Charlotte Church alleges trade-off to win favorable coverage in Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers
November 30th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
This is gross in so many ways.
According to the Wall Street Journal, at a U.K. inquiry into press ethics, Welsh singer Charlotte Church alleged that she waived a fee of £100,000, or more than $154,000, to perform at the 1999 wedding of News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch because she was told that it would win her favorable coverage in the company’s newspapers.
Ms. Church, a prodigy who was 13 at the time of the wedding, told the inquiry that she wanted the money but her management convinced her that waiving the fee would be looked on favorably by Mr. Murdoch’s newspapers, a move that would be good for her fledgling career.
She added that the alleged arrangement to secure favorable press coverage backfired. “This strategy failed,” Ms. Church said in a witness statement submitted to the inquiry. “In fact Mr. Murdoch’s newspapers have since been some of the worst offenders, so much so that I have sometimes felt that there has actually been a deliberate agenda.” Ms. Church also said police have informed her that her voicemails, and those of people close to her, were hacked by a private investigator on the payroll of the News of the World tabloid.
First of all, this is gross because Charlotte Church was considered a prodigy, and good at singing classical operatic repertoire. It is amazing that those without any talent, or skill for understanding talent, promote the wrong person because that person happens to be at the right place, at the right time. As a professional, classical vocalist, there were so many things wrong with the whole Charlotte Church thing – mostly that they were going to destroy her voice by having her sing repertoire that was way beyond her capabilities, which were exceedingly limited in the first place. Enough on that.
Secondly, this whole Charlotte Church/Rupert Murdoch scena is gross, but I can’t help but sit back and say “Well, I guess you get what you deserve.” Is that too harsh?
David Walker
