Disney Boycotts LA Times Holiday Movie Preview Over Anaheim Coverage

Some of the biggest movies of the holiday season are sure to be from The Walt Disney Company, but you won’t find them in the LA Times’ Holiday Movie Preview. The section begins with this statement:

The annual Holiday Movie Sneaks section published by the Los Angeles Times typically includes features on movies from all major studios, reflecting the diversity of films Hollywood offers during the holidays, one of the busiest box-office periods of the year. This year, Walt Disney Co. studios declined to offer The Times advance screenings, citing what it called unfair coverage of its business ties with Anaheim. The Times will continue to review and cover Disney movies and programs when they are available to the public.

The LA Times posted a piece that was critical of the public assistance the Anaheim Resort receives from the city of Anaheim. The OC Register rebutted with an opinion piece that stated Anaheim gets more from Disney than Disney gets from Anaheim, however it appears that they do not have a Holiday Movie Preview at this time.

UPDATE: Disney has released a statement on the LA Times piece that is at the center of this situation:

“We regularly work with news organizations around the world that we don’t always agree with, but in this instance the L.A. Times showed a complete disregard for basic journalistic standards. Despite our sharing numerous indisputable facts with the reporter, several editors, and the publisher over many months, the Times moved forward with a biased and inaccurate series, wholly driven by a political agenda — so much so that the Orange County Register referred to the report as ‘a hit piece’ with a ‘seemingly predetermined narrative.’ We’ve had a long relationship with the L.A. Times, and we hope they will adhere to balanced reporting in the future.”