Luke Ford has provided terrific coverage of Tuesday night’s (12.12.06) discussion between N.Y. Times writers Sharon Waxman and Laura Holson and L.A. Times writers Patrick Goldstein and John Horn about who’s got the edge in covering Hollywood — the N.Y. Times, the L.A. Times or industry bloggers? (The chat was titled “L.A. vs. New York: Who’s Got the Scoop on Hollywood?”) Variety film editor Dana Harris moderated.
Ford has provided a sound file (very good listening) but here are some choice quotes (provided by Ford): (a) Goldstein: “The Envelope is about attracting Oscar advertising [and] Oscar prognostication is over-the-top and unhealthy”; (b) Horn: “It’s insipid”; (c) Goldstein: “It is almost impossible to beat the internet at the straightforward news game — we have to add analysis”; (d) Horn: “Putting Calendarlive.com behind a paywall was a disaster…a fiasco.”
Ford says he asked the first question of the night: “What makes you think David Geffen [understood to be a possible buyer of the L.A. Times] is a fan of free inquiry? The guy’s a bully. The guy is a blackmail artist. The guy’s a thug. The guy is a lowlife.”
Goldstein: “He’s a thug? I have a list on my wall of people I think of as thugs and David Geffen wouldn’t come close to being on that list.”
Waxman: “Patrick, come on. David Geffen is the one man…who you ask around town, people are afraid of him. They do not pick fights with him because David Geffen has nothing to do. He has a very long memory. He bears a grudge. He will mount a campaign against someone to get back…”