December 18, 2000
When New York's Gossipers Turn Their Eyes on Each Other
By Arun Kristian Das
One cannot discuss and analyze the New York Media Elite without considering the gossip columnists. Like reporters from rival papers or networks covering the financial, crime, or City Hall beats, gossips from the tabloids, the prominent Web sites, and alternatives enjoy a friendly, sometimes not-so-friendly competition to be the first to get the dish on Madonna, The Donald, and Puff Daddy. And while The New York Times' Floyd Norris may wish he can gab about the hairdo of CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, he doesn't have that luxury.
The gossip columnists? Well, mainstream news may sometimes dismiss gossip writers as opportunistic diggers of celebrity trash with little concern for accuracy or ethics. But gossipers are actually very concerned with accuracy and good reporting, because if they get a story wrong, or report a cold dish, the competition will make them pay. These gossip columnists--members of what I've dubbed the New York Gossip Elite--act as each other's best editors and ombudsmen--keeping up-to-date with each other's activities and scoops, marking their territory when threatened and pointing out each other's mistakes, inaccuracies, or blunders. Acting as critics for the competition, gossip columnists can be built-in manure checkers for each other. If one gossiper gets some detail of a story wrong, his or her rival will be sure to point it out.
WHO GOT THE SCOOP?
The big challenge in celebrity news and gossip is who finds the hidden treat and spills the beans first...That's why many of the swipes that gossipers take at their cross-town rivals involve accusations of being "a day late and a dollar short," which is what the Daily News' Mitchell Fink calls the New York Post's Page Six honcho, Richard Johnson, in one of his columns.
On April 22, 2000, under the "Do We Hear an Echo?" headline, Fink draws a battle line: "It must have been a slow news day yesterday at Page Six. Its account of the booze-fueled strip-off Kevin Spacey got into with a group of British actors following the recent British Academy Awards appeared here last Saturday."
And later, in his May 19 column, Fink goes for the "slow news day" jab again with this item: "Someone needs to shake Richard Johnson to be sure he's awake. The veteran Page Six editor was a day late and a dollar short when he took a swipe at me over my item Tuesday regarding the postponement of Pierce Brosnan's wedding in Ireland." In the Page Six column, Johnson says: "Must have been a real slow news day for Mitchell Fink." Apparently, Johnson claims that he had reported the wedding postponement first. "Sorry Mitchell, but even if you don't read us, guests of Brosnan and his bride-to-be, Keely Shaye-Smith, are better informed."
Fink acknowledges that Johnson's column first reported the wedding postponement, but says that Brosnan actually postponed the wedding a second time, which was the subject of Fink's column. "Page Six, for some reason, seems stuck on the first postponement," Fink says, "which I suppose is fine if you're on a farm in Iowa and you only get to the mailbox once a month." Ouch! But a small detail such as this one is important, though, as any good reporter will tell you.
Fink and Johnson seem to have a spirited jab-fest going on at times. In this line of work, keeping up with what your competition writes about is importantto avoid repetition, perhaps. A cold tidbit can kill a column, apparently. And if one columnist doesn't know he or she has dropped the ball on a story, the enemy is diligent about pointing out the gaffe, a luxury that columnists enjoy, while competing mainstream reporters can only bite their tongues. "It's almost like a news sport: Richard Johnson takes a shot at me in his Page Six column and then does something completely foolish, like incorrectly declaring Gene Wilder dead," writes Fink in his Sept. 21, 2000, column. "...Johnson also blew it by reporting that Hillary Rodham Clinton sat five rows away from Al Gore at last week's Radio City Music Hall fund-raiser." After correcting Johnson with "Earth to Richard: Mrs. Clinton sat in the first row next to Karenna Gore Schiff, who was seated next to her father," Fink ends his accuracy patrol with a not-so-subtle accusation that Johnson was not ateither physically or mentallythe event: "I don't know which fund-raiser Johnson was at, but it certainly wasn't that one."
And another dig at Johnson's timeliness, but also a jab at his ethics, if you will...Fink's Sept. 15, 1999, column features this item: "A Copycat Caper," followed by this diatribe: "As Yogi Berra would say, it was 'déjà vu all over again.' That's what readers of Richard Johnson's Page Six column probably mumbled to themselves as they toiled through Tuesday's New York Post." Fink complains that Johnson's column goes on about Jann Wenner, publisher of Rolling Stone, and that "I could understand if Johnson's readers scratched their heads and wondered, 'No where have I read that before?' The answer: They read it 24 hours earlier in this column." Fink even makes this accusation: "...I do mind that Johnson reprinted my entire conversation with Wenner word for word without attribution." Potent stuff.
And how about ammunition for a different feud...Can you see the tracer shots flying through the air of this battlezone? Headlined "Travis' Exclusive Diarrhea," (yuck!), this Jan. 6, 1999, item by Fink reads: "Number of times that New York Post columnist Neal Travis trumpets an 'exclusive' item that was previously printed somewhere else? I've stopped counting." After this commentary, Fink cites Travis' offense: "The latest Travis 'exclusive,' which ran yesterday about Barbra Streisand's plans to perform next New Year's Eve at the MGM-Grand in Las Vegas, first appeared in this column on Dec. 7. Maybe Neal was out on that date celebrating Pearl harbor Day as only he can."
The Daily News' George Rush and Joanna Molloy, married-to-each-other gossipers, are usually respectful toward gossip legend Liz Smith, but don't shy away from taking "Credit Where Credit Is Due" (Jan. 22, 1998): "Yesterday, Liz Smith claimed that she scooped the story of Sandra Bernhard's pregnancy on Jan. 14. With all due respect to a true pro, we broke that story 10 days before, on Jan. 4...."
ON THE TOWN
In pursuit of the juiciest scoops, gossip columnists get to spend a lot of time schmoozing with the glitterati they write about. Sometimes, the gossipers are the glitterati. Liz Smith is reportedly the highest-paid print journalist, with an annual salary of more than $1 million. She plays emcee at many charity functions, she was once married to Hollywood film director Joel Schumacher (Batman & Robin), and makes no apologies for hobb-nobbing with those she gossips about. So of course, she gets mentions in her competitors' columns when she makes public appearances as a guest or a hostess. Naturally, such behavior on the part of a news reporter or to some extent even an opinion columnist would be ethically questionable. In the gossip world, the ethical lines are blurrier, and gossips walk that line every day. Such activities can be fodder for rival columns, though...
Smith emceed a United Jewish Appeal Federation charity event in the summer of 1997 that honored News Corp. mogul Rupert Murdoch as "Humanitarian of the Year." In their June 2 column, Rush and Molloy can't resist a respectful poke at Smith's brown-nosing: "[W]hen it came to hagiography, no one outdid mistress of ceremonies Liz Smith, who works for Murdoch's New York Post and Fox TV. Smith predicted that 'the future will lead us to the continued rise of the Murdoch news empire, where creativity will reign, energy and enterprise will dominate, and loyalty will bear its ancient Old Testament meaning.' "
Were contract renegotiations the next week? Even Smith acknowledged that she might be seen as "kissing Mr. Murdoch's ring." Well, while not trying to pass too much judgment, Rush and Molloy have their readers wondering what else of Murdoch's Smith might be kissing...
In another case, Rush and Molloy cannot resist shining a flashlight on an act of questionable taste on the part of veteran New York gossip Cindy Adams, in the "Surveillance" section of their Dec. 20, 1995, column: "Cindy Adams, not missing a beat as she walked into the Grumpier Old Men benefit for the ASPCA in a big fur coat. The columnist simply 'rolled it into a ball and hid it behind a wine rack,' reports our source...."
IN THEIR OWN (SPOKEN) WORDS
For a reporter looking for the real juice, there's nothing more important than going straight to the horse and hearing it from its mouth. Well, once told that the purpose of my questioning was to get some dish for an issue of CJR, I got some laughs, a little insight, but not a whole lot of shady infoafter all, isn't everyone just a little guarded when speaking to the press?
Page Six's Johnson says he has known the News' Rush for yearsthey worked together at the Postand they have a "nonaggression pact."
In fact, Rush says, "Richard once suggested, 'What if we agree that we can take shot at each other's papers, but nothing personal.' "
Of the News' Fink, Johnson says, "He's not a bad guy. I've taken a couple of shots at him, and he has at mebut I don't want to get into some kind of feud with him, because that will just bring him more attention."
Fink's evaluation of the give-and-take with Page Six: "This fascination to mention me [in the column]don't they have anything better to write about?" Fink says that while it's not often, they do trade shots with each other, because "Richard Johnson has said things that are not accurate about me, and so I've used my column to set the record straight."
Page Six seems to enjoy a certain prestige in the New York Gossip Elite. "For New Yorkers, Page Six has this kind of allure," Fink admits. "But clearly they're not the only game in town." Fink says that when before he joined the Daily News two years ago, Rush and Molloy were virtually alone in competing against a formidable opponent in the Post team, which featured a whole stable of columnists. "Hopefully I've helped raise the bar," says Fink. "The Daily News bringing me over, that created some more competition [for Page Six] that was needed. They're felling the heat."
"We worked at Page Six," says Rush of himself and his wife, Molloy. "It's an institution, you don't realize just how much it's a synonym for 'gossip column' in New York." His deference for his former employer comes out clearly in this statement: Page Six is "the first thing I read. And I tell Richard how impressed I am with how he puts it all together seven days a week."
When competition is vigorous, it can keep reporters and columnists on their toes. And in the gossip world, the competition to get the sweet sauce on celebs at glitzy events can be fierce and frustrating. Johnson acknowledged that sometimes covering social events in New York can be a nuisance because of the glut of media. "I once had a chance to meet Bill and Hillary Clinton at this event," Johnson says, "and I found myself in an elevator with Fink, Roger Friedman [of Fox], and a whole bunch of other media types, and I said to myself, 'what's the point of this?' and so I left."
Fink also acknowledged that many celebrity-heavy events can be over-covered by the gossips. "I see these people out and about a lot," Fink says of his rivals. "It's remarkable that you read different things in the columns."
"We're used to seeing each other at these events," Rush says. The trick is "keeping one eye on the rest of the columnists while scoping out what's going on with the people at the event." And the competition is not only cross-town, but can be cross-newsroom. "When Mitchell [and we are] at the same events, it can be difficult, but we try to work it out the next day who will run what part of the event," Rush says. "Or sometimes we decide before hand what people we'll cover."
Media oversaturation can be a problem in any kind of reporting, on any beat. There runs the risk of the reporters being led around like a pack of tame dogs, gobbling up whatever treats thrown to them by the subjects. Not being controlled by the people and institutions a reporter covers can be a challenge, and one that isn't easy if a reporter's beat involves celebrities at fancy parties with lavish food and drink. It can be easy to just relax, chat up with the stars of Friends, and chew on caviar-smeared mini toast and champagne.
Johnson says that he must often navigate a popular event to get a story, but working harder to dig up a fresh scoop is important. He says he once broke a story on Page Six that then made the front page of the major papers three weeks later.
"When you're beating The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, you're doing a good job," Johnson says. "That's not just gossipthat's news."
Fink concurs with that sentiment. "I have a tremendous amount of respect for these people who mine the waters to uncover stories that then become front-page news two days later," he says.
GABS GABBING ABOUT OTHER GABS GABBING ABOUT EACH OTHER
Gossips can find great fun in tracking the feuds of other gossips who are trading volleys of accusations. Take the spirited exchange between MSNBC.com's Jeannette Walls, formerly of Esquire and other pulp-and-staple publications, and Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report, as hungrily chronicled by Rush and Molloy on Feb. 29, 2000... Walls "purports to out Monica-gate scribe Drudge in her new book about the business of gossip, 'Dish.' Walls writes that back when he was in his 20s and living in Washington, D.C., Drudge 'hung out with a crowd of promiscuous, openly gay men and dated several of them.'... Drudge...wouldn't confirm or deny whether he used to date men. 'My youth, to me, is a blur,' he said."
A couple of logs get thrown onto the fire, and in Rush and Molloy's column the next day, things flare up: "It's getting nasty between gossips [Druge] and [Walls]." Drudge suggests that Walls " 'slow down and come up for some air. You are becoming a laughingstock. Even by MSNBC standards.' "
That's some swipe at her and MSNBC. Rush and Molloy allow Jeanette a shot back: " 'If we want to go over track records, let's talk about Bill Clinton's love child and [alleged spousal abuse by] Sydney Blumenthal,' two Drudge misfires." The item goes on to include a challenge by Walls for Drudge to set the record straight, then, but "Drudge's comeback to the tough redhead: 'I take on Presidents, not pretty peacocks ..."
Take a breath and count to 10, people.
BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY
When New York straphangers pick up a copy of the Post or the News, board the F train, balance a cup of Starbucks and their briefcase in one hand while holding the paper open to Page Six or Rush and Molloy in the other, they want to read about Jennifer Lopez, Eminem, or Britney Spears. They aren't interested in what Richard Johnson dishes about Mitchell Fink, or that Rush and Molloy are grumbling about being scooped by Liz Smith.
"Only journalists read or care about their bylines," Johnson says. "So in the same way, the readers don't care if we write about each other."
Rush concurs that most readers don't care what gossips gossip about other gossips. "So as tempting as it is to take shots at each other, the reader winds up getting bored," he says. "You don't want that."
And that's the bottom line, isn't it. ###