CALABASAS, CA. (THECOUNT) — Celebrity gossip website, TMZ, broke the news no one wanted to hear, Kobe Bryant dead at the age of 41 in a Calabasas Helicopter crash.
During a press conference, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva blasted the website during a subsequent news presser saying the Bryant blockbuster was “extremely disrespectful” to the family members of the fallen.
“It would be extremely disrespectful to understand that your loved one … perished and you learn about it from TMZ,” Villanueva said. “That is just wholly inappropriate.”
At 2:24 p.m. ET, TMZ posted the story that broke the internet on Sunday, Kobe was dead. The news quickly spread, as bad news tends to do, garnering TMZ, the outlet that also broke the news of the passing of Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, the number one spot in the world for internet traffic. A trophy that also brought down the Harvey Levin led website for a brief spell.
Villanueva suggested the speed in which TMZ had reported the news — a little more than an hour after police said they received reports of a downed aircraft — outpaced that of trained officials who were seeking to notify the family members of victims.
Los Angeles County Undersheriff Tim Murakami also took a shot at TMZ in a tweet:
“I am saddened that I was gathering facts as a media outlet reported … Kobe had passed,” Murakami wrote. “I understand getting the scoop but please allow us time to make personal notifications to their loved ones. It’s very cold to hear of the loss via media. Breaks my heart.”
One of the lingering questions remaining is, who told TMZ? Levin, while appearing on KFI radio hours after the deadly crash, said he had received a call.
“When it comes to high-profile people, they have an ‘in’ with the kinds of people who know this information,” Matthew Belloni, the editorial director of The Hollywood Reporter, told CNN in a phone interview on Sunday.
Belloni added, “If TMZ reports that a celebrity has died in Los Angeles County, it is almost always correct. For whatever reason, and you can read into this, their accuracy rate in Los Angeles is very, very good,” reports KMOV.
Belloni added,
“If TMZ reports that a celebrity has died in Los Angeles County, it is almost always correct. For whatever reason, and you can read into this, their accuracy rate in Los Angeles is very, very good.”
TMZ has developed a large network of tipsters over the years. According to a 2016 profile in The New Yorker, the network includes law enforcement officials, entertainment lawyers, court officials, and anyone else looking for a quick payday.
The New Yorker reported in its 2016 story that the website sometimes compensates tipsters, something most newsrooms consider unethical.
A representative for TMZ, which is owned by Warner Media, CNN’s parent company, did not respond on Sunday to requests for comment.
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Please note that the aircraft (and all aircraft) was easily tracked online. Many fans know that the helicopter with that tail number is Kobe's! And when a crash is reported, it's easy to look for the flight paths online, and see that the crash site marks the end of the flight path of that aircraft. A quick phone call to the airport, and you know at least some of the people on board. No mystery, just solid journalism, as TMZ merely reported the truth.
I simply refuse to believe anything TMZ reports, until confirmed by independent sources. I stuck to this, until Variety actually reported that this was confirmed with county officials.
It just sickens me that people have become so insensitive and rude that this type of crap has become 'normal'.
But TMZ is right the first time, more often than Fox or CNN or MSNBC. They know people, they know smart people. As I wrote above, it's easy to track aircraft, and pretty easy to find out who was on that aircraft.
It was tawdry, especially for the family to have to learn of it that way, but there's no disputing that TMZ scoops just about every media outlet on these sorts of things. Sorry AF for the families of the victims.
"I'M A LAWYER AND DON'T CARE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE"
TMZ's managing editor is Harvey Levin, a lawyer-turned-journalist who was previously a legal expert for the Los Angeles television station KCBS-TV
It's truly a shame when money is more important than Kobe's family being with respect
Good ole Harv Levin and his hucksters - deliver the good always - people want to know and that's the reason the 'Thirty Mile Zone' is always followed.
"The New Yorker reported in its 2016 story that the website sometimes compensates tipsters, something most newsrooms consider unethical."
Interesting that "most newsrooms" consider paying tipsters unethical but they don't give their own product out for free. Last I checked the New Yorker isn't free and neither is the New York Times.
So when someone else does their job for them they want the info for free but they turn around and ask for money.