The NY mag story on gossip folk, spurred by the firing of Page Six's Ian Spiegelman, is out — in some ways it's incredibly toothy, especially about apparent conflicts of interest, but also it only scratches the surface. This sounds familiar though:

Most of what people do at "Page Six" is sit at their desks at the far end of the Post's newsroom, fielding e-mails and calls while opening packages of freebies sent from publicists.

Small world! But we thought that most of what Page Six does is drink 'til they vomit in the Meatpacking District. Color me jealous.

We love that there's a pictorial guide to the Page Six mini-scandal that got former Sixer Ian Speigelman fired — are they implying gossip addicts don't do well with lots of words and facts?

Anyway: yes, a must-read, solely because the info will come in handy when you need to grease gossip-king Richard Johnson's palm down the road.
Payback [NY Mag]