Before the
National Enquirer,
TMZ,
Globe,
The Star and other gossip tabloids, there was the
National Police Gazette. Founded in 1845, it originally covered "
highwaymen and suchlike malefactors, the thought being that the public would get on to the evil-doers and fix their wagons." Thirty years later a new owner transformed 'the oldest weekly in America' into a full-on tabloid covering
"murders, Wild West outlaws, and sport... well known for its engravings and photographs of scantily clad strippers, burlesque dancers, and prostitutes, often skirting on the edge of what [was] legally considered obscenity." Some even consider it
"America’s first popular men’s magazine." The Gazette shut down in 1977, but has
now been resurrected. [more inside]
posted by zarq
on May 2, 2013 -
9 comments
A heroic leader of a cavalry charge at Gettysburg, a legendary newspaperman, twice famed co-inventor of the Wagon Lit train compartment --- and a real bastard’s bastard, a con man, a swindler, a quite-nearly-convicted blackmailer: all of these are one man.
William d'Alton Mann. The pseudononymous writer of "The Saunterer" (and editor-in-chef
Town Topics, the New York paper in which it was published from the 1880s until the 1930s) William d’Alton Mann was a pioneer of gossip who invented the blind item and --- entirely inadvertently --- gave the world
Emily Post.
[more inside]
posted by Diablevert
on Apr 26, 2012 -
3 comments
In 2009, Jon Gosselin was offered $365,000 for interviews: how reality stars, celebrity parents and rehab workers
make money selling gossip to celebrity websites and TV shows.
posted by Georgina
on May 23, 2011 -
38 comments
Unvarnished: A Clean Well-Lighted Place For Defamation (from TechCrunch). Operating on top of Facebook
Unvarnished "is an online resource for building, managing, and researching professional reputation, using community-contributed, professional reviews. To help reviewers be honest and candid in their reviews, Unvarnished obscures the identity of review authors. This lets reviewers share their true, nuanced opinions without fear of repercussions."
[more inside]
posted by pianomover
on Apr 4, 2010 -
42 comments
Gossip of the Sewing Circle Profound cattiness from 1903. Learn to use such snarkily coded terms as
embonpoint in everyday conversation. Need to shame a beautiful rival who hasn't produced an heir for her much older husband? Describe her in The Newsaper of Record as owning "an extremely clever parrot." PDF, link from the NYT Archives.
posted by maryh
on Dec 2, 2007 -
38 comments
Let the fur fly. The
New York Post's Page Six is the latest pillar of the
'Forth' Estate to take heavy damage from scandal. Like the Judy Miller fiasco of 2005, except with virtually zero ramifications upon things that actually matter,
no one looks good here. The tawdry gist: Billionaire Sleaze-Bag
set up Gossip Freelancer Sleaze-Bag -- who supposedly was offering to trade positive Page Six coverage for money. The Gossip Sleaze-Bag is probably screwed, but now the other wolves are
going in for theirs and (seeing a chance to rally, somewhat, around their own) it's the Billionaire Sleaze-Bag that they'd most like to get a piece of.
The part about this that makes it all a Robert-Downey-Jr-movie-waiting-to-happen is that the story broke on the
eve of Page Six editor Richard Johnson's wedding.
Ah, yes. That's the stuff.
posted by snortlebort
on Apr 10, 2006 -
13 comments
NY Post Go$$ip Writer 4 $ale! The New York Daily News is reporting that Jared Paul Stern, a prominent New York Post gossip writer, attempted to extort over $220,000 from a frequent target of the oh-so-classy
Page Six column in exchange for "protection" against "inaccurate and unflattering items." If we can't trust our gossip columnists, who can we trust? (via
Fark)
posted by UKnowForKids
on Apr 7, 2006 -
22 comments
Elizabeth Spiers, of
Gawker fame, has a new site,
Dealbreaker, which bills itself as "an online business tabloid and Wall Street gossip blog." Content-free snark, with links to articles of interest to Wall Street fanboys? Oh, Elizabeth, you steal my heart. But, perhaps just mine.
posted by rush
on Mar 31, 2006 -
17 comments
What Would Tyler Durden Do is the latest home for Brendon, the one time head writer over at celebrity gossip sites thesuperficial.com & idontlikeyouinthatway.com (while his writing remains sharp & inventive, the domain names of the sites he writes for are getting longer & less original with each move). The usual content (updated several times daily) involves photographic embarassing invasions of celebrity privacy and
absurdist writing.
Oh, I almost forgot - for the undoubtedly small percentage of the reading audience interested in watching Colin Farrel have sex with a playboy playmate, a digital copy of the illegal tape stolen from Farrel's house is the lead post on wwtdd.com currently.
posted by jonson
on Jan 18, 2006 -
36 comments
Prosecutor who attacked Kerry admits lying to boss Liar, liar, pants on fire--"Clackamas County prosecutor Alfred French, who called Sen. John Kerry a liar in a political commercial, acknowledged Thursday that he lied to his boss when confronted about an extramarital affair with a colleague. ...
posted by Postroad
on Aug 27, 2004 -
35 comments
WHICH MeFite boldly proclaims ties to big tobacco?
WHO is the person responsible for all the I/P threads?
WHY does everyone talk about pancakes? You won't find the answers to these questions in the
alt.gossip.celebrities Blind Item Archive, but you will find tons of gooey gossipy celebrity muck in which you may luxuriously wallow. It's good for the skin.
posted by WolfDaddy
on Jul 24, 2002 -
9 comments
Bing, Bangs, Liz, Hugh...and Baby Too Hollywood playboy Steve Bing doesn't want Liz Hurley's baby. Neither does Hugh Grant, although he'll be there for her. Divine Brown and
Cannibal Sheila are nowhere to be seen.
Confused? You will be, when you read this Sunday's episode of Soap. William Cash, an old friend of the mother-to-be, ungallantly spills the beans on an unholy transatlantic row.
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Nov 11, 2001 -
28 comments
Hmmmm. A new national effort to reduce verbal violence and gossip. The goal is to promote the value and practice of ethical speech improving our democracy and building respect, honor and dignity.
posted by semmi
on Sep 8, 2001 -
10 comments
Internet Gossip reports on all of the fighting and mayhem between the bloggers as well as other Internet website craziness. It's a fun read.
posted by suprfli
on Sep 4, 2001 -
37 comments
Buddyhead has its famous gossip site, replete with Fred Durst's phone number. But what happens when someone fakes a submission?
This does, apparently, and the tale comes complete with
celebrity interview. You gotta admit, though; she has
nice eyes.
posted by Marquis
on Jul 9, 2001 -
4 comments
Courtney Love vs. Buddyhead This website has a gossip column in which they include the home/cell/work numbers and e-mail addresses of the likes of Fred Durst, Kevin Smith, and the aforementioned Courtney Love. The site bad mouths and harasses bands and celebs they dislike by giving away personal their personal info, while providing interviews and reviews on the bands they approve of. What does everyone make of this kind of unabashed harassment? I for one enjoy it.
posted by JFunk2800
on Mar 14, 2001 -
23 comments
Breaking up is hard to do. Far be it from me to encourage celebrity gossip, but Anne Heche, formerly one-half of the Famousest Lesbian Couple Ever, was found in a Martin Lawrence-like state, confused, addled, and ringing strangers' doorbells. Just a nice little "WTF?" item for your day.
posted by solistrato
on Aug 21, 2000 -
10 comments
