Russell Smith writes in The Globe and Mail about the role of publicists in the modern media age -- and what journalists should do about it.

An excerpt:

... Access to the major shows in major cities is what makes the difference between a fashion reporter and a ... well, a person. Those tickets are in extremely high demand, and respected writers often lose their dignity in trying to get them. I have seen the best-dressed people in the world reduced to tears by 25-year-old Milan publicists.

And it's in Hollywood that publicists have the most power in the world. They can demand what star profiles are written and what they say. Why? Because they control access to stars. And it's the interviews and photo sessions with the stars that sell magazines — not the movie reviews, no matter how brilliantly acerbic those may be.

You have to learn how to resist this. You have to learn to be tough and mean back. You learn to take as much as you can from publicists and never promise anything in return, to never apologize for having an opinion, and to never hesitate to blast away when something is in your sights. You must welcome having a reputation as a prick; it only makes them respect you. Indeed, such behaviour usually only increases the flow of invitations.

The dangers of spin in weightier areas of journalism have recently been documented in the Frontline documentary series News War: Secrets, Spin and the Future of the News, currently airing on PBS. Increasingly, American journalists are wondering how they ever let themselves be so led by the nose by the sophisticated White House communications experts on the justification for the invasion of Iraq. There is publicity at its most subtle and its most powerful.