Nikki Finke Goes Silent in Reported Legal Dispute With Penske Media

I used to read Deadline Hollywood just to find Nikki Finke's dishy inside scoops.

At the New York Times:

The Hollywood journalist Nikki Finke has stopped writing about the movie industry while she and a former employer, Penske Media Corporation, try to reach a legal settlement, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations.

Ms. Finke built the site Deadline Hollywood into a machine for breaking industry news, and it became among the most influential news sites in the movie business. Penske acquired the site in 2009 and then in 2012 purchased the industry trade magazine Variety, setting off a dispute that caused Ms. Finke to leave the company.

In June of this year, Ms. Finke started her own site, NikkiFinke.com, and resumed reporting on Hollywood in apparent defiance of a noncompete agreement with Penske that barred her from doing so. But Ms. Finke stopped writing on Aug. 11, raising questions about her intentions for the new site.

BuzzFeed reported on Friday that Ms. Finke would shut down the site, but a person with knowledge of the negotiations suggested that it could remain active. Ms. Finke stopped writing about Hollywood, the person said, in order to reach a settlement with Penske that stipulated she could not cover the topic online. (A book she is working on is exempt from the current version of the agreement, as would be any writing in newspapers or magazines.)

She has told friends that she might turn her reporting attentions on NikkiFinke.com to Los Angeles generally, or the media or politics. If she returned to Penske’s media company, she would be allowed to report on movie industry news.

Well, that's like selling your soul to the devil, or something. Doesn't sound like she's going out easily. She may never be able to write about the movie industry online ever again.