Broadway Blog - Unbiased Press Dropped as Tony Voters, Citing 'Conflict of Interest'
By: BWW News Desk Jul. 14, 2009
Below are BroadwayWorld.com's blogs from Tuesday, July 14, 2009. Catch up below on anything that you might have missed from BroadwayWorld.com's bloggers!
|
Unbiased Press Dropped as Tony Voters, Citing 'Conflict of Interest'
by Robert Diamond - July 14, 2009 In an email that I had to read a few times when it came in today to make sure that I wasn't missing something (I wasn't), it was announced that all "First Night Press" (those who are invited to shows before they open including critics, editors and feature writers) were being removed from the list of 750 or so Tony voters by the Tony Awards Management Committee (click to see the members of the committee), noting that:
"In making this decision, the Tony Management Committee took into account that members of the First Night Press List will of course continue to have the opportunity to express their critical opinions in reviews and other coverage of the theatre season. In addition, the Management Committee took into consideration the fact that certain publications and individual critics have historically pursued a policy of abstaining from voting on entertainment awards in general, to avoid any possible conflicts of interest in fulfilling their primary responsibilities as journalists." This logic makes little sense to me at least (and others, from the pile of emails that I've gotten tonight) as journalists are historically amongst the ONLY unbiased voters on the list which is made up of other theatre industry professionals, who are notoriously known for being anything BUT independent. Journalists are also known as being the only ones who traditionally are able to see EVERY production, making this seem even more illogical.
The New York Times delves into this further with many statements from equally confused press agents and others who see this as a BAD decision. A truly sad day for the Tony Awards.
|
Videos