The gossip industry is the ultimate cockroach. It - that is, the industry per se - survives whatever.
However, individual players and media outlets in the dish-the-dirt space get elbowed out all the time by changes in tone, distribution systems, the budget, upstart competition, loss of sources, and more.
Reporter Gabriel Sherman owned the Fox News head Roger Ailes territory. Then Ailes died. Sherman is dishing on Trump but there's a glut of those kinds of journalists. Currently, of course, Michael Wolff is the alpha dog on Everything Trump.
At one time, the National Enquirer was a must-read. Thursdays, gossip book author and Vanity Fair legal columnist - Dominick Dunne - went to the supermarket to pick it up. Now, no one waiting on the check-out line at Walmart even flips through it.
The Wall Street Journal Law Blog was hot. Then it was not. The brass discontinued it. Perhaps the more in-your-face Abovethelaw stole its thunder. As William Shakespeare hammered in his dramas: The crowd is fickle.
To be successful in the gossip business, here are the best practices:
- Do whatever it takes to motivate insiders to be your sources. When I was blogging the Rhode Island lead paint litigation back in 2005-2006, I quickly learned that sources will get in contact when they become aware that you make it your business to position and package the dirt for max attention. That means your narrative has to be provocative.
- Understand why human beings betray employers, colleagues, and even relatives. The usual feeling sets are need for revenge, envy, and sense of power.
- The facts are the dots which have to be connected. Don't just say that X had been arrested last night for alleged wife-beating. Provide background information on the legalities involved. Research how similar brushes with the law hurt careers.
- Project future scenarios. The wilder the speculation, the more attention the dirt will attract.
- Monitor the competition, established and emerging. What changes should you be noticing and incorporating in your own stuff?
Incidentally, gossip has a serious function in all social systems. Those range from the neighborhood in downtown Jersey City, New Jersey to the C-Suite in IBM.
For example, negative gossip about the worker who puts in so much face time indicates that there is a norm among the rank and file against excessive ass-kissing. An insightful read on all that is Joseph Epstein's "Gossip." Here you can order it from Amazon.
Irritated with your communications results? Complimentary consultation. No pressure. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.