Celebrity historian Anne Helen Petersen joins guest host Stephen Quinn to discuss her recent long-form Buzzfeed article The Down and Dirty History of TMZ. In it, she explains how the media outlet's managing editor Harvey Levin altered the way celebrity news is treated, spread and consumed.
The
celebrity gossip site has become a multi-million dollar enterprise --
the only outlet of its kind with a TV show, a bus tour, and a reserved
computer at the Los Angeles county courthouse.
Petersen
notes that one of the site's distinguishing features is its popularity
with both men and women. Their audience is roughly 40 per cent male, she
says -- which is "remarkable" when one considers that outlets like Us
Weekly and People have an overwhelmingly female following.
"They've definitely tried to masculinize gossip and make it into
something that men shouldn't feel ashamed, or even think of it as
gossip," she tells Stephen, adding that their branding steers clear of
words like "gossip" and "celebrity" in the title anywhere.
With
its unique and controversial mix of investigative journalism and
scandal mongering, TMZ has blown open the biggest celebrity scandals of
the last 10 years. Here's a list of a few of their stories that made
waves around the world:
