauer, do not give interviews. Just like Decker, these groups don't need the press. They are sell-outs anywhere. They can talk to reporters when they want to and demand con trol — as much as possible — over photographs. On the other hand, if Decker loses abysmally in Los Angeles this summer, or if the bottom of The Tubes' following falls out, the press might drop both as ruthlessly as it has courted them. But right now they are hot stuff, and hot copy. We want them; they don't need us. The same was true last week when "Gonzo" journalist Hunter Thompson stopped in at Mac Court for his $3,000-plus question-and-answer spiel. The "outlaw" journalist is in demand on campuses everywhere. Thompson agreed to only one interview, and the Emerald got it. We spoke to Register-Guard reporter Bob Keefer the afternoon of Thompson's arrival and Keefer assured us that we were a very lucky bunch. He was envious. It wasn't a one-way street: Thompson demanded that a woman inter view him. So who's manipulating whom? As members of the press who cover the arts and entertainment world, we have to seriously consider how much maneuvering we do to get to the people who have so little time for us — and who have their act down so flawlessly. Meanwhile the stacks of hand-written press releases of publicity-poor arts groups haunt us. University Theatre, the School of Music and the Bach Festival are several Eugene groups that have effective public relations. It shows. Their work is frequently covered. Even fledgling arts groups are understanding how to better take ad vantage of publicity, and many are grateful for any kind of a coverage they receive. Similar to big stars, they're not innocent of self-interest; but neither are they so savvy about self-image. There's a place for the big-story-big-star ap proach in entertainment newspapering, especial ly if it is "news." But the insensitive reporter can sell out to the full house and the quick-fix trend. We also have a job to do: inform the public of what's going on, however unslick the artists' — or the athletes' — efforts. -HARRAH’S -LAKE TAHOE Looking for Summer Employment? Join Our Team - Be A Part of The Best Be A Part of Harrah’s Summer positions are available now at Harrah’s Tahoe Hotel/Casino. Openings include Food Prep, Food Service, Cleaning and Casino. Apply in person at: Harrah’s Tahoe Stateline. NV An Equal Opportunity Employer ■ MAF 1 FREE Soda* plus •4 EG off I \J any slice Offer good Monday-Sunday 11:30-Midnight, Mon.-Fri. 3:30-Midnight, Weekends 1211 Alder on Campus ^ 686-9598 sL York ^ Sy's I) New Pizza A cosmic selection of Science Fiction * . at your Bookstore m the Book Dept