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After it was announced earlier today that Lynne Segall was leaving Nikki Finke’s DeadlineHollywood.com and returning to The Hollywood Reporter as publisher, David Poland — no fan of Finke (an understatement) — wrote that it took Segall less than a month “to realize that what everyone had said about Nikki was true.” He adds: “Congratulations, Lynne. Can’t wait to hear the screams all over town as you take on your former staff at the LA Times with a loaded weapon.” (The Times fired her in May 2010.) In a post titled “What Really Happened With Lynne Segall,” Finke calls the publisher “a tireless ad sales machine with great Hollywood connections. … But let me also ask: at what cost to journalism integrity?” Finke continues:
Almost immediately, she tried to stop me from criticizing Jeff Zucker and NBC Universal because he’d ordered his TV and movie operations not to advertise on Deadline (something I hadn’t even been aware of because of the wall I’d erected) and because she held out hope of chasing NBC’s very lucrative “Fall Tune-In” dollars. I repeatedly told her not to interfere with my editorial control. I found out later to my shock and dismay that she’d taken it upon herself to assure NBC that she could get me to lay off Zucker if only NBC Universal would start advertising.
I consider Segall and THR a perfect fit. (See my Summit Scandal At The Hollywood Reporter) I have no doubt she will sell lots of print ads for their weekly advertorial because she’s very good at that. But at Deadline, journalism has and will always come first.
The Wrap asked Segall about Finke’s allegations. “Do you think I can tell Nikki Finke what to write?” she said. “She’s not gonna listen to Lynne Segall.”
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