Village Voice Media Wishes Nikki Finke Success on Move

Market Wire, June, 2009

Village Voice Media, publisher of 15 alternative weekly papers in major metro areas throughout the U.S., today announced that Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily blog, which has been anchored out of Village Voice Media's (VVM) LAWeekly.com for close to three years, is leaving the company for Mail.com Media Corporation.

"We've had a great run with Nikki and we wish her every success in the future," Village Voice Media CEO Jim Larkin said. "She's a top-notch and unerringly accurate reporter with great sources. We will miss her and are disappointed."

"We are actively searching to fill the void in our daily movie coverage, albeit with a less trade and more populist bent -- because we know, as we have known for three years of working with her, that no one can touch Nikki," said Bill Jensen, director of new media of Village Voice Media. "But as with all of our markets, we have assembled a very strong Web team at LAWeekly.com, and the site has seen tremendous growth in the areas of food, music and nightlife over the past three years. That trend will only continue."

About Village Voice Media

Village Voice Media is a collection of 15 weekly newspapers and daily Web sites, including New York's Village Voice, the LA Weekly, Denver's Westword and the Phoenix New Times. Online, in print, and on mobile devices, VVM's properties combine music, food and events coverage with gritty, hard-hitting journalism to create the most powerful city guides in each market. While the focus of the brand is local, its free classifieds site backpage.com, partnership with social recommendation engine LikeMe.net and national sales force, Voice Media Group, extend its reach on a national level.

Press Contacts: Corey Lewis or Lindsey Zouein LaunchSquad (415) 625-8555 vvm (at) launchsquad (dot) com