Nikki Finke Strikes Back: Says Variety Piece Was An Ordered Hit After Negotiations To Buy Her Site Failed

Man, we’ll try and keep the internecine inside-baseball squabbles short cause its possible you couldn’t give a rat’s ass, but you know how bloggers can never resist the temptation to discuss ourselves.

Obviously by now you’ve probably read — on a blog no doubt — about a three pronged attack from Variety on bloggers, rightfully bemoaning the new school of loose journo ethics, lamenting their growing obsolescence and taking aim at their greatest competition (however, you really should only feel upset with the trade if you’ve made these transgressions and they’ve hit a nerve) — some of the bigger names in the blog world, David Poland (a vocal Variety dissident), Jeffrey Wells, etc.

However, many seem to think the harangues are a thinly-veiled offensive against Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke (Deadline Hollywood) and while that’s a bit overstated (they’re also generalized pieces as well), unsurprisingly, Finke thinks it’s all about her too in a retort she wrote last night called, SUNDAY SOUR GRAPES?

Her state of sanity aside, she does deliver a damaging TKO flurry back at Variety claiming that head EIC Peter Bart ordered the hit on her Godfather-style, after negotiations to buy her site fell through.

“Since I did not sign a non-disclosure agreement, I am free to tell Hollywood the following: On February 27th, Neil Stiles, the president and publisher of Variety Group, called me saying Reed Business Information CEO Tad Smith was pushing him to discuss an acquisition of my site.”

Finke then says Bart was not informed of his bosses interest in acquiring her site and when he found out he was incredibly angered and ordered the assault.

“Within a couple of days, the idea of Variety owning DHD was dead. I later learned that the trade publication’s editor Peter Bart was not consulted by his overlords about the overture. Instead, he heard about it third-hand. I heard Bart was pissed. Then last week, Bart ordered up for Sunday’s Weekly Variety not 1 (written by Mike Fleming), not 2 (written by Cynthia Littleton), but 3 (written by Peter) separate articles about Hollywood bloggers that focused on me. No one from Variety bothered to call me in advance.”

No offense Nikki, but if your info is true, Don Corleone didn’t call up Luca Brasi and tell him in advance he was going to sleep with the fishes (either it’s a hit or it’s journalism, but you can’t have it both ways). She then goes on to reiterate the email she sent to Variety brass about the impending articles she said she knew were coming, blah, blah, blah.

More importantly if Finke’s claims are true — and admittedly as nutty as the reporter can be is this is one of her more sober pieces — it appears Variety’s botched assassination attempt has blown up in their face. If it is true, it looks bad, real bad. If it really proves anything, it’s that Variety are as thin-skinned as the new generation of bloggers that continue to get into personalized chest-puffing pissing matches.

Regardless we’re sure you, the audience, relishes a time, when the author’s ego was in the backseat and the story was the story, and not about the writer itself. The biggest take away we got from the Variety was the lack of graciousness and courtesy in the blogosphere, but with no rules, no editors to enforce them and or make cooler heads prevail, and Variety seemingly playing the same juvenile game as those they’re criticizing, it’s doubtful this narcissistic game will change anytime soon.