No cheese for you

Disney did not buy this story. Almost all arts and features stories could be presumed guilty of at least some kind of payoff. The major exceptions are book and movie reviews, but not necessarily book tours and definitely not movie junkets, where the studio flies out hordes of writers at its expense, wines them and dines them in the hopes that a stinkeroo like "Pearl Harbor" will not smell nearly as bad in print.

In short, "America's Sweethearts" was a documentary, at least when it came to journalists.

The same applies to feature articles about major corporations. When Disney opened its Animal Kingdom in Orlando, it reached as far down as the 33,000-circulation newspaper I worked at, flying down the writer and her young daughter, to cover the opening.

For this story, Disney publicity provided a press kit with photos, and their best wishes for a happy cruise. On the ship, I left a message for Rachel the Cruise Director of my presence and intention to write an article as a heads-up to her, but she had real work to do, making sure that 2,400 guests had a great time, so we never got a chance to talk. The company was responsive, helpful and disappointingly ethical.

All material is ©2000-2001 Bill Peschel unless otherwise noted.