WRITER EXPOSES APPARENT CONFLICT OF INTEREST AT AOL COMPANIES

A writer for TechCrunch.com, which was acquired last year by AOL, was asked by a representative for Moviefone, also owned by AOL, to “tone down” an article she wrote about Summit Entertainment’s The Source Code, starring Jake Gyllenhaal. (The rep wrote that Summit Entertainment felt the article “was a little snarky.”) Instead of complying, the […]

NIKKI FINKE SENDS “CEASE AND DESIST” DEMAND TO SHARON WAXMAN

The ongoing rivalry between Nikki Finke’s Deadline.com and Sharon Waxman’s TheWrap.com for the eyes of Hollywood’s cognoscenti took a new turn Wednesday as Mail.com Media Corporation, owner of Finke’s website, fired off a “cease and desist” notice to TheWrap.com, accusing it of engaging in a “continuous pattern of misappropriating content from Deadline.com.” In a separate […]

L.A. TIMES‘S ASST. ARTS EDITOR ASKS, “WHAT IS NEWS?”

Only weeks after the Tribune Co. saw the departure of former radio consultant Lee Abrams, whose seemingly stream-of-consciousness memos to the company’s staff were widely lampooned by entertainment industry columnists and bloggers, the website LAObserved.com has posted a memo from Sallie Hofmeister, the Los Angeles Times‘s recently appointed assistant managing editor for arts and entertainment, […]