Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Is the DHD Dead?

I read Deadline Hollywood Daily... daily. I admit it. Her coverage of the rumors about the Union negotiations were pretty much spot on most of the time. While, I disagreed with her take on how the Unions should have handled the negotiations, I think she does provide the closest thing to an accountable moral or ethical compass that Hollywood Big Business can find. She actually covers the people who really make movies and television. Not the celebrities that the traditional media outlets like to fawn over. She tackles the moguls and scrutinizes every little decision or good or bad that they make. That is a good thing. Someone has to.

Today Finke sold her blog. She sold it to the folks who run Mail.com, MMC. The folks at Mail.com had very nice things to say about Finke, even stating she "Raised the bar of entertainment journalism", which to be honest is very true.

However, she would soon be acused of "Selling Out". There was no way around it.

This was her response to that, "Know this: I did not sell out. I really meant it when I said that DeadlineHollywood Daily.com will continue to be an independent editorial voice – and I would retain complete control over everything reported on the website -- so that DHD’s credibility with its readers could remain intact."

I think that Finke is in a tough spot here. She created a fantastic product. A product that sooner or later was going to be bought and purchased by someone with a lot of money. She clearly worked very hard on this website and so she deserves to be paid for it. However, we all know that corporations cannot help but 'tweak' whatever it is that they buy. I think it will be harder for Finke to do what she wants on the site, when she has to answer to someone who has very high expectations. If she does not meet those expectations (let's hope she can) they will want to change things. It's that simple.

So, what do you think? Did she sell out?

P.S. (just to Nikki) Congratulations on being rewarded for your hard work.

P.P.S. Why didn't you post the Press Release I sent you on the NoHo Show? :P

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