Roger Friedman GEFEUERT!!!!!

Ich lese gerade einige News Berichte, dass Friedman gefeuert wurde, weil er zugegeben hat, sich Filme illegal runtergeladen zu haben!

Fox’s Roger Friedman Fired For Promoting “Wolverine” Piracy

News Corp like all major Hollywood studios takes the crime of piracy very seriously. Nor will the Fox parent company tolerate it if its employees don't. Especially after a stolen, early and unfinished work print of 20th Century Fox's big summer blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine was put onto the Internet illegally this week in a major scandal that the FBI is now investigating. So there was universal shock on Friday when long-time "Fox 411" freelance columnist Roger Friedman wrote what I'm told his bosses felt was a blatant promotion of piracy on his Fox News web outlet. Besides writing a review from watching the purloined print of Wolverine, Friedman posted, “I did find the whole top 10 [movies in theaters], plus TV shows, commercials, videos, everything, all streaming away. It took really less than seconds to start playing it all right onto my computer. I could have downloaded all of it but really, who has the time or the room? Later tonight I may finally catch up with Paul Rudd in I Love You, Man. It’s so much easier than going out in the rain!” I'm told that Fox News' actions were swift and severe. First, Roger Ailes, who overseas Fox News, deleted the offending post after he was contacted by 20th Century Fox about it. And then Ailes fired Friedman as a freelance Fox News entertainment writer. I hear the move was done with the full support of News Corp. "He promoted piracy. He basically suggested that viewing a stolen film is OK, which is absolutely intolerable. So we fired him," a source told me Saturday. "Fox News acted promptly on all fronts."

Friedman has written his gossip column, "Fox 411", for FoxNews.com for more than a decade and peppers it with celebrity items, industry news, and off-the-cuff movie reviews. He has long been a controversial writer who quite frequently angers the publicity machine surrounding actors, directors, producers, studios, celebrities, movies and TV. Occasionally he has scoops, especially about the music biz. Still, how could he not have known that his writings Friday would hit a nerve with his employers. After Friedman's column on FoxNews.com appeared, both News Corp and Fox condemned it as "promoting a pirated version of Wolverine".

News Corp issued this statement: “Roger Friedman’s views in no way reflect the views of News Corporation. We, along with 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, have been a consistent leader in the fight against piracy and have zero tolerance for any action that encourages and promotes piracy. Once we learned of Roger Friedman’s post we asked Fox News to remove it, which they did immediately.”

And Fox said, "We’ve just been made aware that Roger Friedman, a freelance columnist who writes Fox 411 on Foxnews.com – an entirely separate company from 20th Century Fox -- watched on the internet and reviewed a stolen and unfinished version of X-Men Orgins: Wolverine. This behavior is reprehensible and we condemn this act categorically -- whether the review is good or bad."

UPDATE: I did reach Friedman for comment. He emailed back only that he was at the Paul McCartney concert.

Quelle:
Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily EXCLUSIVE: Fox News Fires Showbiz Columnist For “Promoting” Piracy

Zitat von Moonwalkerx14

also ich glaube da noch nicht wirklilch dran, denn der Kerl hat denen so vieol Kohle beschert, dass sie ihn nicht wegen so etwas gehen lassen würden, es sei denn er hat sich schon vorher etwas zu schulden kommen lassen
aber gönnen würd ichs ihm ja

Kohle? Er ist ein Blogger mit Kontakten. Er hat ihnen Aufmerksamkeit gebracht und vielleicht ein paar Dollar in Werbeeinnahmen auf seiner Seite.
Natürlich wird er woanders bloggen - aber eins wird er nicht mehr los: er wurde gefeuert. Und das zählt!

Es geht weiter: Das FBI schaltet sich in die Sache wegen Piraterie ein:

UPDATED PIRACY SCANDAL: FBI Joins Fox In Hunt For "Stolen, Incomplete & Early Version' 'Wolverine' Print On Web

THURSDAY AM UPDATE: Estimates now are that the Hugh Jackman film, the 4th in the X-Men franchise for 20th Century Fox, was downloaded hundreds of thousands of times from file sharing websites on Tuesday. This is a huge blow to the studio's major summer blockbuster if those viewers don't go to a theater to see the film. Meanwhile, the web piracy has created a lot of buzz around the pic, both positive and negative. The Internet is now filled with fanboy comments about whether Wolverine is any good. Despite the added publicity, this is a nightmare scenario for Fox.

2ND UPDATE: I've just been given this statement by 20th Century Fox:

"Last night, a stolen, incomplete and early version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine was posted illegally on a website. It was without many effects, had missing and unedited scenes and temporary sound and music. We immediately contacted the appropriate legal authorities and had it removed. We forensically mark our content so we can identify sources that make it available or download it. The source of the initial leak and any subsequent postings will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law – the courts have handed down significant criminal sentences for such acts in the past. The FBI and the MPAA also are actively investigating this crime. We are encouraged by the support of fansites condemning this illegal posting and pointing out that such theft undermines the enormous efforts of the filmmakers and actors, and above all, hurts the fans of the film."

8:50 AM UPDATE: This is no April Fool's joke. Instead, Fox executives are describing it to me as one of the worst piracy scandals they can recall, since it involves a major studio and major movie. The studio is understandably in a panic. With the film opening on May 1st, this leak could cause incalculable damage to the box office of the latest in the valuable X-Men franchise. The studio must find out who did this and punish him/her/them to the full extent of the law. Meanwhile, the Internet is on fire about this DVD-quality work print of Wolverine being leaked online yesterday. Twentieth Century Fox stresses it's an old rough cut without FX, music, etc -- so that may mitigate the damage because isn't that why you see the movie in a theater anyway? The execs say it may contain a virus. But even if the studio claims that viewers of the pirated copy will age 20 years overnight, that isn't going to solve the problem. Toughness will. And it looks as if that's exactly what 20th Century Fox is doing to combat this piracy.

Coincidentally, this comes just days before U.S. Congressman Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, will hold a field hearing in Van Nuys on April 6th to assess the financial impact of global intellectual property piracy. On April 30 the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is scheduled to release its annual report on intellectual property policies and practices in other countries. Last year’s report placed nine major offenders on the USTR’s Priority Watch List, including China, Russia, Thailand, and Argentina. A RAND study released earlier this month alleges that organized crime is increasingly active in film piracy. Just one problem -- that study was funded by the MPAA.

Quelle:
Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily UPDATED PIRACY SCANDAL: FBI Joins Fox In Hunt For “Stolen, Incomplete & Early Version’ ‘Wolverine’ Print On Web

Also Roger Friedman ist DEFINITIV gefeuert worden.

Klatsch Kollumnist Roger Friedman gefeuert!

05.04.2009 - am Donnerstag vor 3 Tagen wurde Klatsch Kollumnist Roger Friendman von seinem Arbeitgeber gefeuert. Der Grund: Friedman hatte am selben Tag eine Kollumne veröffentlicht, in der er schrieb, dass er sich eine vorab Kopie des in den USA am 1. Mai erscheinenden Films “Wolverine” illegal runtergeladen hat. In dem Artikel, den FoxNews kurz nach dessen Erscheinen wieder löschte, beschreibt Friedman, wie er sich “die Top 10″ der Kino Charts “problemlos runterladen” konnte und beim Anschauen des noch nicht erschienenen Films “Wolverine” wie “gefesselt auf dem Computerstuhl saß.”
Die Firma, die den Film hergestellt hat, ist 20th Century Fox, die genau wie FoxNews der Firma Newscorp gehört. 20th Century Fox ließ in einem Statement gegenüber der Website Deadline Hollywood Daily folgendes verlauten:
[INDENT]Gestern Abend wurde eine geklaute, unfertige und illegale Version des Films “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” auf einer Website veröffentlicht. In dieser Version fehlten Special Effects, Musik und diverse Szenen. Wir haben umgehend die zuständigen Behörden kontaktiert und sorgten für die Entfernung des Films. Wir markieren unser Material forensisch, damit wir feststellen können, wer sich diesen Film runterlädt und wer ihn anbietet. Die Ursprüngliche Quelle dieser illegalen Veröffentlichungen sowie alle, die zur Verbreitung beigetragen haben, werden strafrechtlich verfolgt und belangt. Das FBI und die MPAA haben sich ebenfalls in die Untersuchung dieses Verbrechens eingeschaltet.[...]
[/INDENT] Berichten zufolge wurde Friedman nahegelegt, sich nie wieder bei einer Firma, die der Newscorp gehört, zu bewerben - denn er wird dort nie wieder einen Job bekommen. Damit verliert Friedman den wohl größten Riesen im Medienmarkt der USA als Arbeitgeber.
Der Klatsch-Reporter selbst hat sich zu der Sache - vermutlich auf Anraten seines Anwalts - nicht geäußert.
In der Michael Jackson Fan Szene ist Friedman durch seine fast krankhaft wirkende Obsession mit Michael Jackson aufgefallen und sein Rausschmiss wird von den meisten mit großer Freude empfangen.

JacksonVillage.org