Paris, Who Ya Gonna Call? ... Crisis Busters!
You know, if bottled water is a perfect symbol of U.S. culture at this moment in our history, then so is this: the crisis management consultant. When I was growing up, my "crisis management consultant" was my grandfather, and most of the time, his role consisted of telling me this: "Use the common sense God gave you, boy." It worked pretty well, actually.
But this is the age of Paris and Lindsay and Rush and ... well, the list goes on. Big-time celebrities who get in trouble and worry about how it will affect their bottom line. They end up hiring people like Michael Sitrick.
On Thursday, Day to Day's Madeleine Brand interviewed Sitrick, who's known as the "attack dog image fixer to the rich and powerful." (I wonder if he has that on his business card.)
When trying to rescue the image of a celebrity in trouble, Sitrick is known for using "truth squads" to counteract what media outlets or others are saying about his clients. He also talks about something called the "wheel of pain" -- an expression that describes efforts to bring out "facts" the other side might not want to be public in an effort to rehabilitate a client's image. Most of the people in his firm are ex-journalists.
There's something a bit unsettling about listening to Sitrick talk about what he does -- and what that reveals about the nature of celebrity and the media these days.
12:56 PM ET | 06-29-2007 | permalink
