Gossip Cop was a

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...

that fact-checked celebrity reporting. Based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, Gossip Cop investigated entertainment stories that were published in magazines and newspapers, as well as on the web, to ascertain whether they are true or false. To help visitors quickly identify the

truth value In logic and mathematics, a truth value, sometimes called a logical value, is a value indicating the relation of a proposition to truth, which in classical logic has only two possible values ('' true'' or '' false''). Computing In some pro ...

of every story, the site featured a 0-10 scale next to each article. A rating of 0 meant the rumor is completely untrue, fiction or even

fake news Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue.Schlesinger, Robert (April 14, 2017)"Fake news in reality ...

, while a rating of 10 meant the report was 100 percent fact or true. Gossip Cop participated in International Fact-Checking Network events, including attending Global Fact 4 in Madrid in July 2017, Global Fact 5 in Rome in June 2018, and Global Fact 6 in Cape Town in June 2019. The website was created by Michael Lewittes, a veteran entertainment journalist. During his 25-year career, Lewittes has served as an " Access Hollywood" producer, the news director for ''

Us Weekly ''Us Weekly'' is a weekly celebrity and entertainment magazine based in New York City. ''Us Weekly'' was founded in 1977 by The New York Times Company, who sold it in 1980. It was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986, and sold to American Media Inc ...

'', an editor at ''The New York Post'', and a columnist for the '' New York Daily News''. A graduate of

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

, Lewittes was also a correspondent on the E! series, "The Gossip Show." Along with one-time co-founder

Dan Abrams Daniel Abrams (born May 20, 1966) is an American media entrepreneur, television host, legal commentator, and author. He is currently the host of the prime-time show ''Dan Abrams Live'' on NewsNation, ''On Patrol: Live'' on Reelz and ''The Dan Ab ...

, Lewittes launched the site on July 29, 2009 with appearances on '' Good Morning America'' and ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It ...

.'' As a result, Gossip Cop received a tremendous amount of publicity, including features in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' and ''

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the lar ...

''. The site was known for its dogged investigations. In November 2017,

Elle magazine ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

called Gossip Cop "the Robert Mueller of the celebrity news world.". In 2019, Gossip Cop was acquired by Quillt Media, formerly Gateway Blend, from Lewittes, who independently owned the company until August of that year. In September 2021, Gossip Cop was folded into the entertainment and lifestyle site Suggest.com and the Gossip Cop site was redirected to Suggest. Suggest continued to produce content debunking tabloid stories, as Gossip Cop had, until September 2022 when the practice was discontinued completely.

References

External links

* American entertainment news websites Fact-checking websites {{entertainment-website-stub