How Publicists Fuel the Celebrity News Fire

Feb. 25, 2005 — -- Perhaps not surprisingly, the stunning growth of celebrity media has increased the power of those charged with protecting celebrities from the media -- the publicists.

"Sometimes you have to be like a Hoover vacuum and clean up the mess, and you have to do it with a very deft hand," says Cindi Berger, a managing director at power firm PMK, which counts Jennifer Aniston among its clients. "And that's where you really rely very closely on the relationships that you have with journalists, columnists, magazine editors."

Producers at the celebrity TV shows are far more dependant upon the cooperation of stars. So after the Brad Pitt-Jennifer Aniston breakup they were far more agreeable to arguments by publicists, who wanted certain aspects of the story -- say, the role possibly played by Angelina Jolie -- kept off the air. That lasted for a few days, until the glossy magazines made the speculation so ubiquitous the TV shows had to mention it.

But why would anyone keep something off air or out of print if they didn't have to?

"They do it because there are arrangements that can be made, depending upon what it is," says Berger. Hollywood insiders say publicists regularly cut deals with celebrity media, making promises of better stories down the line or other "arrangements."

They have a serious task -- one on which billions of dollars ride: protecting their clients' image.

"I definitely felt that there was Brad spin going on immediately" after the break-up, says Bonnie Fuller, the editorial director of American Media Inc., which publishes The Star magazine. "And it was excellent because the first couple of days of the story were all about how it seemed to be Jennifer's fault, that she would not have a baby and he was desperate, and he was this loving husband being thwarted by a woman who was just far into her career."

It is a sign of the times: publicists for actors and singers spinning like presidential campaign press secretaries in the throes of the New Hampshire primary. Brad Pitt, after all, is not just an appealing actor. He is an industry with a net worth of $100 million, and an asking price per picture of $20 million. Aniston has a net worth of $80 million, and makes $7 million to $8 million per picture. A messy divorce is in the interest of neither one.