“THR” OWNER SAYS HE’LL INVEST IN IT AND EXPAND STAFF

Disputing rampant speculation that e5 Global Media, the new owners of the Hollywood Reporter, was planning additional cutbacks at the morale-challenged trade publication and converting it into a slick, celebrity-oriented weekly, the company’s CEO, Richard Beckman, has told Reuters that he plans to do just the opposite. In an interview with the wire service (Reuters distributes THR stories), Beckman said that he is assembling staff to cover the entertainment business “in an exciting and vibrant way.” The problem with the publication, he indicated, is that it “has made uninteresting an interesting business.” He said that he plans to invest in it and expand its staff. Beckman made his remarks following the announcement that former Us Weekly editor Janice Min was being brought on board the Reporter as editorial director. She immediately dismissed the notion that her appointment was part of a strategy to convert the trade publication into a celebrity magazine. “The Hollywood Reporter will remain an industry publication and a business publication,” she told Reuters. In a separate interview with the New York Times, Min said that her objective at the Reporter will be to expand the “contextual discussion and analysis” of news affecting the entertainment industry. “Part of the parlor game in the industry is one of, basically, who’s up, who’s down,” she said, “so I think it’s only natural that there will be some personalities featured in the coverage, but it’s certainly not going to be, ‘Guess what Lindsay Lohan wore today.'”