When you learn that The New Yorker is finalizing a detailed exposé—accomplished in more than a year—about your show, be afraid. Be very afraid like celebrity news site TMZ, which is owned by Warner Bros.
In the Aug. 15 issue, The Hollywood Reporter teases with a story spilling the ongoing scenarios in both offices that serves to preempt the shade the magazine will throw.
TMZ’s head Harvey Levin—in case you forgot, he’s the main man who listens to his scoop-spilling crew, coffee in hand—is not taking this kind of publicity as good news.
The New Yorker story is said to dish on the unconventional, perhaps even unethical reporting tactics practiced by TMZ. The too-intimate, and almost too-convenient journalism TMZ is known for inspires skeptics to ask, where and how do they exactly acquire the legal documents, news on the latest deaths and divorces, and high-profile sex videos?
TMZ employees, both past and present, were asked to keep mum and avoid The New Yorker writer Nicholas Schmidle. However, a few others came out anyway. Currently, it’s unclear whether Nicholas—of “Getting Bin Laden” fame—will focus on speculated “dirty” tactics or introduce other issues.
The folks at TMZ, however, are allegedly dreading that phone call from the magazine’s fact-checkers. The New Yorker, on the other hand, refuses to comment on a piece that hasn’t been published. Now the question is: does TMZ dread the call because they’ll simply be accused, or because it’s true? We’ll know when the story comes out.
Photo courtesy of EurWeb