A few years back I started to notice more and more news reports citing the online paparazzi site TMZ as a source.  I scoffed!  I laughed!  I snickered back and forth in a rocking motion while clutching my belly.  This was about as bad as using Wikipedia or gag me, Perez Hilton as your basis for a story.  I mean, come on, TMZ?  How ridiculous a concept.

Well, guess what?  In an era where fact checking is more a myth akin to unicorns, somehow the gang over at TMZ (the Thirty Mile Zone) has become one of the most reliable entertainment news sources on the planet.  How have they done it?  Former lawyer Harvey Levin and his minions have shunned the traditional gatekeeper model and largely present totally unbiased and unfiltered news stories.

 Obviously, there is still an element of deciding what to post on the site and when, but the information is about as raw as you can get it.

If you watch the nightly news magazine show from TMZ, you get a glimpse into what Entertainment Tonight used to be back in the early 80s.  Their cameras provide no editorial, no pre-paid industry slant, they just show you exactly what happened from the unflinching eye of a video camera.  There is no agent spinning actor’s words, no rehearsed statement about their latest project, it is just them, being them.  In a way, it is remarkably refreshing!

And think about it, this is nothing new.  Back before the internet and television assaulted us with daily entertainment news, newsreels and glossy once a month magazines gave fans these little daily glimpses into stars lives.  Photo shoots in Rock Hudson’s kitchen or 30 seconds of home movies from Lucy and Desi.  They carried that raw quality, unfiltered and honest.

TMZ is upholding the herald of journalism at a time when the entertainment news shows are on the decline.  Have you seen Extra lately?  Or Access Hollywood?  The Insider has turned into sports radio-esque shouting matches!  A panel of four or five “experts” all screaming soundbites that we heard in the tease before the commercial break anyway.  Remember when they ganged up on Gary Coleman? Toss in E! News and you’ve got four shows that all “report” the same story every night.  Funny how that works, or did you think the studios didn’t pay them for what they do?  They’re all in pockets and getting sheckles to be nightly PR spokesmen for anyone and everyone.

TMZ just lets what happens happen.  Sure they have to bury some stories, gatekeeping to a certain degree what they show, but when they do it show it, it is literally all there for you to decide, along with some snarky comments which most of us can agree are kind of funny.

Is it paparazzi bottom feeding?  Well, yes and no.  The segments that air all have the audio of both cameraman and star, and the banter is usually very light and very friendly.  If the “mark” is unresponsive, they let them go without chase or hassle (usually one or two questions before they give up) and I hear more “please” and “thank you” out of TMZ employees than the entirety of the current U.S. high school system.  They’re not stalking people at their homes, as most encounters are in public places like parking lots or LAX airport. And let’s face the facts people, 90% of those are far from an accident.  You ever wonder what a Hollywood publicist does?  Put two and two together and bam, TMZ “catches” you at the Starbucks in Calabasas.  ”Oh, I’m so shocked you found me out buying toothpaste at Target in my $10,000 outfit from Kitson!”  Not.

Now, we can all argue about the validity of their so-called news and its subsequent value, but the “by the people, for the people” system they’ve installed is an important lesson in today’s information environment.  Too many news outlets have succumb to the hunger for content and disguise reports as real when in fact they are hearsay and occasionally, paid for advertisements.  Maybe someone does pay TMZ to film their client leaving Mr. Chow’s on a Friday night, but ultimately, even if what they say is rehearsed, the footage is there for our brains to absorb and decipher at will.  As a society fueled by free speech and free will, isn’t that all we really want from our news?