Here at WaxWord we’ve decided that it’s time to expose Nikki Finke’s backroom maneuvers.
Because she was beat Friday on a major insider story – that Michael Ovitz had failed in an attempt to take over IMG – she sent an email to Reuters, TheWrap’s partner, complaining that our story was wrong.
No, it isn’t.
She then proceeded to write a post that repeated every material detail of TheWrap’s reporting, a day later.
Also read: Michael Ovitz IMG Takeover Bid Fails, Board Aligns 7-4 for Ouster (Updated)
Her malicious email is not the first time Finke has written Reuters to spread libelous information about TheWrap.
WaxWord will be exposing Finke’s poisonous maneuvers going forward in this space. It’s time to let some daylight into her methods, which stretch back (painfully) to our launch.
It’s pretty clear why this is happening; TheWrap is beating Deadline, and Finke is getting desperate. As Richard Rushfield has pointed out of late, TheWrap’s traffic is quickly gaining on Deadline.
He writes: Well, lookie and behold…according to last month’s Comscore numbers, The Wrap’s traffic is getting dangerously close to Nikki’s exalted peak. In August, Deadline had approximately 1,568,000 Unique Users, while The Wrap was at 1,116,000." (Hey Richard, what ever happened to your NikkiLeaks project?)
So: We get it. But we’re playing on the open field – in the newsroom, at events where industry leaders gather. Why can’t Finke compete out there?
With lawsuits and legal threats ping-ponging between Deadline and the Hollywood Reporter too, Finke is keeping very busy.
Also read: Thoughts on “Is Nikki Finke Losing her Mind?”
Jay Penske, Finke's "boss," will have to decide how much of his war chest he wants to spend on lawyers, and how much of the next year he wants to spend defending an editor who is out of control.
As for the Ovitz story, we have already followed up on the scoop to keep our readers informed. Our focus is on being the very best news organization covering entertainment and media; our commitment is to serve as an essential resource to the entertainment community and the millions beyond who have joined them.
Finke can continue on her own path. But you’ll be reading about her methods here.