MZ got its first tip at around 1 p.m. PST that Michael Jackson was being taken to the hospital, “it was not that alarming,” recalls Harvey Levin, explaining the singer had “been taken to the hospital many times before” for non-life threatening ailments. Gossip Cop spoke to Levin about that fateful afternoon — exactly one year ago today — because it was TMZ’s executive producer and his team who broke the worldwide exclusive of Michael Jackson’s shocking death at the age of 50.

I do not hate Perez Hilton. But I hate what Perez Hilton has done to journalism. He routinely reports rumors as if they are real stories without bothering to fact-check them. Consequently, because of his tremendous reach, inaccurate gossip becomes gospel.