.
"Emails show Emanuel's top aides asked
to view the first "Chicagoland" episode
ahead of its debut at Redford's
Sundance Film Festival in January....Brick City TV
teamed up with actor and producer Robert
Redford and Laura Michalchyshyn's Sundance Productions
to pitch the
"Chicagoland" project to CNN."...
4/25/14,
"Emails show Emanuel aides, producers coordinated CNN 'Chicagoland' scenes," ChicagoTribune.com, Bill Ruthhart
"
If it seemed as though some scenes of
CNN's documentary series
"Chicagoland" were coordinated by Mayor Rahm Emanuel's City Hall and the
show's producers, that's because they were.
.
More than 700 emails reviewed by the Tribune reveal that the
production team worked hand in hand with the mayor's advisers to develop
storylines,
arrange specific camera shots and review news releases
officially announcing the show.
(
See email samples)
Producers asked the mayor's office to help them set up key
interactions in what the cable network has billed as a nonscripted
eight-part series, including Emanuel's visits with the school principal
who emerged as a star of the show, emails show.
City Hall's frequent correspondence with the producers illustrates
how senior aides to a mayor known for
shaping his media image managed
how their boss would be portrayed on CNN to a prime time national
audience.
The production team for the series, whose final episode aired
Thursday night, told Emanuel's staff that particular scenes would
present the mayor in a positive light, with one of the producers
expressing a desire
to showcase the mayor "as the star that he really
is."
Creator and executive producer Marc Levin made a pitch to the mayor's
office last May
as Emanuel's hand-picked school board was two days away
from a vote to close nearly 50 schools.
"This is a real opportunity to highlight the Mayors leadership – his
ability to balance the need for reform and fiscal reality with
compassion for affected communities and concern for the safety of
Chicago's school children,"
Levin wrote of the school closings to
Emanuel senior adviser David Spielfogel and two press aides. "We need
the mayor on the phone in his SUV, in city hall with key advisers and
his kitchen cabinet and meeting with CPS head BBB (Barbara Byrd-Bennett)
and with CPD (Superintendent Garry) McCarthy."
The first "Chicagoland" episode, televised in March, featured just
what Levin had requested: slow-motion images of the mayor climbing into
his SUV and talking on his cellphone, and Emanuel's meetings behind
closed doors with Chicago Public Schools CEO Byrd-Bennett and Chicago
police Superintendent McCarthy.
The emails, obtained through an open records request, show the
producers were not always granted all the access they sought. And Levin
said he was "eternally frustrated" that much of the
behind-the-scenes
access he got of Emanuel was controlled by the mayor's office.
"Everything the mayor does is stage-managed. Everything. That is the
way he operates, so I'm not going to dispute that," Levin said in an
interview when asked about his emails that requested specific scenes
featuring the mayor. "I would be the first to acknowledge that you don't
get into Chicago … and get access without having to do a certain dance.
"I'm not saying these people had editorial control. They didn't,"
Levin said of the mayor's office. "But at the same time, yes, we were
sensitive that we were moving through this city and getting access to a
lot of places because we had developed a dialogue with the mayor."
That dance for access is not uncommon, said Mitchell Block, an expert
on documentary films at the University of Southern California's School
of Cinematic Arts. While Block said he hadn't watched "Chicagoland," he
said that in any documentary, if a filmmaker's access to a subject is
managed, and not free-ranging, it affects how that person is portrayed.
"The question is did they really have full access?" Block said. "If
the access was managed,
as it sounds like it was, then everything looks
perfect all of the time. I personally don't make those kinds of films."
Emanuel aides declined to answer specific questions about the
administration's involvement in the series' production. Instead, Emanuel
spokeswoman Sarah Hamilton issued a statement that suggested the
administration's work with CNN was typical.
"As we do with any news outlet working on a story, we work with them
to highlight the great work being done in Chicago. This was no
different," Hamilton said. "The producers of 'Chicagoland' were not from
here and, as such, had very little background on the city and the work
being done. They asked for examples of work taking place and events they
could attend, which we provided. This is no different from information
we provide reporters — including the Tribune — every day."
Local media rarely are granted behind-the-scenes access to the mayor.
A CNN spokeswoman issued a statement today. "Access requests for
filming on city property and at official events were submitted in
advance for permitting and scheduling purposes as is done for all
municipal filming of this type," the statement read.
Getting green light
Prior to "Chicagoland," Levin and fellow executive producer Mark
Benjamin
both had been represented by William Morris Endeavor,
the
Hollywood agency run by the mayor's brother, Ari Emanuel. The producers
said they were not represented on the project by William Morris to avoid
any conflict of interest, but Levin said they likely would be
represented by the firm in the future.
The "Chicagoland" producers got the green light for access to Emanuel
and City Hall after a meeting
arranged by the Chicago public relations
firm Jasculca Terman, records show.
That firm's chairman and CEO, Rick Jasculca, is a friend of Emanuel's
dating back decades, and both worked together in the Clinton White
House. When Emanuel announced he would run for mayor in 2010, it was
Jasculca and his daughter Aimee Jasculca who fielded media calls on
behalf of the budding campaign.
In February 2013, records show, Rick Jasculca contacted Tarrah
Cooper, the mayor's press secretary, to set up a meeting with Levin and
Benjamin,
whose Brick City TV teamed up with actor and producer Robert
Redford and Laura Michalchyshyn's
Sundance Productions to pitch the
"Chicagoland" project to CNN.
Jasculca said
he has known Redford since meeting him when the actor
campaigned for 1988 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis.
"I did this because Bob is a good friend," Jasculca said. "I just
thought they're going to do this production anyway, the least we could
do is help open the right doors and help them understand Chicago."
Asked whether his friendship with Emanuel played a role in the
producers asking him to set up meetings with City Hall, Jasculca said
his firm introduced the producers to many people.
"I'm proud to call myself a friend of the mayor's, but the mayor's
got a lot of friends and that can be an overused term," Jasculca said.
"What I think we did is use our 33 years of experience being a public
affairs firm to say, 'Let us introduce you to Chicago.'"
After the meeting at Jasculca Terman's offices, producers Levin and
Benjamin emailed Cooper and Clothilde Ewing, Emanuel's chief of
strategic planning.
"We are thrilled that City Hall and the Mayor have agreed to assist
our production team, help steer us to strong stories and participate
directly in the CNN series," the producers wrote. "We look forward to
working with you and your office to capture the citizens of Chicago and
their mayor in a sustained and determined effort to improve the
education, safety and economic well-being of all Chicagoans."
Storylines
A few weeks later, Emanuel's office indicated it would soon suggest story ideas for the series, emails show.
Another Jasculca daughter, Lauren Foley, emailed Cooper, the mayor's
press secretary, to ask her to send "the list of story/interview ideas
that you and your team were going to put together" for the "Chicagoland"
producers.
"I'll be in touch in the upcoming days to further discuss characters
and story lines that we suggest," Cooper wrote a few days later to the
producers. "We look forward to working with you!"
Emails show nine senior Emanuel staffers exchanged emails on the
series early on, with one to Cooper including an attachment labeled
"DocuSeries Characters."
The mayor's office redacted those messages and hundreds more sent
between administration officials, citing an exemption in Illinois' open
records law for preliminary correspondence among city employees in which
opinions are expressed or policies are formulated. The mayor's office
did not respond to questions about its decision to redact the emails.
Foley served as the liaison between City Hall and the production
team, emails show. On Jasculca Terman's website,
Foley is listed as a
vice president who "acted as the stage manager for the inaugural of the
Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel." Foley said she was paid as a field
producer on the series by Levin and Benjamin.
"I was someone helping them get their ducks in a row here, really
helping with City Hall and that kind of stuff," Foley said. "We have
connections there, obviously."
Once the "Chicagoland" crew began filming, their cameras frequently
appeared at Emanuel media events but also
captured typically private
moments that showed a warmer side of the mayor, including talking with
children in classrooms, playing with them at recess and watching arts
performances in city parks.
Among the most poignant of those moments was Emanuel's interactions with high school student Martell Cowan.
Cowan, an intern in the mayor's office, is shown riding with Emanuel
in his SUV, and the mayor talks to him about college and jokes with him
about picking up girls during a walk to City Hall. Emanuel also talks to
Cowan in his office and shows the teen pictures of him and Obama before
the two walk out of his office with their arms around each other as
Cooper, the press secretary, looks on.
The mayor then hugs Cowan and says, "I love you." Later, Cowan is shown saying, "It did change my life. I'm grateful for it."
In an interview, Levin explained that he asked for access to Cowan
and Emanuel to show a different side of the mayor after he heard him
talk about the teen at three different events.
"For us, yes, it was set up in that, 'the mayor is going to be riding
with Martell today,' but it was a battle for us to finally get access
to it," Levin said. "This, in a sense, yes, was under their control, but
I think what's revealed here is a different Rahm Emanuel than you see
at most of the staged events, and that's why I pushed for it."
An email between Levin and Cooper reflects the request. "It was
really nice to see the Mayor and Martell together in his office," Levin
wrote. "Thanks for making it happen. Good stuff."
In addition to Emanuel, another major storyline in "Chicagoland"
followed Fenger High School Principal Elizabeth Dozier.
Producers pushed
to have both characters intersect for the cameras, records show.
A scene showing both sides of a phone conversation between Emanuel
and Dozier aired during the series, and in July, Levin thanked the
mayor's staff for the access. "The phone call with Principal Liz Dozier
is great," he said.
As the production team wrapped up filming in October, executive
producer Benjamin requested for the mayor and Dozier to interact again.
Another scene in the series
shows Emanuel and Dozier watching a
Shakespeare play at a park together, but this time Benjamin wanted
Emanuel to visit Dozier's school.
"Still need more Rahm," Benjamin wrote to Hamilton, Emanuel's
communications director. "Need the mayor at Fenger High School with Liz
also. I know i am needy but we want more Rahm in the series. I know I
sound like a (broken) record, but in the Feb. '14 broadcast, Rahm will
look good making 'his' points."
On Oct. 25, Cooper emailed Benjamin to tell him, "We're also working
to have him (Emanuel) drop by Fenger, no promises but we'll try to make
it happen. He loves Liz and those student."
On Nov. 8, Emanuel's official calendar shows he was, in fact,
scheduled to visit Fenger with "CNN crew only." Footage of Emanuel at
the high school was part of Thursday's final episode.
School closings
"Chicagoland" offered plenty of scenes that are far from a chamber of
commerce video for the city, from violence in the streets and criminals
in Cook County Jail to the open-casket funerals of shooting victims and
the efforts of a surgeon to save those with gunshot wounds rolled into
the emergency room on a gurney. But the mayor often was shown in
controlled environments, either at news conferences or in settings
arranged by his press staff.
When it came to the school closing issue, protesters were shown in
the streets and interrupting a City Council meeting, while Emanuel was
shown in an interview, saying he was comfortable with his decision to
close the schools.
Records show Emanuel's interviews came after Levin's email to the
administration that
said the closings were an opportunity to highlight
the mayor's leadership.
"You're not going to write a note to City Hall and say, 'We need your
help to make you look bad,'" Levin said of the email. "With the school
closings, they were well aware of all the demonstrations and vocal
parents and a lot of the negative stuff happening. We made it clear:
We're not ignoring that."
On the day when the school board held its final vote, "Chicagoland"
focused on parents and students objecting to the closings at two schools
— Manierre and Garvey elementary schools.
The schools were two of four spared in the final hour before the
vote, and "Chicagoland" shows footage of tearful Manierre parents
rejoicing outside CPS headquarters and a Garvey student celebrating by
dancing. While 53 schools were on the chopping block,
the documentary
crew ended up following two that were saved. Asked how that happened,
Levin said he and fellow producers have asked themselves the same
question.
"I don't know the answer to that," Levin said. "But we did go, 'Wow. That is unusual.'" Emanuel's office declined to discuss the issue.
An issue of access
CNN's producers and photographers did not always receive the access they sought, emails show.
On July 1, Levin emailed Spielfogel, the mayor's senior adviser, and
Cooper telling them that for the series to reach its full potential, "we
need to go to the next level with the Mayor."
"Right now, we're not doing justice to the Mayor's real bold
leadership style, ambitions and policies," Levin wrote. "I know we still
have time to round out the Mayor's story
and present him as the star
that he really is."
Levin said he was trying to get the administration to give him more
time with the mayor, and he hoped to capture Emanuel's well-known fiery
side. Block, the documentary film expert, said such persuasion tactics
are common among producers.
"Everything in documentary that is character-driven is a matter of
access, and the filmmakers did what every filmmaker does with time and
money constraints, they tried to make their life easier with those kinds
of requests," Block said. "And if they can get access, they have
footage, and if they have footage and interesting characters, they have a
story."
After Levin's email, Emanuel aides exchanged several messages to each
other,
but they were redacted by City Hall. Soon after, Emanuel had a
30-minute, on-camera interview with Levin, records show.
In mid-August, Levin sent another email to Cooper, Hamilton and
Spielfogel pressing for more access to Emanuel, Byrd-Bennett and
McCarthy. Levin wrote that because his crew didn't have enough
behind-the-scenes access, it gave "credence to the media pundits and the
critics" who claimed the city had no plans to protect children when
schools reopened.
Hamilton, the mayor's communications director, forwarded the email to
mayoral aides Cooper and Spielfogel and wrote, "Is this a threat?"
Other emails in response were redacted, but Levin eventually received
another interview with the mayor, records show.
While the emails the Tribune received give a glimpse of the
interaction between the mayor's office and the production team
, how
producers developed scenes at Fenger High School and while following
McCarthy and other Chicago police officers is not as clear. CPS and
Chicago police did not provide documents in response to a Tribune open
records request filed six weeks ago.
Some emails that were provided show
City Hall worked closely enough
with CNN that drafts of the network's news releases about "Chicagoland"
were shared ahead of time. When the network prepared to announce the
series in the spring of 2013, Jasculca Terman's Foley twice forwarded
copies of CNN news releases to Emanuel's office.
"This version is considered final for CNN. Thoughts?" Foley wrote to
Emanuel press aides, to which Cooper responded, "Thanks! I'll have edits
for you shortly!" Foley wrote back,
"Perfect! Thank you!"
Foley initially said the email exchange was reflective of CNN's
desire to have a good working relationship with the mayor's office, but
later said the city was not allowed to edit CNN's announcement. Cooper
and the mayor's office declined to answer questions about the email
exchange.
On Friday, a CNN spokeswoman issued a statement: "The mayor’s
office was never granted editorial control over the content or the press
communications for Chicagoland, and no agency was ever granted
authority to offer the mayor’s office editorial approval for the content
or the promotional materials for the series."
Once "Chicagoland" was ready to hit the airwaves this spring, CNN
hired Jasculca Terman to put on a screening of
the first episode at the
Bank of America Theatre, an event that drew a who's who of City Hall
insiders, public officials and business types.
Foley walked the red carpet. So did Levin and Benjamin, posing for pictures with McCarthy and Principal Dozier.
Afterward, they gathered for an afterparty at Underground, a
nightclub owned by Billy Dec, who was included in the series as a friend
of Dozier's and a promoter of the city's entertainment scene. Dec,
McCarthy, Dozier and the series' producers and photographers celebrated
late into the evening
as images of Emanuel and other stars of
"Chicagoland" were shown on a giant video board behind the club's DJ.
Before the first episode aired, emails show,
Emanuel's top aides
asked to view the first "Chicagoland" episode ahead of its debut at
Redford's Sundance Film Festival in January.
"Will we (the Mayor, Sarah and myself) be able to see the first
episode before it premieres?" Cooper, Emanuel's press secretary, wrote
to Levin. The producer replied, "I have a call into CNN now to discuss
screening episode one for the Mayor, Sarah (Hamilton) and you. I'm
assuming they would be open to it."
Levin said he couldn't remember if the screening happened. Emanuel's
office declined to say. On Friday, CNN said there was no private
screening.
After the first episode aired on television in March, Emanuel was asked what he thought of the series.
"I haven't watched it," he said." via Free Rep.
==========================
Comment: Following is all that stands in the way of above described thugocracy:
.
GOP House Speaker John Boehner
