Posted on 04/06/2009 5:23:13 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
Has longtime Fox News entertainment blogger Roger Friedman been fired? It depends whom you ask.
On Saturday News Corp. released a statement saying the Hollywood gadfly had been "terminated."
But on Sunday afternoon Friedman told Daily Variety that he had not been let go.
Fox News released its own missive when asked on Sunday afternoon if Friedman had been ousted. "This is an internal matter that we're not prepared to discuss at this time," a Fox News spokesperson said.
For its part, the studio weighed in Friday with its own statement, calling Friedman's actions "reprehensible."
Friedman came under fire for posting a review of a pirated version of 20th Century Fox's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." Both Fox News and 20th Century Fox are divisions of parent company News Corp.
Friedman posted a review of the film Thursday, one day after an incomplete version of the tentpole was leaked on the Internet, a breach that occurred a month before the film's release and that could potentially cost the studio millions in box office receipts.
After Friedman's positive "Wolverine" review hit the Web, the fanboy blogging community, which had largely called for a boycott of any reviews of the film, immediately lobbied for Friedman's dismissal.
RopeofSilicon.com, which posted a screen grab of Friedman's item, echoed the sentiments of many bloggers when it wrote: "Where does FoxNews.com come up with the balls to publish a review of an unfinished illegal copy of a film their sister company is so desperately trying to squelch the existence of?"
As of Sunday afternoon, Friedman's Fox 411 blog was still on FoxNews.com's website; however, the offending "Wolverine" item had long since been pulled and deleted from the website's cache.
The whole sequence of events looks like a case of corporate synergy gone awry, as three different divisions of News Corp. couldn't even agree on the fate of Friedman.
Fox News' boss Roger Ailes has strained relations with other News Corp. division execs, and, in fact, the entire Fox News division has an entirely different style than the rest of the company.
But Fox News is a cable ratings hotshot and contributes mightily to the conglom's bottom line. Friedman's posting was bound to cause friction between the two News Corp. divisions especially considering that Friedman's Fox 411 blog is a top traffic draw for FoxNews.com.
Studio execs began to hear about Friedman's post Friday and called for the matter to be addressed by its sister company, though stopped short of asking for Friedman's ouster. The studio's statement said: "We've just been made aware that Roger Friedman, a freelance columnist who writes Fox 411 on Foxnews.com -- an entirely separate company from 20th Century Fox -- watched on the Internet and reviewed a stolen and unfinished version of 'X-Men Organs: Wolverine.' This behavior is reprehensible and we condemn this act categorically -- whether the review is good or bad."
Calling Foxnews.com an entirely separate company from 20th Century Fox was an interesting choice of words, given that they're sibling companies.
It took another day -- and a torrent of negative press aimed at News Corp. in the blogging community -- before News Corp. took action. Late Saturday night, News Corp. released a statement saying: "Roger Friedman's views in no way reflect the views of News Corp. We, along with 20th Century Fox Film Corp., have been a consistent leader in the fight against piracy and have zero tolerance for any action that encourages and promotes piracy. When we advised Fox News of the facts they took immediate action, removed the post, and promptly terminated Mr. Friedman."
The clash between the news/information business and proprietary show business.
Speaking of FNC: Have they finally axed the Beltway Boys? They weren’t on Sat.
“Taken” has done the TOP box office business since its USA release in January despite the bootlegs.
Or perhaps not.
I think it’s funny that Hollywood has done so much to destroy our morals and now they cry out that people take their movies and watch them for free.
As a reviewer, he presumably should have know that it was wrong on a number of levels. He knew hte release date was still in the future, and this was not a preview copy. The movie was incomplete. AND it was a known to be pirated/incomplete version of a movie for his sister company.
He screwed up in many ways. To not know that his colleagues were actively going to smack down anyone who reviewed the movie before the official time frame also showed a lack of awareness on his part.
Hold that thought... let me get my camera!
Yes he should have or at least consulted with the company paying him so that his butt would be covered. I don’t really blame him, seeing as it’s his job to review movies, but how hard would it have been for him to contact Fox411’s lawyer to make sure he doesn’t get canned for viewing an illegally downloaded movie?
Does anyone reading this earthshaking article really care?
Meanwhile, back to Michelle's too-high-waisted belt.
Leni
“Meanwhile, back to Michelle’s too-high-waisted belt.”
Now that’s something to be concerned about. I’ve been commenting on that high waisted belt fetish of hers for months now. It’s almost like a uniform for her. Man, for being the next Jackie Kennedy in fashion, she sure does have bad taste. But you’d never know it from the MSM’s reaction. Of course the MSM is all about bad taste too.
What are the first and second rules of Fight Club?
Same for bittorrents...
Friedman’s column is the only one I enjoyed reading on the Foxnews site. It’s much better than the other sleazy stuff, especially the “Sexpert” column. I’m certainly not a prude, but I can’t believe Foxnews features that trashy column. The headlines for it are definitely not for kids. I’m just waiting for the “Sexpert” column to start doing subjects on bestiality and incest. It’s just not appropriate for a news website.
Huh? Do you think the industry is monolithic?
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