1977: Rupert Murdoch buys the New York Post for the first time, and quickly transforms a venerable and respected newspaper into a sleazy rag in the mold of his British tabs. Confrontational celebrity news and sensational crimes dominate the front page. Page Six becomes the paper's centerpiece, and the political tone takes a hard turn to the Right. Media conglomerate laws soon force him to sell.
1986: Kurt Anderson and Graydon Carter found Spy magazine. Spy's blurry mix of satire and journalism both skewers and celebrates New York's obsession with celebrity, targeting Martha Stewart, Leona Helmsly and Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others. A five-year bitch slapping of "short-fingered vulgarian" Donald Trump ensues, until the magazine folds.
1995: An attempt to resurrect Spy doesn't go as planned, as the new editors beg Donald Trump for an interview, without success.
Dec. 1995: New York Press premieres "Time Out With Jared Paul Stern," a weekly gossip column filled with Page Six rejects about quasi-celebrities behaving badly at Bowery Bar.
1999: Superstar magazine publisher Tina Brown, who saved Vanity Fair and dumbed down the New Yorker, launches Talk magazine, funded by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. "Synergy" was the mantra-celebrities and politicians, Hollywood and New York publishing. Hillary Clinton is on the cover of the first issue, and nobody cares. People continue not caring for two years, until the magazine folds.
2001: After its Florida offices are infected with anthrax, The National Enquirer, which had been sued by everyone from Carol Burnett to Johnny Carson to Lee Harvey Oswald's daughter-moves to New York.
May 2003: After generating an insane amount of hype, former Talk editor Maer Roshan publishes the premiere issue of Radar magazine. The cover story, "American Monsters," consists of attacks on the likes of Michael Moore and celebrity gossip queen Bonnie Fuller. Roshan publishes one more issue before folding. An attempt to resurrect Radar in 2005 lasts three issues before its demise.
Sept. 2003: The Daily News hires Lloyd Grove to write celebrity gossip. Grove had previously been writing political gossip for the Washington Post.
2005: Bonnie Fuller moves from Us Weekly to American Media-publisher of The Enquirer, The Star, The Globe and several other tabloids.
March 2006: A posting on Arianna Huffington's blog, The Huffington Post, appears to have been written by George Clooney. He insists quite publicly that it was not, but rather culled together from several recent interviews. The posting is yanked, and the two kiss and make up.
April 7, 2006: It's revealed that NY Post gossip stringer Jared Paul Stern may have attempted to extort large sums of money from California billionaire Ron Burkle, in exchange for killing negative Page Six pieces about him. Stern denies the charges, but the investigation continues.
April 12, 2005: The New York Times, after running a front-page investigation into how the gossip industry really works, announces the end of their celebrity gossip column, BoldFace. Most New Yorkers were unaware they even had one.
Easter Weekend, 2006: Nick Denton, creator of the popular media gossip website Gawker.com, gives Jared Paul Stern free reign to write whatever he likes on the site. Come Monday, he realizes that this was, perhaps, not the brightest idea he's ever had.