Nikki Finke Blasts <i>New Yorker</i> Profile

Yesterday, The New Yorker published a lengthy profile of Deadline Hollywood Daily blogger Nikki Finke. The article -- which name-checks some of the biggest players in Hollywood, muses on Finke's possible sources, describes her home office and even gets the woman of the hour on the record -- is woven through with an interesting discourse about the state of journalism and reporting on Hollywood in the Internet age and Finke's own method: "Finke's code is the Hollywood code. She is for hard work, big box-office, stars who remain loyal to their agents and publicists, and the little guy -- until, that is, the big guy chats her up. Then she's for that big guy until some other big guy calls to stick it to the first big guy. And this, too, is the Hollywood code: relationships are paramount but provisional. One executive observes that people who heed Finke's call to snark about their competitors shouldn't get too comfortable: 'The idea is, The lion won't eat me if I throw it another Christian. It works for a day, but youâ€™re going back to the Colosseum soon.'" Almost immediately, Finke posted her take on the article: a blistering take-down of the New Yorker, pointing out that the piece "didn't lay a glove on me." Finke said writer Tad Friend was "easy to manipulate," and claimed she bitchslapped editor-in-chief David Remnick, "especially during the very slipshod factchecking process." She had made the venerable magazine her "buttboy" -- a favorite phrase of hers. The article is also missing some key information on Deadline Hollywood Daily, such as how much Finke is said to have received when she sold her site to Jay Penske's Mail.com Media Corp. earlier this year or recent plans to expand the site. All Things Digital's Peter Kafka is on the case, asking questions about why Finke has still has not named a New York correspondent she had planned to appoint around the end of the summer: "For the record, in late June, Finke said she'd have a New York correspondent hired within three months; four weeks ago, Penske told me said correspondent was going to be signed within two weeks. What's the status now? 'Not ready to comment right now,' Finke says via email." We're getting restless waiting to see who Finke will chose to lead her East Coast division. There's certainly no one who could match her brutal style and flippant attitude. But we'd like to see them try. Call Me --The New Yorker Hollywood Manipulated The New Yorker --Deadline Hollywood Daily

Fishbowl

Nikki Finke Blasts New Yorker Profile

Amanda Ernst

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Amanda Ernst