New York scandal reveals underworld of gossip

NEW YORK, Apr 12 (Reuters) A full-scale tabloid war has erupted in New York over the integrity of the people who produce what you might not believe anyway -- gossip.

The New York Post's Page Six is the widely acknowledged king of gossip with its daily dose of inside dish on the rich and famous.

But the column itself generated more gossip than any who-was-seen-where-with-which-starlet item when accusations surfaced last week that a contributor may have offered to keep a billionaire off the page in exchange for money -- lots of money.

In the resulting scandal, the rival New York Daily News and the venerable New York Times have dedicated vast space revealing how the gossip industry in some corners of the business really works.

Gossip writers sometimes enter quasi-business relations with people they write about. Others accept gifts such as trips with first-class accommodations. Some protect sources who dish dirt on rival stars, and sourcing is often spotty.

''I am shocked, shocked that a gossip columnist might get a free hotel room,'' Lou Colasuonno, a former editor-in-chief for the Post and the Daily News, said facetiously, mimicking the famous line about gambling from the movie Casablanca.

''Gossip columnists are catered to by a lot of interests, by the rich and famous, and they don't pay for a lot of meals. The journalistic rules are suspended for the gossip column, but not to the extreme of extortion,'' Colasuonno said, adding that he presumed innocence for the writer caught up in the scandal.

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