TMZ's $55 Million Brand: Moving Far Befond The 30-Mile Zone

摘要

When TMZ executive producer Harvey Levin and his team heard that Mel Gibson had been arrested in the wee hours of July 28, 2006, hey did what all newshounds do: They started working the phones. "The police told us that the arrest was without incident, but we started getting tips and making calls," says Levin. "We were told that he went on an anti-Semitic rant, but the police said that was 'absolutely untrue. You will destroy the operation if you put that up on your website, because it's false.' We knew we needed to get the goods." At that point, many reporters would believe the police and stop pushing. But Levin, a news veteran with a legal background who had covered Los Angeles for outlets such as KNBC and KCBS since 1978, sensed there was more. And TMZ wasn't limited to the smaller scope of sources tapped by traditional outlets. In TMZ Land, a valet and a CEO are equal, with both capable of generating clickable news. In the case of Gibson, the goods didn't come from a disaffected waiter leaking embarrassing dish about a low-tipping star. It came from the same source others had not listened quite so closely to.