Payola: Starring Lindsay Lohan and Co.

While we’re on our 5 th glass ( which reminds me I must call the delivery boy for another case) let’s ask the silly question- when the captions do feature who and where the starlet is off to see or going how much is that magazine’s editor getting paid? Or are they not getting paid? What do you think? While you’re thinking about that- go back to this link of Lindsay NY adventures and notice all the names and links to about 59 entities within the article. Does that strike you a bit odd? Or just another coincidence too?

But at least in this case Lindsay ‘Real Lilo’ for once is doing nothing wrong. Technically she is under no obligation to report to some board how much money she makes being photo oped and neither are the photo agencies or the media entities that peddle the hysteria. But before we all go back to pouring ourselves another shot of moonshine in relief, I’d like to go back to the inconvenient recent 2009 FTC law that stipulates that whenever a good/service or person is pandered in the press and there has been an exchange of money, the press are obliged to report it as such.

Of course the shortfall of such a law is to essentially spoil all the fun and illusions if you the reader, the consumer, the ultimate target really knew which way was up. After all knowing the truth will always bring a damp on all the fun you’re suppose to be having- excessive drinking turns you to a drunk, excessive smoking- a cancer victim, excessive bombing of foreign terrotities without provocation a terrorist (not a freedom fighter- how laughable are the lies this morning with respect to Libya’s no fly zone) and peddling images of celebrities attending and present at outlets where money has been exchanged but not reported (I do wish Kyle Hulcher of Bowlmor lanes had sent us the invoice sheet) is at best a staged photo op. Even Tinsley Mortimer and Rachelle Hruska can attest to that.  Which is to say life in America and the media is staged and you the consumer, the peons get suckered one more time into believing you live in a land of freedom and plenty. Free and plenty if you can afford it….

As Richard Johnson, page 6’s former Editor in Chief explained to me one afternoon- ‘it’s all insider baseball.’

Insider indeed…