The puff piece Peter Gelb has been waiting for
UncategorizedThe Wall Street Journal wins the coveted 2014 Slipped Disc award for Gullible Journalism.
Almost every paragraph of Jennifer Maloney’s song of praise to the Met manager can bedisputed by professionals who worked closely with him.
Gelb overspent wildly at Sony and was about to be fired when a friend of his father’s landed him a job at the Met. He has now landed the Met in the ditch of a lost negotiation.
The rest of the article is false history.
We’re surprised to see the Journal submit to such flagrant spin and congratulate them on the award.
False history or no – and most posters here know the truth – the Board really has no choice but to start the spin in favour of the outcome of negotiations. If not, after all his fire and brimstone. Gelb’s head would have to be on the chopping block.
I do not expect this to be the last. Gelb as saviour will be trumpeted as long as the media are prepared to print. Despite the recent “hiccup” as described by a former Board member (how utterly typical of Board members that comment seems of what was potentially a truly desperate situation for the House and its Board), another states, “the recent negotiations have only strengthened the board’s confidence in Peter Gelb’s leadership.” Time, of course will tell. But does anyone seriously believe he could have said anything else?
Though I agree that this article can read as crediting Peter Gelb, I think it can also be read as “what all the spokespersons say versus the reality.” If one reads the thread of Jennifer Maloney’s reporting on this in recent weeks, she is unusually fair among journalists; not one to be manipulated by the well-placed well-stocked PR machine of management. I see an impressive learning curve, overall.
I would also make that statement about this column, overall.
Whether it is a puff piece or not means little -the bell is tolling -and the “Met”
means less and less as time goes on .
These skirmishes between union and management are nothing new except that now they mean nothing to the general US public and if the Met were to close the city, the world , would continue to function quite well .
To most – the world of opera means
being an” elitist”in the derogatory sense. For most opera fans it is
the “high note ” high C or E ” anyone? and to imagine it being any different for those attending the Met is to delude one’s self, their numbers not even strong enough to support an opera house for a given season, now that the “rich” patrons who used to and could pick up the slack display their status by purchasing their way into heaven in giving their monies to” humanitarian ”
causes. It is no longer necessary to
“prove ” one is cultured when every thing is on the auction block and it
is better to be thought of as a humanitarian than an opera buff with $$$$$.One must always remember that here “elitist ” can only safely be applied to sports not the arts .