Standard Talks

STANDARD TALKS: 'Gossip is Something You Like, About Someone You Don't'

Nick Denton, Clay Shirky, Sunny Bates, Virgina Heffernan and George Rush

"Everyone knows Anderson Cooper is gay" ... but does everyone really know? Earlier this week we hosted Standard Talks with Sunny Bates and a slew of gossipy professionals, including Nick Denton, Clay Shirky, Yahoo! pop-tech journalist Virginia Heffernan and former Daily News gossip columnist George Rush. Clay Shirky kicked things off with a hilarious, if terrifying example of the world of gossip today when he read aloud the infamous series of scandalous tweets model Melissa Stetten sent about her seat-mate on a flight to LA.

So, what's new in the brave new world of gossip? Not much, apparently. Nick Denton said he was "disappointed at how much has not changed." His solution? "Charge, challenge, cross examine ... Maybe by someone anonymous." However things might evolve, one thing remains certain: "Gossip is something you like, about someone you don't," as the great Earl Wilson once said.

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