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The New Yorker Is Finalizing A Big Exposé About TMZ

Here’s some schadenfreude for you. The New Yorker is finalizing a big exposé about the controversial gossip site TMZ — the place that made events like Britney Spears dropping the f-bomb into news by chasing down and harassing celebrities.

The magazine’s investigative piece was a year in the making, The Hollywood Reporter writes. Harvey Levin, the mastermind behind TMZ, is apparently nervous about what the piece holds — or at least nervous enough to tell staffers not to talk to reporter Nicholas Schmidle. Schmindle was previously nominated for a National Magazine Award for “Getting Bin Laden,” a 2011 chronicle of events leading up to the raid on the terrorist leader’s compound in Abbottabad.

As The Hollywood Reporter points out, TMZ is both a cash cow and something of an embarrassment for Warner Bros., which owns the outlet:

Levin and TMZ are not often discussed on Time Warner earnings calls, but by most accounts the outlet is said to make tens of millions of dollars for Warner Bros. each year, mostly from the syndicated TMZ newsmagazine television show, which Levin hosts. The former lawyer’s ability to procure court documents, celebrity death and divorce news, sex videos and other unflattering tidbits have led to speculation — especially in L.A.’s legal community, which often grapples with TMZ — that the outlet is paying sources handsomely.

The full article is scheduled to appear in the August 14, 2015 issue of The New Yorker.

A spokeswoman for the magazine said it does not comment on pieces that have yet to be published. TMZ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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