Hollywood Reporter’s Top Editor Exits After Dispute With Publisher

During the calls, staff members cited examples of what they considered Valence Media’s interference. In one instance, the company had asked Mr. Belloni to kill a profile of Louise Linton, the wife of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, according to two call participants. Mr. Belloni declined.

Another source of contention was a published list of the decade’s best and worst movies. Ms. Brown told Mr. Belloni the piece was “off-strategy” and later killed a planned television segment based on it, the two people said.

Also deemed “off-strategy” was a piece on Jennifer Lopez’s re-upping with Guess after the clothing company’s co-founder Paul Marciano had resigned after sexual harassment complaints. Ms. Lopez was described as having many “touch points” to MRC, the two people said.

Hollywood Reporter staff members also expressed concern that a Valence Media executive was looking in Slack channels for details on planned stories. Emily Spence, the executive vice president of communications at Valence Media, said in an interview that she was the one who had gone into newsroom Slack channels before realizing it was “an infringement.”

“I removed myself from the rooms and I have asked I.T. to make these channels only available to editorial employees,” Ms. Spence said.

Ms. McBride, the ethics consultant, compared The Hollywood Reporter to ESPN, where she served as ombudsman from 2011 to 2013. Owned by the Walt Disney Company, ESPN reports on the National Football League and National Basketball Association while also earning revenue from its game broadcasts. Similarly, The Hollywood Reporter covers the studios it depends on as advertisers, and its parent company creates films and shows.

“The owners are learning to understand editorial independence, and they really embrace it,” said Ms. McBride, who will continue to advise The Hollywood Reporter while taking a job as the next public editor of National Public Radio. “They have taken my advice at every turn.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/business/media/hollywood-reporter-matthew-belloni.html