Graft Alert


August 4, 2001


BOB GARFIELD: We're back with On the Media. I'm still Bob Garfield.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: And I'm Brooke Gladstone. And I am not a critic, though sometimes I wish I were. The critic biz comes with some considerable perks -- tickets and trips, star encounters, and all the little goodies that cram the mailbox from publicists desperate for the good word. John Doyle is TV critic for Toronto's Globe and Mail, and he lists all those charming little bribes in his column under the heading: Graft Alert. He lists the market value of the tee shirts and the CDs, the clocks, the meals and then donates the items to a local food bank. Mr. Doyle, welcome to the show.
JOHN DOYLE: Thank you, and nice to be here.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: Aren't there limits on the value of the gifts you can accept anyway?
JOHN DOYLE: Well yes, there are. I mean for a-- as far as the Globe and Mail is concerned if it's anything more than a token gift, you know, one or two dollars, maybe five dollars' worth, it-- it shouldn't be accepted at all! The Television Critics Association which is the umbrella organization for TV critics in, in Canada and the United States-- passed a rule about three years ago that the, the American networks were not to give us gifts unless it was directly related to, to a program! So the most we get now from Fox or NBC or whomever is, is a book if the show is based on a book or a CD if there's a sound track. I think that's a very good policy. But there will always be publicists who try to go a little bit farther to get your attention.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: Are there any gifts that impress you with their creativity?
JOHN DOYLE:Well occasionally I'm tempted by some of the toys. You know one of the things that--everybody picked up on was when I wrote about an Itchy and Scratchy watch. Now I don't write a lot about children's television, so I'm not even sure what Itchy and Scratchy is, but I, I had offers from readers! They were offering 40, 50, 60 dollars to take the Itchy and Scratchy watch off my hands! [LAUGHTER] But in general I, no I'm not impressed by the stuff. It's just silly.
BROOKE GLADSTONE:Have you had any feedback from the giftgivers themselves? Are they offended that you would be exposing the crass tactics that they take to influence opinion?
JOHN DOYLE: Yes. It, it's been a very interesting reaction, actually. Here in Canada when I wrote about it most recently for the Canadian Press Tour Week, one of the broadcasters reacted with fury that their gift, which they claim was in all innocence, was being written about. In, in one instance in the past a publicist enclosed a 5 dollar bill [LAUGHTER] to say that I could, I could donate it to any charity or food bank of my choice. Now I'd really prefer that she didn't do that kind of thing, because sending money in the mail is a bad idea anyway, but I could see that she was actually getting into the spirit of it, and I that's the best policy.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: Oh! You're saying that [LAUGHS] they really ought to just send you the money. [LAUGHS]
JOHN DOYLE:No, it would be best if they just sent the money to charity instead of sending it to me and other critics who can well afford to buy their own toys and gifts and whatever.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: Is there a correlation, even an inverse relationship perhaps, between the value of the gift and the quality of the program?
JOHN DOYLE:I, I think you might be right actually. The publicists, the PR people are not stupid about this kind of thing. They often know when they have a dud on their hands, and in order to get attention for it they will be -- try to be creative or, or extremely generous in the, in the gifts they send out.
BROOKE GLADSTONE:Well they spend an awful lot of money on this sort of thing. Are you saying that these little gifts and prizes really have no impact on the critical reaction to their programs?
JOHN DOYLE: I don't think so in the long run. I, I think anybody worth their salt who, who's writing about television is not going to be influenced by the gifts. There may be people down the food chain, to put it crudely, who, who work for smaller papers, smaller publications, who are not very well paid who actually appreciate the gifts.
BROOKE GLADSTONE:Well let's travel the food chain all the way down to the public. Do you think that if the networks send hats and pens and Itchy and Scratchy watches directly to viewers that that might convince them to watch some of these shows?
JOHN DOYLE: In some instances it might, because the shows are that bad. In the case of most television shows, the money would simply be better spent on, on the budget or maybe on, on paying the writers more instead of giving gifts to, to people who write about the shows.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: Well Itchy's hand is on 5 which tells me we've gone on too long! [LAUGHS]
JOHN DOYLE:Yes, well I don't have my Itchy and Scratchy watch to confirm that with you - that's, that's with the appropriate department at the Globe and Mail and will be auctioned off in due course.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: John Doyle, thank you very much.
JOHN DOYLE: Thank you.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: John Doyle is the television critic for the Toronto Globe and Mail. [MUSIC]