Variety editor fired

Leo Wolinsky, the editor of the entertainment business publication Variety, has been fired after less than a year on the job, reports Jeremy Peters of the New York Times.

Peters writes, “His firing is the latest sign that Variety, which publishes daily and weekly editions, is having considerable difficulty regaining its footing in a news cycle now dictated by the Web. Variety has also struggled through round after round of job cuts, which have reduced the reporting staff to about a dozen.

“Since its founding in the 1930s, Variety has had an omnipresence in Hollywood, chronicling the business of television, movies and music from close up. Along with its archrival in print, The Hollywood Reporter, the venerable trade publication was known as the insider’s guide to the entertainment industry, read by studio bosses, movie stars and agents alike.

“But its influence and reach in Hollywood has been diminished by upstart blogs like Deadline.com and TheWrap.com that could break news faster and make the printed publications that arrived at studio offices every morning seem irrelevant.”

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