Hello!Online: UFA media blackout Updated: Western sites denied from interviewing Morning Musume - Hello!Online

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  UFA media blackout Updated: Western sites denied from interviewing Morning Musume  
  Written by turbos86, updated: 3:36, 2-Jul 2009  
     
  UFA staffs refused personnel from a number of western H!P fansites and blogs, include Hello!Online from interviewing Morning Musume at Anime Expo 2009 Press Junket.  
     
  Full Story  
     
  [The following article represents the personal view of the author himself, and is not an offical statement by Hello!Online]

As many of you already know, Morning Musume appearing at Anime Expo 2009 is their premeire stage debut. Hello!Online being one of the major English Hello!Project fan community on the internet, would not miss this for the world.

Being a member of the press at AX (Anime Expo), we attended the Press Junket (A press only event which allow different media outlets to have one on one interviews with the AX Guests of Honors). We were overjoyed to have this once in a life time opportunity open up to us and we prepared a good number of question for Morning Musume that we think fans would be interesting in finding out the answers to. Seeing how important this meant, not only to us, but to all the western fans, we arrived early to ensure an interview with Morning Musume (We ended up being first in line).

After waiting three hours, the Press Junket organizers called our names but pulled us off to the side. To our surprise, they had bad news for us. We were then told that Morning Musume staff had looked over the interviewer sign up list and decided to refuse Hello!Online an interview with Morning Musume. This sudden revelation caught us completely off guard and dumbfounded. We pleaded with the Press Junket organizers to ask Morning Musume's staff to reconsider their decision.

30 minute pass by and we were denied again. No explainations were ever given as to why Hello!Online was not allowed in. Needless to say, we left the Press Junket empty handed and disappointed.

----------------------------------

This unfortunate turn of event came as not only a shock, but an insult to Hello!Online and its members, and the western Hello!Project fandom we all embody.

The reason Morning Musume came all the way from Japan to LA is to break into the western world and improve their relationship with western fans. By preventing Hello!Online from the supposingly open opportunity for all press outlets, it is like slapping all western fans in the face and over-riding the efforts our nine beloved girls are giving.

We are not putting blame on anyone. The staff and organizers have been a great help and more than polite in this whole ordeal. And certainly, it was not up to Morning Musume to decide who gets to interview them.

I just can not comprehend why only we were denied without reason, while other western fansites and blogs were granted access.

I fully understand that UFA have all the rights to refuse anyone from interviewing their artist without giving any explaination. Personally, I have lost a great deal of (if not all) respect for UFA as a company.

----------------------------------

Updates

Paul from Hello!Blog, who also attended the Press Junket has reveiled that UFA refused interviewing opportunities for many fansites and blogs after rejecting Hello!Online.

Read more about it at: http://www.helloblog.co.uk/comment.php?commentID=476


turbos86
Hello!Online
 
     
     
     
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