What Really Happened With Lynne Segall…

When I started Deadline Hollywood in March 2006, I did it to create a different kind of media outlet that told the truth about showbiz. It also meant I would be destroying (or destroyed by) the Hollywood promotional machine that for so long was able to dictate to too many editors and reporters at the trades when an article would be published and how that article would be written, all in the furtherance of what can only called advertorial (advertisement in the form of editorial). This is why I’ve always insisted on having complete editorial and design control over everything Deadline. However, maintaining that became a struggle as soon as Lynne Segall in the summer of 2010 became a consultant with the title of Vice President/Publisher of MMC Entertainment after she was fired by the Los Angeles Times. We’d been collegial but never worked together, and, yes, I was well aware of her many controversial print ad products which crossed the line between editorial and advertising. But I wasn’t seeking those from her. So I was instrumental in bringing her in to help Deadline because I thought of her as a tireless ad sales machine with great Hollywood connections. Let me say from the outset, that’s as true now as it was then. But let me also ask: at what cost to journalism integrity?

Because, from Day One of her consultancy, I felt like I was battling the force of darkness at every turn.

I have emails to back up everything I’m saying here. And I never once had these kinds of problems with Deadline’s primary ad salesman Nic Paul, Senior Director of Entertainment Sales for my parent company. But as soon as Lynne arrived, she began trying to break down the wall I’d carefully and deliberately erected between Deadline’s editorial product and my parent company’s advertising department. (more…)