LOS ANGELES -- When Hollywood publicist David Brokaw started in the business 30 years ago, his first boss gave him three pieces of advice. \n"He said, 'Always spell people's names correctly, call people back promptly, and read the trades every day,'" said Brokaw. \nThe "trades" are two newspapers, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, which both have daily and weekly editions. Between them they have the circulation of a small-town daily -- Variety has a daily circulation of 34,420, compared to 31,713 for the daily Hollywood Reporter, according to the publications. \nBut the small town they cover is Hollywood and their influence can be considerable. \nNow both papers have become mired in controversy, including accusations of conflict of interest. The turmoil shows how the trades' role and readership are changing as the entertainment industry expands. \nEarlier this month, Variety editor Peter Bart was suspended because of offensive remarks attributed to him in an article in Los Angeles magazine. The highly unflattering profile said Bart made derogatory comments about homosexuals, blacks and other groups. \nMore damaging to the credibility of Variety are allegations that Bart wrote and sold scripts while directing his paper\'s coverage. \nAt The Hollywood Reporter, the editor and film editor resigned in April, a week after the labor reporter quit because the publisher would not run a story alleging that one of the paper\'s columnists accepted favors from a movie company. The columnist, George Christy, later took a leave of absence and his column was suspended while the charges against him are investigated. \nThe controversies expose the often cozy relationship between the trades and the entertainment industry. Observers say journalists are often seduced by their access to the rich and powerful, and begin to think of themselves as part of the industry they cover. \nStories abound about journalists with scripts under their arms who leave low-paid jobs for a chance at fame. \nThe trade papers have long been a curious mix of traditional journalism, influential columns and stories planted by publicists. In some ways, the papers serve as the industry's backyard fence, reporting on rumor and gossip for entertainment executives looking to keep abreast of, or make, the latest deal. \nA mention in Army Archerd's column in Variety can influence an actor\'s career. And each spring and summer, the papers nearly explode with extra advertising pages taken by studios and TV networks hoping to influence nominations for the Emmy and Academy awards. \nOver the past decade or so, both papers have become more credible sources of news, often breaking big industry stories and casting a critical eye on the business of show business. The current controversies may reflect this transition from the old "wink, wink" journalism to more hard-edged, objective reporting. \n"Increasingly, the people who cover these things are not people who are looking for a back-door route into an executive job or a job as a writer or producer," said Martin Kaplan, associate dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. \n"But it's still a kind of mixture. Probably every issue contains some stories that are throwbacks to that old boys' network and stories the studios are furious about." \nAs the influence of the entertainment industry grows, the trades will likely come under more scrutiny. \n"The readership of the trades has broadened in the last 10 to 15 years," Kaplan said. "Everyone now knows the names of the executives and deal structures. So the trades come to be relied on not just as a vanity bulletin board for the studios and the agencies, but also as a vehicle for facts."
\nDeparted Hollywood Reporter Editor Anita Busch was credited with making the paper stronger and more aggressive -- a more credible rival to Variety. And Bart\'s acerbic columns packed extra power because of the decades he spent as a studio executive (he also was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times). \nIt may be that in a town where it\'s often hard to separate fact from fiction, the trades' troubles cause more hand-wringing among journalists than among Hollywood players. \nLongtime publicist Warren Cowan said of Bart and Busch: "They\'re important, but I don\'t think they take away from that logo on top. Variety and Hollywood Reporter have been around for 75 years and they\'re the stars, really." \nTom O'Neil, a frequent free-lance contributor to Variety, said the trades are just straddling the same line between news and entertainment that other media outlets are. \n"As spooky as staff turmoil at both of the showbiz bibles is -- a dramatic coincidence worthy of a Hollywood movie -- both papers are much more than the sum of their staffs," he said. "They\'re part of a journalistic tradition that will go on no matter who's on stage." \nBrokaw, whose clients include Bill Cosby and Loretta Lynn, said he's still getting as much information as ever from both papers. \n"There's no alternative," he said.
