Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Variety Launches Attacks on Blogosphere

The Hollywood trade magazine, Variety, published no fewer than three, separate articles attacking what it refers to as "toxic bloggers." In particular, they were critical of Nikki Finke, a very snarky Hollywood-insider-type blogger whose career has been boosted (actually, made) by long-standing feuds with other bloggers and celebrities.

Interestingly, Variety, a weekly slick, recently laid-off some 30 employees, and Finke was the very blogger who had the backstory to the whole ordeal. But this is far from the first time Finke has gotten one over on the trades - and the industry, in general - and her peers take a particular pleasure in proving her wrong whenever they can.

It is true that some of the pieces you read mentioning Finke are ugly, but Finke herself relishes in this negative attention. "Toxic" may be an inappropriate term for her and her ilk, though - at least as far as we bloggers are concerned. You have to admit, it is fun to be snarky! Besides, that copy reads better, and quicker, than when you pull every punch you land. Hollywood, and the print industry in general, has been hit hard lately, but they had to have known it was coming! Crucifying those who have helped fuel this fire only serves to make those people bigger players.

This is an exciting, tumultuous time for entertainment and I, for one, couldn't be happier to be a part of it - even though I'm an incredibly small fish. Honestly, I don't have the energy nor ambition to be a Nikki Finke, regardless of what I think about her work. Which, IMHO, isn't all that bad, but isn't really all that good, either; again, she's become famous for her feuds, not her work.

I have a feeling Finke is going to be one of the first real casualties of this new era, but maybe not in the way one would think. I mean, she could be compared to Hedda Hopper - that is not a bad comparison. The difference is that Finke lacks the inside knowledge Hopper had; she may have the insiders, but not necessarily the knowledge. And I believe that will prove her undoing, in time. That is, once the technology catches-up to us - and seeing as how print is truly dead now, and all those cats are going to be coming for a piece of our pie - in a few years, Nikki Finke's feuds will catch-up to her. And where Perez Hilton has already made the segue to TV, Finke will be an early casualty of what is now the upper-echelon of the Blogosphere.

These are truly indications of our emerging importance in an increasingly digital world! It's both exciting and nerve-wracking, and I could be very wrong about Finke - her burgeoning celebrity, negative thought it may be, may blossom into outright fame. However, I have a strong feeling she will burn-out long before that, thanks in no small part to the industry she continues to belittle as part of her blogging.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

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