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A New Kind of Celebrity Journalism
Sean Penn is writing a series of foreign dispatches for The San Francisco Chronicle, again.
The first time he served as foreign correspondent for the paper, his three-part series on Iraq -- which included a photo slideshow, mostly of him -- was the source of many annoyed letters from readers, like this one from Merle Divens: "Just want you to know that no one gives a damn what Sean Penn thinks or does. He only makes films filled with violence. Who made him a journalist anyway? What are his credentials to do anything? What is his education?"
This time, he's in Iran, where's he's making such observations as the following:
Iran is not an unsophisticated country. These are not unrefined people.His articles are also often focused on himself, instead of on the country.
I noticed that many Iranians were freely smoking cigarettes in line, certainly no signs prohibiting it, and immediately joined them. I was quickly singled out by a uniformed customs agent who instructed me to put out my cigarette. Only me. Not the Iranian passengers.But that’s the point of the pieces: Let’s see what happens when a well-known Hollywood actor goes to an enemy land! The result is rather chaotic: a video on the Chronicle site shows him being beseiged by photographers during a museum visit.
| Also by Monica Mehta | |||
| The worst lesson to learn The war on terror is right here, at home. August 25, 2005. |
Pat Robertson unleashed Somebody get a muzzle. August 23, 2005. |
POTUS' Summer Book List What Bush is and isn't reading during his five-week summer vacation. August 18, 2005. |
The most useless warning sign in the world What's the point of warning people that an area contains chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects? August 17, 2005. |