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The Wrap's Sharon Waxman announced on Friday that she had hired Joseph Kapsch as deputy managing editor — he will run the staff reporters, says Fishbowl LA. Waxman calls Kapsch "a journalist with a remarkable record in the digital space," and he says "this was a really great opportunity for me.” Well, what are they going to say. The tune was quite different in late 2011, when Kapsch — then at the Hollywood Reporter — took public and pointed issue with a story about him in The Wrap and belittled both the site and Waxman.
From a Fishbowl LA item just 15 months ago (relevant jabs emphasized):
A small blog ran a ridiculous item about me and my online staff, for which I was not even called. Usually, we ignore such nonsense knowing that this certain breed of Hollywood blogger writes based on opinion, agenda and fantasy, not fact. But when it calls into question my character, or that of people who work here, an institution of dedicated and respected journalists, I feel I must say something. We are compelled to respond when it comes to personal and inaccurate statements about staff.
This blog falsely contends I am not thrilled with my job and possibly planning to exit as Editor, THR.com at The Hollywood Reporter. This blog, hardly a beacon of journalistic excellence, never attempted to reach out to me for comment. I’m assuming this is because whatever truth I might have told this person would have disrupted the bizarre fantasy narrative in her mind. The blog editor-in-chief’s obsessiveness and indeed rejection as one time editor of this operation is well known. This incident, among many, illustrates the difference between legitimate news organizations and places such as this, which produce stories on hearsay, fantasy, jealousy and god knows what else.
Separately, Kapsch also called The Wrap a "hack operation" and "losers." For her part, Waxman wrote at the time that Kapsch's tirade, as she called it, was "disingenuous by any stretch." He starts at The Wrap March 25. They are a forgiving bunch at National and Barrington.
Also noted: The Wrap promoted film reporter Brent Lang to senior writer and lost media reporter Alex C. Kaufman.
* Added: A story in the New York Observer in 2011 about the Kapsch-Waxman feud, by Hunter Walker.
Photo of Kapsch: The Wrap
