Tabloid Site Brouhaha: PageSix.com Launches, Trouble Boils

PageSix.com is less than a week old. Already there’s trouble in tabloid land. Page Six, the long time home for gossip in the New York Post, launched last Monday. Many wondered what took so long. AOL launched TMZ.com two years ago to tremendous success. It was the online gossip competitor for Page Six. It didn’t take long for TMZ.com to outpace all competitors. No one delivered entertainment gossip as well as PageSix until TMZ.

So, PageSix.com launched last week. But there’s plenty of fighting and struggles behind the scenes. I first read the story on Jossip.com. The site explains how PageSix.com’s New York bureau chief Kathy Campbell may be dividing the staff right down the middle. Who knows, it may become PageThree.com before long if all the details are true.

Campbell arrived from In Touch magazine to lead the online launch of PageSix.com. She brought with her several other staff members. Needless to say, according to Jossip, the transition has been very rocky. There’s also a power struggle saga with the managing editor and a story of the selected workers who gets to telecommute. Read the full story here at Jossip.com.

This is a shame. I hope PageSix.com finds its groove. TMZ.com has changed the way online (even TV for that matter) sites cover entertainment news. It’s a great success in breaking Hollywood’s troubles. The addition of PageSix.com stands to improve everyone’s game. That is, if PageSix.com focuses on content and its staff doesn’t get distracted by internal struggles.

By the way, TMZ has built its fortunes around such stars as Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. What makes this site (and it's new companion TV show) work is the convergence of breaking news, short text stories with video clips.

CHECK OUT MY PREVIOUS POSTS ABOUT TMZ.
TMZ on TV - The Preview
TMZ on TV - The Launch
TMZ on TV - O.J.Simpson Coverage