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Movie star Angelina Jolie is reported to have struck quite a deal with People Magazine.  People got to run a spread on her newborn twins, and she got guaranteed positive coverage.  Media commentator Paul Janensch wonders whether others will follow her lead.

Tough negotiator Angelina Jolie and her partner Brad Pitt gave permission to People magazine to publish photos of the twins and interview the couple.  According to the New York Times, People paid them $14 million and guaranteed positive coverage of the family from now on.  The interview included questions about the charity work by the two stars but no reference to “Brangelina,” a tabloid merging of their names that both find annoying.  
The August 18 issue of People – with the happy parents and their babies on the cover – was the magazine’s best selling in seven years.  Think of all the other newsmakers with cute children or grandchildren.  I bet they would love to strike a similar deal with the media.  

Take President-Elect Barack Obama for example.  Could he and his wife Michelle enter into an arrangement with, say, NBC?  The network gets exclusive rights to cover the first day their daughters attend the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, and the Obama administration gets guaranteed positive coverage for the next four years.  

What about Sarah Palin?  Her daughter Bristol is expected to give birth in early 2009.  Perhaps the Alaska governor should approach Fox News.  The cable channel gets to shoot video of the former GOP vice-presidential nominee with her first grandchild, and Palin gets guaranteed positive coverage of her bid for the presidential nomination in 2012.  

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has six grandchildren.  One was born shortly after she was sworn in.  How about a contract with the New York Times?  The newspaper gets to run a front-page photo of the speaker will all six kids, and she gets guaranteed positive coverage of the House Democrats as long as they are the majority.  

Let’s think globally.  Russia’s Vladimir Putin has two daughters.  Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has two sons and a daughter.  As far as I know, neither has grandchildren.  But perhaps each should be looking to the future and inviting the media in his country to submit proposals.  The winning media outlet gets pictures of the grandkid, and the leader gets guaranteed positive coverage.  

Now that I think about it, no deal is necessary.  They already get guaranteed positive coverage.

Media commentator Paul Janensch is a former newspaper editor who teaches journalism at Quinnipiac University in Hamden. Connecticut.