Indie-Bloggers: Murrows ... or McCarthys?

I think you're giving whatshername too much credit. Really, most people have never heard of her or her blog. I only heard about her a couple weeks ago when someone posted a link to her site, at a forum I visit, and she was basically called a hack and made fun of--which she didn't like, and got all huffy and whiny. She's a paper tiger. She loves to dish but cannot take. Typical.
Just punch her in the mouth next time you see her.

There is a much larger problem here than with the independent reporter/bloggers that Mr. Lurie discusses. This type of irresponsible journalism is not only happening with the internet media, but with highly regarded print and broadcast media such as CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, NY Times, etc.

Reporting the news has become so completely biased by the opinions of those who are supposed to 'report' the facts that you can't distinguish between what is truth and what is fiction.

While Lurie has proven Ms. Finke to be an irresponsible reporter, I am not sure why she's to be held to any higher of a standard than mainstream news media. If we're going to allow CNN to push lies out to the public, how can we complain about bloggers?

They should ALL be held to higher standards.

In the past couple months I have read one column, heard one interview and seen one film by Rod Lurie. As a newspaper journalist myself, I can't say that this is definitive proof, but so far I am inclined to think that he is a great guy.

Dear Mr. Lurie,

Thank you for writing about Ms. Finke. If you had not, I would not have looked her up, which would have been a shame because I think she's funny and kind of MILF-y. She's clearly damaged, though. Funny how I'm a little turned on by that, but your reaction is to write a column excoriating her. I wonder what that says about each of us?

Are you really saying that anonymous comments on little read blogs are dangerous? To what, the entertainment industry? Do you think anyone in the world thinks Hollywood is filled with ethically pure businesspeople whose lives get wrecked by ludicrous comments posted by SalamiLicker69 on Chud.com? Get over yourself. What's your goddamn solution, by the way? Are you going to track us all down and beat us up like Jay and Silent Bob in their eponymous movie? These are my first amendment rights. I'd rather get syphilis than give them up.

You got a hack blogger to correct a story. Great. You bragged on your credentials as a seasoned journalist. Color me impressed. You say anonymous blog comments are internet-cancer that ought to be irradiated? Shut the fuck up. If you are behind the times enough to think you're one of the first to make that criticism, if you think just condescendingly bitching about it changes my mind, then you have no idea what the Web is and deserve to be ridiculed by its pithy microbullies.

When did investigative journalists become pussies?

Nikki lacks scruples and apparently sanity-challenged, but the McCarthy comparisons are otherwise invalid.

What should trouble any observer are her attempts to claim that her "readership" is power. Well over half her hits come from links on Reich-wing websites, and she further plumps the numbers with innumerable sci-fi postings (all of which she precedes with "I don't do geek." Well thank you, dear. Then please simply do not post it!) Do many industry pros read her? Sure. Do we take her seriously? Uh ... no.

Nikki's instability will do her in long before collective sanity sets in. As it should be.

Ah...the constitutional concept of "FREE SPEECH". That's goes for everyone in consideration here, including me. BUT, as often said, it doesn't mean you can yell "FIRE" in a crowded and dark theatre. Nikki Finke, in my opinion, has lost her credentials as a journalist. She has been called out too many times for her inaccurate and very biased 'reporting'. Her website effects how people vote in our unions. And, she can make people 'think' they know the truth about someone or something just because she writes it. Perceptions in this town matter. So there is a power there that is abused and she should put a disclaimer on all her material that is of second hand, or pure bullshit. Rod Lurie was certainly within in his 'rights' to respond to her bullshit. Lurie has proven himself to be an artist and a contributer in this community, a writer of note, and someone that moves this entertainment community forward with intelligent and insightful television and film. We need more Rod Luries and less of Nikki Finkes.

Great article.

I am with you on Finke being overly personal and unprofessional.
The larger problem stems from the public who feeds into the frenzy. Many people tend to look at hype rather than integrity. It's the same group that helped Bush get elected. Twice.

I do hope this era in 'journalism' ends very soon. That the people feeding her and Perez Hilton stop the insanity.

I also feel quite confident that many of the postings on this board that are insulting you and taking up for Ms. Finke are from Ms. Finke herself.
Nobody's that dumb, Finke. Give it a rest.

One day, when you're a famous and successful director, you won't care about what other people say about you.

You can knock Finke all day long, but she delivers. She's almost always on target with her reporting. Nobody's perfect. In fact, Finke probably has a way better average of hits over misses than Lurie's films do critically and/or at the box office.

Mr. Lurie

This is a paragraph on Sharon Waxman from Gawker.

"The New York Times issued at least 45 corrections on her articles, approximately one per month. This is out of 385 bylines, according to Nexis, for a correction rate of 11.6%. . . . the most common complaints are that she puts information on the record that was explicitly supposed to be off, and that she gets simple details wrong."

Kind of ironic for you to write an article about respectable journalism on a website run by a former journalist who cares NOT about journalistic ethics.

Mr. Lurie - This is a paragraph on Ms. Finke from Wikipedia.

"Finke was an Associated Press foreign correspondent in Moscow and London. She later worked for The Dallas Morning News. She joined the staff of Newsweek (as a correspondent in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles), then at the Los Angeles Times as a staff writer covering entertainment and features. She became West Coast Editor for the New York Observer and then New York Magazine where she penned Hollywood business columns. Finke has also written for: The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, The Washington Post, Salon.com, Premiere, and Los Angeles magazine. She appears occasionally on radio and television commenting about the entertainment and media business and is a regular on Dennis Miller's radio show."

She also worked for about 10-minutes and the Houston Post, and then I think (I won't bother to check the facts here!) for another few minutes at the Houston Post.

Kind of a lot of "hopscotching" on her part too it seems.

pretty hysterical - don't you think - that TheWrap let's Lurie post this article - aimed at fellow journalist Finke - when they, themsleves, are 100x more guilty of the libel and defamation and slander on this site than any other entertainment media outlet covering Hollywood! Shame on you Rod for writing anything for these soulless people!

Mr. Lurie,
So you think Nikki Finke is dangerous and part of an insidious movement to destroy Legitimate Journalism. Let me tell you what is dangerous and insidious. The idea that a “legitimate” journalism with some sort of monolithic integrity actually exists. “Legitimate” journalists serve corporate owners and are as subject to bias as any avenue of expression in the world. And it’s much worse than that because this myth of legitimacy gives readers permission to “relax,” trust the source, and not think for themselves.

And just who are these corporate owners? Could they be, oh, I don’t know, the same corporations that are neck deep in defense contracts? How likely are “legitimate” journalists to report on human rights violations by Coca Cola or Walmart when those companies are their sponsors? It’s hard to fact-check or verify stories that never get written. Given what’s been going on in the world for the last 8 years, the negligence, complacency, and impotence of “legitimate” journalists in my view constitutes a war crime. Even our esteemed paper “of record” is a well-known purveyor of bullshit. Judith Miller, anyone? Having press credentials doesn't give you integrity, and having a blog doesn't make you an asshole who couldn't get published.

You compare Nikki to Joseph McCarthy. If I remember my history, it wasn’t until after one man with enough balls (and maybe a death wish) took down HUAC that the spineless simps otherwise known as “legitimate” journalists jumped on board. I wonder how well your older colleagues in Hollywood would take to your flippant characterization. Could McCarthy have gotten away with what he did if there had been an army of Nikki Finkes pounding the pavement? I only wish she could clone herself a hundred times and send them all to Washington.

There is no such thing as an independent journalist. You can’t be independent from your own biases. There is no such thing as objective reporting. The sooner people are disabused of that idea the better. Bloggers can be trained journalists (like Nikki Finke), but they function as editorialists. Their work is subjective and opinion. Any blogger (or any person) who claims otherwise should not be taken seriously. Ninety percent of the blogs out there are bullshit, including my own, I’m sure. Are there errors, slanders, yes. But in what other medium at what other time in history were we so well positioned to publicly refute the bullshit? How many lives and careers have been ruined by “legitimate” journalists, when the subject had no effective means to respond or be taken seriously? (Hmmm… an Olympic bombing suspect and an anthrax terror suspect jump to mind.) For the first time information exchange resembles a dialogue rather than a one-way downhill street. Bloggers should not try to be “legitimate.” It should be clear that they are representing their own side of a story. If readers know this they are less likely to assume that the story has been handed down on stone tablets. Diversity is crucial--corporate entities are in cahoots as often as they are in competition. Only a real threat to the status quo brings awareness.

Nikki Finke is outspoken, abrasive, and maybe, as one commenter stated, an “uppity c**t,” though I think that was meant as a compliment. And maybe she needs to go back to charm school as Peter Bart seems to think, but who cares? How is her demeanor relevant? (Except perhaps that she is a woman and therefore ought to be pleasant and deferential, but who wants to go down that road?) She and her ilk have hustle and have brought new energy to an establishment suffocating under the weight of its own self-importance. I don’t deny that the aggregate amount of BS has increased a trillion fold because of the internet. I don’t deny that there is a sizable portion of the population who can’t or won’t bother to tell the difference between fact and crap—that’s not new. Errors and lies can cause damage. But if a few people learn to be a tad more critical, well, that’s real progress.

So you feel persecuted. Take it up with your therapist. All I can say is that you chose a public career, so tough shit. I like your work in film and TV very much, and given its nature, it surprises me that you would write such a careless piece. (Or is it an April Fool's errand after all?)

I hope people will have a look at the upcoming film State of Play... which may be one of the first, and possibly the last, to take a comparitive look at traditional journalism and blogging.

Frankly, the Finke style of "journalism" so current... scares the hell out of me. There are no standards... no checks and balances... nothing remotely resembling the traditional journalistic standards and fact checking that were considered as necessary in times past. Today... truth and honesty are more intangible than ever.

I don't get it, you object now because she wrote about you moving agencies. No offense, but you're not exactly on the cover of magazines each week, so you should be flattered she even gives a shit. Your piece is so self-important -- who cares how many agencies you've been to, it's when you cant get signed that you should worry.

Is the point that she should have written glowingly or kissed your ass, then she would be a good blogger?

confused.

Mr. Luire is a “top director”?

The slipshod commentary and cult of personality on the web that Rod observes passes for entertainment news unfortunately also is common in the current coverage of the design and development field which I have written about on and off for years. Further aggravating this sad situation is that these faulty perspectives often spill over from the internet into print , and further flavors coverage. It is that old adage again: you get what you pay for, except, of course, is the case of whores, and then you get less.

A couple of points:

Rod Lurie's point about anonymous commenters is well-taken. I've called out the anonymous more than once in the DHD comments section.

TheWrap has no problem making hay of Finke's transgressions - real or imagined - as a means to draw eyeballs to their portal.

Oh, please. You doth protest too much. If it's all so "horrible for journalism", then just ignore Finke and DHD. Likening her to McCarthy is disengenous at best. The industry needs both the gadflys and the "yes men" (like Ann Thompson). It's up to us -- the readers -- figure out our own truth. But this ongoing concerted campaign to discredit and slam Finke is embarrassing for all involved.

Hear hear. Finke herself, if judged by her own blog, is the nasty piece of work. No "journalist" should include so many vicious personal attacks as she does. She seems to revel in the personal pain she causes with her rumor-mongering attacks. What 's even more bizarre to me is how widely read, and seriously taken, her cyber-era scandal sheet is withing the biz. I guess everybody loves to see people hurt, until of course it's their turn to be slandered...

Interesting article.

I have to say that I agree with the unchecked activity of so-called reporting that goes on.

I find it difficult, too, to read a lot of comments that get posted to things. It seems that people certain people take advantage of the anonymity of the internet and say things that they might not otherwise say.

It's disturbing to find the extremism that's exploding online. To me, it doesn't matter if you're left or right. Neither position, in extreme, is good for anyone. I don't recall the world going to war because of moderate views.

Anyway, Mr. Lurie, I wish you continued success and blessings to your family.

Rod Lurie is a personal hero of mine. You write with honor and decency, and I look forward to future article and especially films.

Gee, it took THIS item from Finke to wake you up to the phenomenon of "the unchecked reporter"? This has to be an April Fool's piece, right? It comes off as very self-absorbed.

You're a bit late to the party, Lurie. We're going home, please lock up on your way out.