Gossip Cop was a

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

that

fact-checked Fact-checking is the process of verifying the factual accuracy of questioned reporting and statements. Fact-checking can be conducted before or after the text or content is published or otherwise disseminated. Internal fact-checking is such che ...

celebrity reporting. Based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, 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''). Truth values are used in ...

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 or information disorder is false or misleading information (misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, and hoaxes) claiming the aesthetics and legitimacy of news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person ...

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

'', an editor at ''The New York Post'', and a columnist for the ''

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

''. 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, and author. He is currently the host of '' On Patrol: Live'' on Reelz, and ''The Dan Abrams Show: Where Politics Meets The Law'' on SiriusXM's P.O.T.U.S. ch ...

, Lewittes launched the site on July 29, 2009 with appearances on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

'' and ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American 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 was the first of its genre on American television ...

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

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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 (company), IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''Peopl ...

''. The site was known for its dogged investigations. In November 2017, Elle magazine called Gossip Cop "the

Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York University, Mueller served a ...

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