Hollywood For Ugly People
You may have heard about the scandal involving gossip writer Jared Paul Stern, who has been accused of trying to extort more than $200,000 from billionaire businessman Ron Burkle in exchange for positive coverage in the New York Post's "Page Six" gossip column. The New York papers have been all over the story – particularly rival tabloid the Daily News. The New York Times has also offered a number of stories on the scandal, including today's "Behind Gossip, There's Often a Relationship." Here's a bit:
In two decades of running the page, [Page Six editor Richard] Johnson has built personal and quasi-business relationships with those he has written about; some of them have become sources of gossip for the column. In recordings made by the billionaire, Ronald W. Burkle, Mr. Stern uses some of Mr. Johnson's relationships as examples of what he called "the right approach, because it's a pretty complicated business."Campbell Robertson goes on to note that "Mr. Johnson has been flown first class and put up free of charge in luxury hotels by companies, all while covering events for the column; he is also a regular columnist for a magazine whose publisher shows up repeatedly in Page Six and whose publishing company is often mentioned. Mr. Johnson's son has been hired by at least one figure whose name has appeared in the column, and his former wife runs a public relations firm with clients who have also appeared on the page."There is nothing illegal — or even particularly rare — about the relationships that Mr. Stern brings up; the muddying of the line between gossip and public relations, subject and comrade, is a longtime tradition in various corners of the industry. It is a well-known element of the glossy magazine business and was even a kind of expectation for a society columnist in the days of "Sweet Smell of Success."
The scandal prompted the following observation from Jeff Jarvis, who posits that gossip columns don't exist in some kind of journalistic vacuum:
…when you think about it, how much really separates celebrity gossip from Washington coverage? Rumors, blind items, schmoozing, tips, paybacks, grudges, parties, lunches, leaks, hidden agendas, corruption, sex. The only real difference is that politicians aren't as well-dressed.