Nikki Finke
Encyclopedia
Nikki Finke is an American
journalist
and blog
ger. She is Founder and Editor in chief
and President of Deadline.com
, a website
with original content consisting of her and other veteran showbiz journalists' reporting and commentary on the business of the entertainment industry formerly known as Deadline Hollywood Daily. Finke has been called the "most feared, despised, and uncompromising journalist in Hollywood."
in New York
, where she attended Buckley Country Day School
and the Hewitt School
. She graduated from Wellesley College.
, before joining the Associated Press
(AP). She worked for the AP in Baltimore, Boston, the foreign desk at the New York City headquarters, Moscow, and London. Finke later worked for The Dallas Morning News
. She joined the staff of Newsweek
as a correspondent in Washington and Los Angeles, then at the Los Angeles Times
as a staff writer covering entertainment and features. Finke became West Coast Editor for The New York Observer and then New York
, 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.
Finke wrote her LA Weekly
column "Deadline Hollywood" from June 2002 to June 2009, and began the Deadline (Deadline Hollywood Daily until September 2009) blog in March 2006 as a daily online version of her weekly column. She describes it as her "forum to break news about the infotainment
industry."
The New York Times described Finke as "a digital-age Walter Winchell
" with an "in your face" writing style, who is "feared by [Hollywood] executives". Deadline became a key information portal during the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, tripling her readership; according to the Times, "Finke’s Web site has become a critical forum for Hollywood . . . But it [is the] strike that may have finally solidified her position as a Hollywood power broker." Finke claimed to have worked "almost around the clock" during the strike; in 2009 the Los Angeles Times noted her announcement of a five-day vacation.
In 2008 Finke was named on Elle magazine's 25 most influential women in Hollywood list, and to the Heeb Magazine
100. In 2009 she sold Deadline to Jay Penske
's Mail.com Media Corp, reportedly for $14 Million, under an agreement by which she continues as the Editor-in-chief and President of the website which still features her reporting and commentary.
A studio executive said of Finke, "She's very, very, very, accurate, extraordinarily so—you have a supposedly private conversation with two other people, and it's on her site within an hour." Charlie Koones, former Variety
publisher, called her a "once-in-a-generation talent".
and Ronald Meyer
. In 2008 she was criticized for first posting a Sony press release and then adding her own analysis which contradicted the release without updating the time stamp, and in early 2009 she was accused of retroactively altering a Deadline Hollywood Daily report about the director of the third Twilight film
.
, getting engaged in 1974 and married in 1980. They divorced in 1982.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
ger. She is Founder and Editor in chief
Editor in chief
An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...
and President of Deadline.com
Deadline.com
Deadline.com, part of Jay Penske's PMC, is an online magazine, founded and edited by Nikki Finke.-Publication:The site is updated several times a day, with the infotainment industry as its focus.-History:...
, a website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
with original content consisting of her and other veteran showbiz journalists' reporting and commentary on the business of the entertainment industry formerly known as Deadline Hollywood Daily. Finke has been called the "most feared, despised, and uncompromising journalist in Hollywood."
Early life
Finke was raised on Long IslandLong Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, where she attended Buckley Country Day School
Buckley Country Day School
Buckley Country Day School is an independent, coeducational day school providing elementary education to 330 students in grades toddler through eight in Roslyn, New York. Buckley was founded in 1923 and opened the doors of its first building in Great Neck to a class of twenty-three children...
and the Hewitt School
Hewitt School
The Hewitt School is an independent, K-12 girls school in New York City, New York.The school serves girls from Kindergarten through 12th Grade, in three divisions: Lower School , Middle School , and Upper School .-History:...
. She graduated from Wellesley College.
Career
She worked in Washington D.C. for New York congressman Ed KochEd Koch
Edward Irving "Ed" Koch is an American lawyer, politician, and political commentator. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and three terms as mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989...
, before joining the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
(AP). She worked for the AP in Baltimore, Boston, the foreign desk at the New York City headquarters, Moscow, and London. Finke later worked for The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News is the major daily newspaper serving the Dallas, Texas area, with a circulation of 264,459 subscribers, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported in September 2010...
. She joined the staff of Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
as a correspondent in Washington and Los Angeles, then at the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
as a staff writer covering entertainment and features. Finke became West Coast Editor for The New York Observer and then New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
, where she penned Hollywood business columns. Finke has also written for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
, Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, Harper's Bazaar
Harper's Bazaar
Harper’s Bazaar is an American fashion magazine, first published in 1867. Harper’s Bazaar is published by Hearst and, as a magazine, considers itself to be the style resource for “women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to couture.”...
, Elle
Elle
Elle may refer to:*Elle, Central African Republic*Elle , a fashion publication*Ellé, a river in France*Elle , a female given name*Elle , a Sri Lankan game similar to baseball*Ælle of Sussex, a Saxon king...
, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, Premiere
Premiere (magazine)
Premiere was an American and New York City-based film magazine published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., published between the years 1987 and 2007. The original version of the magazine, Première , was started in France in 1976 and is still being published there.-History:The magazine originally...
, and Los Angeles
Los Angeles (magazine)
Los Angeles magazine is a monthly regional magazine of national stature. Published by Emmis Communications and produced monthly since the spring of 1961, LA Magazine is a combination of award-winning feature writing, investigative reporting, service journalism, and design, the definitive resource...
magazine. She appears occasionally on radio and television commenting about the entertainment and media business.
Finke wrote her LA Weekly
LA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
column "Deadline Hollywood" from June 2002 to June 2009, and began the Deadline (Deadline Hollywood Daily until September 2009) blog in March 2006 as a daily online version of her weekly column. She describes it as her "forum to break news about the infotainment
Infotainment
Infotainment is "information-based media content or programming that also includes entertainment content in an effort to enhance popularity with audiences and consumers." It is a neologistic portmanteau of information and entertainment, referring to a type of media which provides a combination of...
industry."
The New York Times described Finke as "a digital-age Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell was an American newspaper and radio gossip commentator.-Professional career:Born Walter Weinschel in New York City, he left school in the sixth grade and started performing in a vaudeville troupe known as Gus Edwards' "Newsboys Sextet."His career in journalism was begun by posting...
" with an "in your face" writing style, who is "feared by [Hollywood] executives". Deadline became a key information portal during the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, tripling her readership; according to the Times, "Finke’s Web site has become a critical forum for Hollywood . . . But it [is the] strike that may have finally solidified her position as a Hollywood power broker." Finke claimed to have worked "almost around the clock" during the strike; in 2009 the Los Angeles Times noted her announcement of a five-day vacation.
In 2008 Finke was named on Elle magazine's 25 most influential women in Hollywood list, and to the Heeb Magazine
Heeb Magazine
Heeb was a Jewish magazine aimed predominantly at young Jews. The name of the magazine is a variation of the ethnic slur "hebe", an abbreviation of Hebrew. However, in this case, the word "heeb" seeks to function as empowerment for the Jewish community, thus eliminating the hatred associated with...
100. In 2009 she sold Deadline to Jay Penske
Jay Penske
Jay Penske is an American media and publishing entrepreneur, born in New York City and currently based in Los Angeles.-Early life:Penske is the youngest son of Roger Penske. Penske went to high school at St. Mary's Preparatory. At St. Mary's, Penske was named All-League, All-State, All-American,...
's Mail.com Media Corp, reportedly for $14 Million, under an agreement by which she continues as the Editor-in-chief and President of the website which still features her reporting and commentary.
Praise
In 2006, Finke's LA Weekly columns won First Place in the Alternative Weekly Awards for the category Media Reporting/Criticism, Circulation >50,000. In 2007, Finke won the Los Angeles Press Club's Southern California Journalism Award for "Entertainment Journalist of the Year" with the judges commenting: "Reading Nikki Finke’s salaciously candid coverage of Hollywood and its inhabitants almost feels like a guilty pleasure. She mixes the news with fearless finger-wagging that’s just fun to read no matter the subject. She tackles the industry monoliths without the kiddy gloves and she seems to have command of the beat." In the 2007 AltWeekly Awards, Deadline won Second Place.A studio executive said of Finke, "She's very, very, very, accurate, extraordinarily so—you have a supposedly private conversation with two other people, and it's on her site within an hour." Charlie Koones, former Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
publisher, called her a "once-in-a-generation talent".
Criticism
Observers have questioned Finke's "harsh tone", "summary executions," "penchant for innuendo and unnamed sources", and allegedly giving better coverage to "her favorites" and frequent sources, such as Ari EmanuelAri Emanuel
Ariel "Ari" Zev Emanuel is an American talent agent, founder of the Endeavor Talent Agency in Beverly Hills, California, and now co-CEO of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, Endeavor's successor by merger...
and Ronald Meyer
Ronald Meyer
Ron Meyer is an American entertainment executive and former talent agent.-Early life:Ron Meyer was born to a Jewish family whose love of film influenced him at an early age. At fifteen Ron dropped out of high school, and at the age of seventeen he joined the United States Marine Corps, which he...
. In 2008 she was criticized for first posting a Sony press release and then adding her own analysis which contradicted the release without updating the time stamp, and in early 2009 she was accused of retroactively altering a Deadline Hollywood Daily report about the director of the third Twilight film
Eclipse (2010 film)
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, commonly referred to as Eclipse, is a 2010 American romantic vampire film based on Stephenie Meyer's 2007 novel, Eclipse. It is the third installment of The Twilight Saga film series, following 2008's Twilight and 2009's New Moon. Summit Entertainment greenlit the film...
.
Personal life
Finke had a 14-year relationship with Jeffrey W. GreenbergJeffrey W. Greenberg
Jeffrey Wayne Greenberg is an American lawyer and business executive who served as chairman and CEO of Marsh & McLennan Companies.He earned a bachelor's degree from Brown University in 1973 and his law degree from Georgetown University Law School in 1976. He began his career at Marsh & McLennan...
, getting engaged in 1974 and married in 1980. They divorced in 1982.