Welcome to TheWrap. A year ago I left The New York Times with a sinking feeling about what was happening to professional journalism.
Today we launch with great optimism what I hope will become an exciting new space to cover Hollywood in the digital age. TheWrap seeks to use the myriad tools of the web to marry top quality journalism – breaking news, trends, features, interviews – with the input of the talented and sophisticated community that creates the world's popular culture.
The time is fortuitous. As our lead story today indicates, the entertainment and media industries are at a fateful crossroads. TheWrap will be a resource for anyone who is interested in understanding the changes in our popular culture, and navigating what has become a global industry.
We need your help to do it. TheWrap seeks to build the best, most dynamic, most discerning community of entertainment professionals and enthusiasts around the world. We seek to be both authoritative and entertaining – yes, it can be done – and know that our content will be enriched by our readers as they comment on our stories, contribute their own blogs and connect to one another.
We believe entertainment matters. It matters because popular culture is a multi-billion dollar industry, American's number one export, and a source of connection, employment, passion and aspiration for millions of people across the globe. Movies, television, music, games, media – these represent the common language that unites us as human beings. Entertainment reflects our world, and it shapes it.
So that's why we built TheWrap. We believe it's time for a substantive, independent and intelligent voice to write about the business of entertainment. And we believe that voice should be at home on the web.
Please consider this a conversation. A dialogue. We will make mistakes, and you will point them out. We will ruffle feathers, as that's part of an honest conversation. But we hope most of all that you will participate. Write. Comment. Share. And join us in the digital age.
Sharon Waxman
Editor in Chief
