Nikki Finke does not consider herself a blogger. She does not write about what she had for breakfast or her battles with the local dry cleaner.

Her website, Deadline Hollywood Daily, is the daily extension of her column in LA Weekly, which reports on the infotainment business: the intersection between media and entertainment.

The key word is report. Those who regularly click to Deadline Hollywood Daily are generally in the entertainment industry and those aspiring to join it. No matter the reason, Finke serves the truth with a side of sass. “I’m an equal opportunity disliker,” she says.

An LA Weekly columnist since 2002, Finke wanted a platform for unfettered reporting. The Internet was the perfect vehicle, since it presented direct access to readers without interference from editors, a copy desk or in-house lawyers. Although continuing her column, Finke began unleashing her criticism and reporting online on a daily basis during Oscar week in 2006.

Being at the receiving end of Finke’s wrath requires a thick skin. But it seems that readers appreciate it, with more than 7 million page hits in its first full year of operation. What separates Deadline Hollywood Daily from most other opinionated blogs is that Finke has plied her beat for two decades.

“Just because you have seen a movie doesn’t mean you know about the movie business,” she says. “Just because you watch television doesn’t mean you know about the TV business.” Finke prides herself on original reporting. She will not write a post unless she has something new and worthwhile to contribute. This can range from Hollywood law firm breakups to blockbuster busts.

Finke says that one of her first jobs, with the Associated Press bureau in Baltimore, Md., was the best preparation for blogging because the news wire’s 24-hour operation required concise reporting. From her post at the AP, Finke went on to become a foreign correspondent in Moscow and London, a Newsweek Washington and Los Angeles correspondent, a Los Angeles Times feature and entertainment writer, a freelance writer for Vanity Fair and Details, and a West Coast editor for the New York Observer and New York magazine.

Finke was fired from the New York Post for reporting on shredded Disney documents examining Winnie the Pooh royalties, she says. Her witty tone and facts had been vetted by the paper’s editors, but it was Finke who took the fall. Only after she sued did the courts say she had the right to write the truth.

Her New York Post experience was damaging yet revealing. Nobody would hire her, she says, particularly after she had filed a lawsuit against her former employer as well as Disney. “I was David suing two Goliaths,” she says. Fortunately, a former colleague from her days at the Los Angeles Times ignored it all and hired her to write a weekly column about media and entertainment at LA Weekly.

But as the Internet gained speed and traction, Finke knew she wanted to be part of the new medium. She talked LA Weekly into letting her file fresh stories on its website. Then, she started her own site affiliated with LA Weekly to give her even more control over her content and writing style.

Deadline Hollywood Daily is not an aggregator of news, nor does it carry comments. Instead, it showcases her 24/7 posting. Finke attributes much of her success to her friendships with Hollywood insiders. “Hollywood is a town of relationships more than numbers,” she says.

Her insider knowledge combined with her sharp, to-the-point prose keeps her website on top of Hollywood’s unreported truths. “It’s like the emperor has no clothes,” Finke says. “I want to be the person saying, ‘He’s nude!’”