Why Disney Should Lift the Ban Against the LA Times Immediately (UPDATE: Ban Has Been Lifted)

UPDATE: NY Times has reported that Disney has lifted its ban after growing backlash:

“We’ve had productive discussions with the newly installed leadership at The Los Angeles Times regarding our specific concerns, and as a result, we’ve agreed to restore access to advance screenings for their film critics,” Disney said in a statement.

Disney’s change of course came after a number of news outlets, including The Washington Post, The New York Times and the A.V. Club, said they were boycotting advance screenings of Disney films in solidarity.

The company also faced pressure from several high-profile Hollywood figures, including Ava DuVernay, who directed “A Wrinkle in Time,” which is scheduled to be released by Disney on March 9.

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It’s not easy going up against a big corporation, much less Disney — but the Los Angeles Times is doing just that. Disney has barred the paper from attending screenings, and in protest, major film critics groups have decided to boycott their movies from their awards consideration. David Simon says he won’t even watch the screeners. In the era of the hive mind, you don’t want this kind of bad publicity affixed to your movies, especially when the movies celebrate women warriors (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) and Mexican culture featuring an all-Latino cast (Pixar’s Coco). The critics aren’t going to abandon their principles over this, so it’s on Disney to reverse course and roll back the damage.

You can read all about the story here; essentially it has to do with the Times writing negatively about Disney and their business dealings with the city of Anaheim. To punish the paper, Disney banned their film journalists from attending screenings, which can be seen as dangerous in the era of Trump where free speech is being threatened daily. The Los Angeles Times is an important paper, and the films up for awards this year deserve coverage, whether with film reviews or with awards consideration. For the sake of the artists and to stand up for free speech, Disney should lift the ban immediately. This thing is only going to move in one direction.