Movie Bloggers Call for Boycott of Variety, Hollywood Reporter

Few industries have as many (or as widely-read) blogs and independent sites as the entertainment industry. Now Variety and Hollywood Reporter have drawn the ire of several independent movie blogs, which claim the sites have taken news from the blogs without attribution and are now calling on the blogging community to stop providing links to the trade sites.

Collider.com editor-in-chief Steven Weintraub called for the boycott, which has been joined by Moviehole.net, Latino Review, ScreenRant.com, IESB.net, Bloody-Disgusting.com and FirstShowing.net, after he claimed Variety picked up what he says was his scoop about a sequel to the movie "300." While acknowledging that much of the news found on the blogs comes from Variety and HollywoodReporter.com, MovieBlog.com writes: "So here's an ironic thing. Many traditional media outlets will often belittle and criticize the new emerging online movie community for not having explicit codes of etiquette and conduct ... and yet now many of them are engaging in the violation of this most simple and important rule of GIVING CREDIT."

Many of the blogs supporting the boycott are filled with comments from readers supporting the stance and talking of the irrelevance of big media but some other bloggers aren't so sure. "Movie sites have been ripping off Variety and Hollywood Reporter for well over a decade now," wrote FilmRot. "How many articles a day do you think get quoted, reprinted in whole, unattributed or attributed without a link - all from the Hollywood trades?"

Publicly, Variety has been dismissive of the boycott. "Print still holds its own," Variety editor-in-chief Peter Bart told MTV.com. "With all the [Internet change], the circulation of Variety is just where it was 30 years ago."

Still, Bart tells MTV.com there's still an opportunity for the trades and the blogs to come together. "I think we'll grow together. I really do and I think to some degree we want it. I would like to have us develop a blog of blogs, where we get a highlight reel of the best blogs that deal with the entertainment media. I think that will happen before long, and I think that would ameliorate some of these concerns."

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The Numbers Don't Add Up

Submitted by Brian on Fri, 07/18/2008 - 12:52.

There are two big problems with the bloggers' stance: 1) Their daily sourcing of the trades generates very little actual web traffic for Variety or the Reporter, as people are neither inclined nor have the time to re-read what they have just read on a third party site. So Bart and co. have nothing to lose here if the bloggers stop crediting and linking to the source stories. 2) The ratio of sourcing is currently at about 100-to-1 in favor of the bloggers. And the latter DO generate great amounts of web traffic from the culled copy. So... they should perhaps consider the current arrangement as the equivalent of a usage fee for that freebie newsroom full of trade staffers.

Copyright Is as Copyright Does

Submitted by The Rooster on Wed, 07/23/2008 - 12:05.

As a blogger this is a huge hole in our armor. There are so many third-rate blogs who basically paraphrase what they read in the trades. Once these big corps start taking these blogs to task for copyright (sorry guys but copyright applies to us too - if you like it or not) this kind of "cut and paste" NEW media should stop. And you know what - it would be a good thing ... If you are a blogger and have posted an article from another media source in full, attributed or not, you should quit now. Use your own voice and write your own material - I know it's hard - but do it none-the-less. A huge culling of the internet herd would be most welcome.

Grow up, bloggers

Submitted by Mr Ridiculous on Wed, 07/23/2008 - 22:55.

Newspapers rip each other off every day without attribution. Most bloggers post a few choice and not always impressive words, which may take a few minutes to write, before linking to a story in a newspaper or trade that has taken a real reporter a couple of days to report and write. Let's face it, bloggers are basically leeches off the mainstream media. I mean, I read Jeffrey Wells' Hollywood Elsewhere almost every day, and it's great because he's so weird and quirky. Yes, he goes to festivals, although most of his posts in Cannes were about his missing luggage, which I loved, and photos of cheap pizza restaurants. Yes, he occasionally interviews someone. But mostly it's just stuff he links to that he comments on in a few lines. And most movie blogs are the same. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Battle over links/attribution should prompt other publishers to develop policy.

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