The Associated Press is planning to hire 21 people in Los Angeles, New York and London to cover celebrity news for the wire service's new entertainment group. An AP exec admitted in an internal memo, obtained by Hollywood rabble rouser Nikki Finke, that the move is basically a ploy for cash, but insisted the AP will distinguish itself from rabble like TMZ and OK! by verifying or disproving rumors. It's hard to see how the wire will pull that off: Hollywood publicists are notorious liars, the stars themselves are impossible to reach and sources who actually know what they're talking about tend to ask for a monetary payoff if they speak at all. But the AP will try, not so valiantly, because there are hundreds of millions of dollars to be made. Here is AP lifer Daniel Becker, left, talking about raking in celebrity news bucks out of one side of his mouth and spouting platitudes about journalistic integrity out of the other: