The group, which was recently sued for allegedly blocking qualified journalists applying for membership, has paid substantial sums to serve as officials and committees, according to members.
One week to the day before the 78th annual Golden Globe Awards, the organization behind the ceremony is making a screaming outing in the Los Angeles Times.
There are no black journalists among the 87 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Times, and the organization – whose ethics have long been questioned, dating back to an FCC investigation that led to a 1968-74 broadcast ban and the 1982 Pia Zadora scandal – allows its members to act on ways that question their ethics and integrity.
The HFPA not only allows its members to receive exorbitant benefits from the studios and networks whose projects they later write about and on which they can vote, such as a junk in France who can help win recent Golden Globe nominations to explain maligned TV series Emily in Paris. , including puzzles. But the organization, which is apparently a non-profit organization, also pays its own members, many of whom are struggling journalists, substantial sums of money to serve as officers and in various committees.
Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa filed an antitrust lawsuit against the HFPA last year, claiming that the organization deprived her of potential income by banning her and other qualified journalists from joining the sales force of current members’ reporting in various international areas to protect. (All HFPA members must be based in Los Angeles and provide coverage for media outlets in a country or countries outside the United States.) The case is dismissed, but its juicy details have led many to dismiss the mysterious Take a closer look at HFPA.
The Times spoke to current HFPA members accusing the group of arbitrarily rejecting ‘approved foreign journalists’ applying for membership in favor of people who are ‘not serious journalists’. One anonymous member referred to the Times“We recognize people who are not real journalists because they do not threaten anyone.”
A HFPA spokesman told the Times that Flaa’s allegations are “completely false”, but said the organization is “committed to” addressing the lack of diversity. This year’s Golden Globe nominations were rejected because they were the two best film categories with mainly black cast, such as Da 5 Bloods, Judas and the Black Messiah, Ma Rainey se Black Bottom and The United States v. Billie Holiday, and not to name the critically acclaimed TV series I may destroy you, which contains a black cast, in any category.
Many observers were also amazed at the multiple big names for Sia’s widely acclaimed and controversial film. Music and the above TV series Emily in Paris. While the former remains inexplicable, the Times reports that in 2019 Paramount Television flew more than 30 HFPA members to France to visit the set of the latter. There, they were treated to a two-night stay at the five-star hotel in the Peninsula Paris, where rooms currently start at around $ 1400 a night, and a news conference and lunch at the Musée des Arts Forains, a private museum filled with entertainment rides dating back to 1850 where the show shot, ‘the Times report.
While one HFPA member Times that the setback of the nominations is justified, the HFPA representative told SU Times that “we do not control the individual voices of our members. … We want to build cultural understanding through film and TV and realize how the power of creative storytelling can educate people around the world on issues of race, representation and orientation. “
The Times also reported that the HFPA is paying its own members more and more sums from an increasingly larger amount of money generated from the organization’s TV deal with NBC. In the tax year that ended on June 30, 2019, five council offers were paid between $ 63,433 and $ 135,957. Other members are paid for the service in the HFPA’s committees and writing for the website. Two dozen members of the Foreign Films Committee received $ 3,465 each last month to watch foreign films. Members of a travel committee earn $ 2,310 per month, members of a film festival committee earn $ 1,100 per month, and members of an archives committee earn $ 2,200. And members who moderate press conferences receive $ 1,200 per month.
The Times spoke to tax experts who state that this type of payment is not typical, especially not for tax-free organizations. It is also noted that the TV and film academies do not pay their members (although the film academy has about 300 staff members, while the HFPA apparently has only six employees).
“We are aware of the unprecedented economic challenges facing our employees as a result of the aftermath of the pandemic,” the HFPA spokesman said. Times of the payments. “The HFPA … will continue to compensate them for the range of services they provide to the organization.”
The Times further claimed that HFPA members were among the beneficiaries of a $ 125,000 first aid fund for journalists affected by the pandemic that the organization set up with the Los Angeles Press Club. The existence of the fund has been reported before, one of the many philanthropic causes supported by the HFPA, but the fact that members of HFPA themselves have since applied for relief.
Diana Ljungaeus, executive director of the Los Angeles Press Club, tells The Hollywood Reporter that a committee of members within its own board judged applications solely on the merits, and that the vast majority of the recipients were not HFPA members. (THR’s Scott Feinberg, one of the authors of this story, serves on the board of the Los Angeles Press Club.
A source close to the HFPA tells The Hollywood Reporter that the organization “did not set conditions to whom the LAPC awarded grants, except as the condition that the money must meet the needs of the journalists in accordance with the LAPC’s charitable mission. Like all donors to reputable charities, we expect the LAPC used those funds to promote their laudable charitable activities. ‘