Hollywood investigative journalist Mark Ebner discusses the “newsgathering” techniques of TMZ and how the celebrity website’s chief Harvey Levin reacted when ambushed in the same fashion as those captured on video for the show.
“Harvey Levin – the guy who runs TMZ – he needs to stop calling himself a journalist, because there’s nothing journalistic about what he does,” Ebner said. He gives some insight into Levin by reciting an experience he heard from an Israeli journalist who once ambushed Levin at his home in Venice, CA.
He said the journalist attempted to “doorstep” Levin in a tabloid-style manner. “And Harvey pulled up and the journalist said, ‘Mr. Levin, can I interview you?’ And Harvey said, ‘No, you have to go through my publicist, what’s going on here?’”
After the incident, Ebner said the journalist told him that he got an email from an Israeli man who was paid to protect Levin. “They came at him with all kinds of threats. To the point where he says, ‘And, as you may know, I know a lot of people in Israel.”
The discussion points out the contradictory nature of Levin’s encounter with the journalist, since TMZ’s bread-and-butter tactic is to ambush celebrities and press them to answer questions on the spot.
Watch the full episode for a discussion on the leaked tape of Stephen Collins, a pending lawsuit by pop star Ke$ha against her producer Dr. Luke, and the latest apparent meltdown of Amanda Bynes.
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