Abstract
An examination and analysis of TMZ’s tremendous success, both as a website and syndicated television show, with particular eye to the style, content, and collection of gossip that distinguishes TMZ from its competition, whether Entertainment Tonight or Perezhilton.com. The paper also traces TMZ’s positioning within the conglomerate universe, looking to the intricate ways in which Time Warner bankrolls a product with a primary objective of tearing down the veneer of media products, including those under the Time Warner umbrella. Ultimately, TMZ’s cross-platform strategy and success emerges as a harbinger of the ways in which celebrity gossip will be sponsored, disseminated, and consumed in years to come.
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