Playing dirty: analyzing the images of the tabloid journalists in the complete first season of the FX network series "Dirt"

PDF

Download

Open document

Flip pages

Summarize

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content
PLAYING DIRTY: ANALYZING THE IMAGES OF THE TABLOID JOURNALISTS
IN THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON OF THE FX NETWORK SERIES DIRT

by

Jaclyn Suzanne Emerick

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(PRINT JOURNALISM)

May 2009

Copyright 2009 Jaclyn Suzanne Emerick

ii

Table of Contents

Abstract iii

Chapter 1: Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Endnotes 4

Chapter 2: Lucy Spiller, the Editor-in-Chief 6
Chapter 2 Endnotes 18

Chapter 3: Don Konkey, the Paparazzo 38
Chapter 3 Endnotes 46

Chapter 4: Willa McPhearson, the Reporter 59
Chapter 4 Endnotes 66

Chapter 5: Brent Barrow, the Publisher 77
Chapter 5 Endnotes 82

Chapter 6: Gibson Horne, the Media Owner 92
Chapter 6 Endnotes 96

Chapter 7: Chuck Lafoon, the Investigative Reporter 100
Chapter 7 Endnotes 103

Chapter 8: Kenny, the Assistant 107
Chapter 8 Endnotes 110

Chapter 9: Dirt Now, the Tabloid Publication 113
Chapter 9 Endnotes 129

Chapter 10: Dirt Folds 142
Chapter 10 Endnotes 145

Chapter 11: Dirt in the Realm of Film and Television 147
Chapter 11 Endnotes 151

Chapter 12: Conclusion 152

Bibliography 154

Appendix A: Episode Summary of the Complete First Season 160
of the FX Network Original Series Dirt

iii

Abstract

The FX Network original series “Dirt” is one of the most comprehensive
representations of tabloid journalism on television to date. Although the series only aired
for one and a half seasons, examining and understanding the images of the tabloid
journalists in “Dirt” is necessary because the relationship between the public and real-life
tabloid journalists is hostile and angry. While a fraction of what the public thinks about
journalists comes from real-life experiences with tabloid publications and journalists, part
of what the public thinks about these journalists comes from the images they see on
television programs like “Dirt”—images that ultimately reinforce the tabloid journalist as
corrupt, unfair, unethical, and amoral. Although tabloid journalists had a presence in film
and television prior to “Dirt,” the FX series demonstrates an in-depth portrayal of the
competitive field of tabloid journalism while reinforcing the idea that getting the story is
the ultimate goal.

1

Chapter 1: Introduction

Journalists in the complete first season of the FX Network 2007 original series
Dirt
1
often bribe and blackmail sources, misrepresent themselves by going undercover or
using hidden cameras, and are hardly ethical or moral. However, the Dirt Now tabloid
team strives for accuracy and exclusivity when it exposes celebrity adulterers, solves
small-town murder mysteries, and highlights drug scandals. Although tabloids, both in
film and television depictions as well as real life, often print well researched, accurate
stories, their stories are seldom fair. Dirt presents an image of the tabloid journalist that is
hardly heroic.
Because Dirt only aired for one and a half seasons, it does not have the power to
substantially influence the image of the journalist like The Mary Tyler Moore Show (a
1970s CBS television series which aired for seven seasons that became known as “one of
the most acclaimed television programs ever produced,”
2
), Murphy Brown (a 1980s CBS
television series that aired for seven seasons that is hailed for establishing “itself as one
of television’s premier ensemble comedies, exploring life among the reporters, producers,
staff, and friends of FYI,”
3
), and Lou Grant (a late-1970s CBS spin off of the wildly
successful Mary Tyler Moore Show that provides a more serious angle of the inner
workings of a major metropolitan newspaper
4
). However, those who followed Dirt
throughout its short run were immersed in a thorough depiction of tabloid journalists.
Images of tabloid journalists in Dirt are important to the public’s overall
perception of tabloid journalists because “the public memory seldom distinguishes

2
between the actual and the non-real.”
5
The relationship viewers develop with Dirt Now
editor-in-chief Lucy Spiller (Courteney Cox) throughout the first season of Dirt is likely
the closest most will ever come to a tabloid editor—real or fictional. Dirt brings to life
tabloid editors, paparazzi, reporters, publishers, media owners, investigative reporters,
and assistants who roll “in the muck and mire of Hollywood, the trash-and-cash capital of
the world, and make it pay.”
6

According to the New York Times, celebrity tabloids OK and US Weekly’s
circulation rose 10 percent in 2007 “even as a round of price increases contributed to an
unusual drop in overall sales of celebrity magazines.”
7
This increase is similar to the one
the weeklies saw the prior year. Though OK and US Weekly’s circulation has reached
more than 1.9 million, People remains far ahead at 3.6 million.
8
Like the fictional Dirt
Now, these celebrity-based tabloids focus on the attention-grabbing power of their cover
stories.
Each year, the Audit Bureau of Circulations, a non-profit association of
advertisers, ad agencies, and publishers, and the Magazine Publishers of America, the
industry association for consumer magazines, tabulate the top 100 consumer magazines.
The latest results (2007) find People number 11 with a total paid circulation of 3,676,499;
US Weekly number 39 with a total paid circulation of 1,905,030; Entertainment Weekly
number 42 with a total paid circulation of 1,804,797; In Touch Weekly number 71 with a
total paid circulation of 1,290,769; and the National Enquirer number 87 with a total paid
circulation of 1,033,271. Some weekly celebrity tabloids have higher paid circulation
numbers than Time, Newsweek, Popular Science, or the Economist.
9

3
The popularity of these publications indicates the public’s fascination with them.
Although often criticized for arguably shoddy journalistic standards, tabloids represent a
major media outlet for entertainment news today.
Film and television presents “a unique way to evaluate the relationship of the
public with the news media throughout the centuries.”
10
According to a New York Times
review, “Hollywood, as painted in Dirt, is a sordid world of sex, privilege, Faustian
bargains, and betrayal.”
11
Viewers experience the “dark side of show business—sex,
drugs, and sinful self-indulgence.”
12
If the public only viewed this image of the tabloid
journalist and knew nothing else of the of the field of journalism, many might see these
entertainment journalists—who both decry and buy into corrupt show business values
13
—
as dishonest people who abuse the power of the press not because they are interested in
exposing injustices or righting wrongs, but because they want to increase circulation and
remain powerful and influential in the entertainment media.

4

Chapter 1 Endnotes

1
According to the FX Network Web site, “Matthew McNair Carnahan is creator, writer,
director, and producer. Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and Joe Fields are executive
producers. ABC Studios and FX are co-production partners in association with Coquette
Productions. The series films in Hollywood, California. The total episode running time
for the complete first season is estimated at 607 minutes.”
http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/dirt/ (accessed January 2008).

2
“The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” (The Museum of Broadcast Communications),
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/marytylermo/marytylermo.htm (accessed
March 2009).

3
“Murphy Brown,” (The Museum of Broadcast Communications),
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/murphybrown/murphybrown.htm
(accessed March 2009).

4
“Lou Grant,” (The Museum of Broadcast Communications),
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/L/htmlL/lougrant/lougrant.htm (accessed March
2009).

5
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media.”
(Resources, Recommended Books, Articles and Web sites, Popular Culture, IJPC.org.)
Los Angeles, CA: The University of Southern California. p. 2. Saltzman is the director of
the Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture (IJPC), a project of the Norman Lear
Center, at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication.

6
Tom Shales. “FX’s Dirt: A Wickedly Good Wallow in Hollywood,” (The Washington
Post, January 2, 2007), http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2007/01/01/AR2007010100972.html (accessed February 2008).

7
Richard Perez-Pena. “US Weekly’s Circulation Rises 10% in Soft Year,” (The New
York Times, February 12, 2008),
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/business/media/12mag.html (accessed December
2008).

8
Ibid.

9
“Top 100 consumer Magazines of 2007,” (Info Please),
http://www.infoplease.com/entertainment/magazines/top-100-consumer.html (accessed
January 2009).

5

10
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p. 2.

11
Alessandra Stanley. “Disposable Friendships and a Fight to the Finish,” (The New
York Times, March 27, 2007),
http://tv.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/arts/television/27stan.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%2
0Topics/People/A/Aniston,%20Jennifer (accessed February 2008).

12
Ibid.

13
Tom Shales. “FX’s Dirt: A Wickedly Good Wallow in Hollywood.”

6

Chapter 2: Lucy Spiller, the Editor-in-Chief

Lucy Spiller,
14
“tabloid bitch,”
15
is Dirt Now’s resident editor-in-chief
16
—a “mad
genius” with a “God-given gift to find editorial gold.”
17
Spiller is “known throughout
Hollywood as one of the most powerful people in the art of forming public opinion.”
18

She has a reputation for being able to “get the news by any means possible and…make it
sensational enough to keep the rabble happy.”
19
The way Spiller sees it, “Fame has its
price. She’s here to collect.”
20

Initially, Spiller is editor-in-chief of two weeklies
21
—Dirt, “a lowdown,
peephole-peeking gossip sheet,”
22
and Now, “a more traditional newsweekly that goes
back 70 years and concerns itself with matters other than who’s pregnant, who’s getting a
divorce, and who’s in rehab.”
23
She merges the two publications into one super tabloid,
Dirt Now. Spiller is the only editor ever mentioned in Dirt. There are no references to
copy editors, photo editors, or any other type of subordinate editor. This emphasizes
Spiller’s role as one of Dirt Now’s most powerful.
Spiller wanted to become a journalist so she could know the “why” of things.
24

Her curiosity evolved into obsession. Spiller eats, sleeps, and breathes her work at Dirt
Now, the “tabloid that swallowed [her] whole.”
25
When she isn’t in her office or sitting at
the head of the conference table in pitch meetings, she is secretly meeting anonymous
sources or falling asleep alone with Dirt Now’s latest issue in hand.
26
She sees every
conversation she has with anyone as an interview.
27
Even though she is often the last one
to leave the office she constantly takes her work home with her.
28
When Spiller is at an

7
exclusive Hollywood event or party, she is thinking about her next cover
29
and talking
business with the people around her.
30
Actress Julia Mallory (Laura Allen) thinks “Lucy
Spiller is a wannabe [and that] she peddles gossip so she can get close to real talent.”
31

Mallory doesn’t think Spiller has any “real power, unless [the celebrities] give it to
her.”
32
Spiller doesn’t agree with Mallory. She thinks she plays an important role in
Hollywood by exposing scandal and by making
33
and breaking careers.
34
Spiller proves
that there is a big difference between being an actor and being famous.
35
She makes
actors famous.
36

Spiller knows her craft better than anyone else in the tabloid business. She figures
out what her readers want and how to appeal to Dirt Now’s target audience. Sometimes
this means Spiller has to bribe her sources.
37
Other times, she can only succeed through
blackmail
38
or by giving sources ultimatums.
39
One of Spiller’s main sources in
Hollywood’s inner circle is actor Holt McLaren (Josh Stewart).
40
She blackmails
McLaren by threatening to leak a sex tape she has of his girlfriend, Mallory, having sex
with her co-star, Johnny Gage (Johann Urb).
41
She understands that sometimes she puts
her sources in incredibly dangerous positions. Because of this, she is discrete about
whom she gets her tips from and is very careful about never revealing the identity of an
anonymous source.
42

Spiller likes to have control of everyone with whom she interacts. Even though
she relies on the art of seduction and manipulation for many of her cover stories, she will
not tolerate anyone trying to take advantage of her.
43
When Dana Pritchard’s (Kristin
Minter) assistant lies to Spiller about his client’s wedding plans, Spiller tells him, “don’t

8
take this personally but you’re an idiot, which is not my objection. My objection is that
you would assume I would believe an idiot.”
44
She knows the difference between “PR
bullshit” and what’s really going on,
45
and does not fall for subterfuge by deceitful
celebrity publicists.
46
She won’t let anyone try to use the pages of Dirt Now to satisfy
their own personal ends.
Her primary allegiance is to both the accuracy and exclusivity of her stories, and
to the profit and success of her magazine. She wants everyone to know that every single
week she “will give you the unvarnished and uncompromising truth because that is what
Dirt Now is and always will be.”
47
To do this better than the competition, Spiller goes
after the most extreme cover stories that expose the most salacious celebrity scandals.
The more challenging the story may be to get, the better the cover will likely be.
48
Spiller
always finds the angle she thinks the other tabloids won’t have.
49
She is the first tabloid
editor to put a photo of a dead celebrity’s body on the cover of a magazine.
50

A master at her craft, she knows her field is competitive.
51
Dirt Now’s owner
Gibson Horne (Timothy Bottoms) frequently reminds Spiller he won’t hesitate to replace
her with Tina Harrod (Jennifer Aniston), the editor-in-chief of a rival gossip magazine, if
Spiller makes an editorial blunder or squanders the tabloid’s budget.
52
One of the biggest
reasons Horne threatens to fire Spiller is because she blatantly ignores the Dirt Now
budget and spends too much money bribing sources.
53
Spiller knows that, to Horne, she is
only as good as her next cover sales. Horne is the only character Spiller shows her
deference to because he is the only one who can fire her.
54
But, since Horne is rarely in
the Dirt Now office, Spiller comes across as having more power than she really has. She

9
barks out orders like, “I don’t care if you’re on your deathbed, your mother’s on fire,
we’re at the brink of a nuclear war; I want those photos on my desk tonight.”
55

Almost every film or television series about the media “has at least one major
argument between the reporter and the editor.”
56
This is a recurrent theme in Dirt; Spiller
and publisher Brent Barrow (Jeffrey Nordling) are no different. The two are often at odds
about what is appropriate to spend and what is appropriate to publish. Even though
Barrow is technically Spiller’s superior, she does not treat him with respect. She often
lies to him
57
and goes behind his back to publish stories against his will.
Journalism is often stereotyped as wreaking “ havoc on most personal
relationships.”
58
Spiller’s mother, Dorothy (Mariette Hartley), accuses Spiller of
alienating the people close to her.
59
Spiller has a poor relationship with her mother whom
she resents for treating Spiller’s father’s suicide with disrespect.
60
Spiller’s brother, Leo
(Will McCormack), constantly reminds Spiller that he is disappointed in her for being so
obsessed with what he finds an embarrassing job.
61
Leo asks Spiller to publish pictures of
him and Jack Dawson (Grant Show), which show the two engaged in an explicit affair, in
order to expose the action star as a homosexual,
62
but he turns on Spiller when the story
tears Dawson’s family apart.
63
Leo is so angry with her that he leaves town
64
and refuses
to let Spiller know where he is going.
65
He then secretly stalks Spiller in an attempt to get
her to realize what it is like on the other side of the paparazzi’s cameras. When Spiller
catches him, Leo tells her he did it for her because he “couldn’t get you to see what you
were doing to people, to me, to yourself. I wanted you to feel the same terror and
helplessness as your victims.”
66
Don Konkey (Ian Hart) is the only character who

10
understands that “Lucy has serious abandonment issues when it comes to family.”
67

Because of this, Spiller is unable to foster healthy relationships with her family members
and with men.
Spiller’s only semi-significant romantic relationship in Dirt is a secret affair she
has with McLaren.
68
She never admits to anyone that she actually cares about him.
Although she tells him about her father’s death, she doesn’t let him know much more
about herself.
69
She puts up an emotional wall to prove she’s thick-skinned because she
has to have control of every relationship she has.
70
Other than McLaren, Spiller is only
briefly involved with one other man—who is never given a name—whom she takes home
after they meet at a valet booth when they are both waiting for their cars. After sleeping
with him and assuring him that he will not be able to give her an orgasm, she kicks him
out of her house. Spiller, “as brutal in her busy bedroom as she is at the office,”
71
tells
him she has hours of work to get back to.
72
With her, it is always business first, pleasure
second. Otherwise, Spiller comes home to an empty bed each night where she uses her
vibrator before falling asleep.
73
Konkey blames Spiller’s commitment issues with men on
her father’s suicide.
74

Film and television journalists “usually end up alone in the big city without a
family.”
75
Because of this, typically “the only friends most newspeople have are the
people who work with them.”
76
Spiller always comes home to an empty house—she does
not even have pets.
77
According to McLaren, “Lucy Spiller is nobody’s friend.”
78
While
she doesn’t have many friends, she does have one genuine best friend, Konkey. Spiller
and Konkey went to the same college where they worked on the college newspaper

11
together.
79
Besides Leo, he is the only person whose well being Spiller unquestionably
cares about. She always checks on Konkey to make sure he takes his schizophrenia
medication and brings him food when she thinks he hasn’t eaten.
80
When Konkey runs
away, Spiller orders her bodyguard to focus first on finding him and second on figuring
out who is stalking her.
81
Spiller regrets not telling Konkey how much she really cares
about him.
82
Konkey is the only co-worker who has evolved into Spiller’s extended
family.
83
Spiller is portrayed as being overly consumed with her work at the expense of
most personal relationships.
Although viewers are likely to have an affinity for Spiller because she is the
leading character, they are also likely to be critical of Spiller because of how she behaves.
Researchers found most leading journalists in film and television are either heroes or
villains.
84
Spiller’s character is not distinctly one or the other. Rather, she blurs the line
between reflecting “society’s innermost hopes and dreams…[and] its fears and
nightmares.”
85
There are times where viewers will look at Spiller with adulation, and then
abhor her seconds later.
Journalist heroes often are “self-made persons, independent spirits, people who
get angry over injustice and unfairness.”
86
Spiller has worked her way to the top. She is
independent and cutthroat, business savvy and determined. In addition to working hard,
heroes are both brave and honest.
87
When former child star Sammy Winter (Vincent
Gallo) takes the staff of Dirt Now hostage, Spiller never pleads for her life. Rather, she
asks Winter if she can do a story on him.
88
When Mallory attacks Spiller with a knife,
stabbing her in the stomach, Spiller calls Konkey and tells him to get to her house and get

12
the photos of her before he calls 911 for help.
89
These examples demonstrate Spiller’s
values, what is most important to her. She puts her magazine before her own personal
health and safety. However, rather than appearing a hero dedicated to the success of her
publication, Spiller’s actions are more representative of an obsessed madwoman.
Although Spiller believes she is righting wrongs and bringing justice to the
public, she simultaneously disregards all ethical and moral standards of journalism that
stand in her way. Heroes use the power of the press to “right wrongs, to stop injustice, to
do what is fair and right.”
90
While Spiller thinks that she is being honest with her readers
by printing the happenings of the corrupt Hollywood celebrities the public looks up to
and invests in, she uses bribery and blackmail—things a true journalist hero would not
stoop to. Although her means to get the story are questionable, Spiller will only settle for
accuracy for Dirt Now, telling her reporters,
OK listen, there is actual reporting involved in what we do. Our readers want to
know that people actually screw up and that they actually sleep with hookers and
that they lie. So no, a friend of a friend—that would be gossip. And gossip is what
lands you in court. The only real defense we have is the truth—preferably with
photos.
91

Spiller makes sure that every story Dirt Now publishes is verified by more than
one source.
92
Furthermore, journalist heroes typically believe “that the ends, the triumph
of right over wrong, justify any means, no matter what the ethical or moral cost may be.
They believe in and embrace the public interest.”
93
To a small extent Spiller represents
some qualities of a journalist hero. But her willingness to sacrifice ethical and moral
standards to get a better story is hardly admirable.

13
Unlike heroes, journalist villains are vain, conceited
94
“socially undesirable,
usurpers, abusers, snobs, strangers, traitors, sneaks, chiselers, narcissists”
95
who abuse the
media by using it “to serve their own social, economic, political, or personal ends.”
96

Spiller is accused of playing with people’s lives.
97
She uses the power of the press to
blackmail people into giving her information and to bring her exclusive stories. Spiller
does admit that she is “just a little shallow,”
98
but she is never preoccupied with her own
economic interests before those of Dirt Now. Lastly, journalist villains “care nothing
about the public interest.”
99
When Spiller’s bodyguard tells her that she knows “better
than just about anybody how easy it is to get into someone’s life and steal their soul,” she
assures him that what Dirt Now does has nothing to do with stalking or terrorizing
people.”
100
Spiller convinces herself that the pages of Dirt Now actually do serve the
public interest and that what she and her staff do to get those stories is unobtrusive and
acceptable. The problem is she exists in a world where she twists genuine values of
honorable journalism to meet the ends of her product. She sees nothing wrong with what
she does.
Spiller knows that a lot of people dislike her because of the nature of what she
publishes.
101
She ends up paying $2,000 a day for a personal security team
102
and hires a
bodyguard when a stalker starts to leave photos on her bed and in her car of her
undressing and having sex with McLaren.
103
Spiller’s bodyguard tells her, “I’ve been to
parades with fewer people than your list of possible suspects.”
104
Spiller was “one of the
few non-politicians to get the gift of deadly classified chemicals,” specifically anthrax,
after 9/11.
105
She even carries a stun gun with her at all times and keeps a spare at

14
home.
106
When she sets her dirty martini down on a table at an exclusive Hollywood
event, a director warns her,
Oh I wouldn’t do that if I were you. No woman should leave their drink
unattended in these troubled times—most of all you. Do you have any idea of
how many of these people would like to see you laying on the ground begging for
somebody to call 911?
107

Spiller laughs, even though she knows he is right. It is not just the people Spiller
publishes stories about who dislike her; the people who work for her are not always fans
either. There is “a secret blog of disgruntled Lucy Spiller employees,” with the password
“d-bag.”
108

Of journalist heroes and villains, “an argument can be made that there have never
been any true heroes or villains in journalism, simply celebrities.”
109
Because Spiller
represents what it is to be both a journalist hero and villain at times, she is more likely to
be seen as a journalist celebrity. The journalist as celebrity is distinguished by his or her
image, whereas the journalist as hero is distinguished by his or her achievement.
110

Spiller knows “being in the public eye is the definition of celebrity.”
111
Readers know
who Spiller is because Dirt Now is usually the top-selling tabloid. Celebrities know who
Spiller is because she exploits them each week. While “heroes create themselves,
celebrities are created by the media.”
112
Where a hero will continue to be a hero as time
passes, “the passage of time destroys the celebrity,”
113
who is only as good as his or her
reputation.
114
If Spiller is ever fired from her job as editor-in-chief, people likely will
soon forget who she is as they turn their attention to the next editor-in-chief. Spiller’s
power comes from her job, not the other way around. “The celebrity is the creature of
gossip, of public opinion, of magazines, newspapers, and the ephemeral images of the

15
movie and television screen.”
115
Ironically, as a result of overseeing the writing about
celebrities, Spiller has become as widely known as the people in the pages of Dirt Now.
Editors represented in film and television “throughout the century, are always
gruff and sharp-tongued but usually soft under their bluster.”
116
Although Spiller often
comes across as completely self-sufficient and independent, she reveals vulnerability
with certain people or when she is alone. She cannot sleep through the night,
117
and when
she tries to she has hallucinations, experiences paranoia,
118
and has nightmares about her
own death.
119
When Spiller realizes she is being stalked, she goes to Konkey’s house
because she is scared. She feels safe with Konkey and is able to finally fall asleep in his
lap.
120
Spiller’s father’s death haunts her every day of her life.
121
It is clear she loved him
and his suicide has crushed her.
122
In her toast to her mother’s marriage, Spiller admits,
“twenty-five years ago my mother’s first husband, my father, hanged himself in our
living room. Ever since then I have questioned the whole idea of love and
commitment.”
123
Spiller’s commitment issues permeate her every personal interaction.
McLaren tells her, “You’ve got no one. It’s obvious. You’ve got nothing and no one.”
124

Leo constantly challenges Spiller because he does not like her job. He does not
understand how she can sacrifice every opportunity for a substantial personal life for her
magazine. He thinks she will end up alone and lonely. “I just have this image of you in
your expensive home with nothing to hold but your latest issue. Is that really enough?”
125

Leo asks her. McLaren, the only man she actually cares about romantically, calls her
poison
126
and accuses her of even hating herself.
127
She knows she cannot trust anybody
because of the work she does, so she always has her guard up.
128
Likewise, people around

16
Spiller have difficulty trusting her because they fear she will publish anything as long as
it is a good story.
129

Spiller savors her success. She wears fashionable clothes. She lives in a big house
with a view of the Hollywood Hills. She drives a fancy sports car. She feels no shame
about what she does. She considers her job as editor-in-chief of Dirt Now both legitimate
and important. She is exceptionally loyal to Dirt Now and she genuinely likes her job as
editor—she would not want any other position at the magazine.
130
Spiller’s world of
journalism ethics is a skewed one where she believes she is not a corrupt individual.
Rather, she blames the competitive business and corrupt politics of Hollywood for the
public’s idea that tabloid journalism is disreputable press. People blame Spiller and her
articles for ruining marriages, careers, and fortunes, and exploiting embarrassing habits or
fetishes. Harvey, a Hollywood director, tells Spiller her article resulted in his divorce,
costing him two of his three houses. It could be argued that Harvey’s escapades with
hookers resulted in his wife divorcing him—Spiller’s article just made sure his wife knew
about it.
131
Spiller does not ever feel guilty for whatever consequences result from the
material she publishes because she believes that a scandal is still a scandal whether or not
she puts a story out about it.
132

Research of film and television journalists finds,
Among the most popular villains in newspaper movies are the power-hungry
gossip columnists, who will stop at nothing to get that must-read item into the
newspaper. They are cocky, power-mad, ready to sacrifice everyone to get ahead
and stay on top. Yet, they are played by such likable and ingratiating actors that
their evil is muted. You like them in spite of what they do and how they act.
133

17
This is a working definition of Spiller’s character. She abuses the power of the
press, she keeps a safe with information in it to blackmail and bribe sources, she distorts
stories to make a point, and she emphasizes certain aspects of a story to bring down or
bring up a celebrity depending on how cooperative the celebrity is with her. While she
prides herself on accuracy, she is seldom fair in her reporting. The only thing that really
matters to Spiller is getting the story and making sure her magazine sells.
134

18

Chapter 2 Endnotes

14
According to the FX Network Web site, “Courteney Cox plays ‘Lucy Spiller,’ the
powerful, intelligent, and utterly ruthless editor-in-chief of Dirt Now magazine. At the
end of season one, Lucy discovers the price one must pay for success in a world built
upon unraveling the truth behind celebrity facades. Courteney moved to Los Angeles in
1985 and grabbed her first big break when she was cast in Family Ties as Michael J.
Fox’s girlfriend, ‘Lauren Miller.’ She is best known, however, for her standout
performance as ‘Monica Geller’ on the hit series Friends, which won a 2002 Emmy
Award for ‘Outstanding Comedy Series.’ In addition to starring in Dirt, Courteney is
executive producing the show under her production company Coquette, which was
established in 2004 with her husband David Arquette. As part of Coquette, Courteney’s
first project was an interior design show for cable’s WE (Women’s Entertainment)
Network called Mix it Up. Courteney served as a producer of the show, which profiled
couples and roommates whose styles were at odds. Coquette’s comedy Daisy Does
America aired on TBS. Coquette has several other projects in development and recently
released The Tipper, a horror film written and directed by David Arquette. Courteney’s
performance as ‘Gail Weathers’ in Wes Craven’s horror/comedy film Scream in 1996 led
to a continued role in the two follow-up films. She starred opposite Jim Carrey in 1994’s
breakout hit Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, directed by Tom Shadyac. It was for this role of
‘Melissa Robinson’ that she received an American Comedy Award nomination.
Courteney’s other film credits include: 3000 Miles to Graceland, Mr. Destiny, Cocoon:
The Return, Zoom, November, The Longest Yard, and Barnyard. She lives in California
with her husband, daughter, and dogs.”

15
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. First aired January 30, 2007, FX Networks.
ABC Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Chris Long. Written by Dave
Flebotte. (46:09).
DAWSON’S BODYGUARD: Your friend Leo, turns out he’s Lucy Spiller’s brother.
DAWSON: That tabloid bitch?

16
The word editor-in-chief originated in 1873 to mean “an editor who heads an editorial
staff.” “Editor in Chief,” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary), http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/editor%20in%20chief (accessed February 2008).

17
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. First aired February 6, 2007, FX
Networks. ABC Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Jesse Bochco.
Written by Joel Fields. (19:49).

18
Episode 9: “This Is Not Your Father’s Hostage Situation,” Dirt. First aired February
27, 2007, FX Networks. ABC Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. (28:00).

19

19
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
23.

20
“Dirt,” (Internet Movie Database), http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0496275/ (accessed
January 2008).

21
Typical responsibilities of editor-in-chief include acting as the overall editor of a single
publication, the entire publication house, or a set of publications owned and operated by
the publishing house. “Editor in Chief,” (MSN Encarta Online Dictionary),
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/editor%2520in%2520chief.html (accessed February
2008).

22
Tom Shales. “FX’s Dirt: A Wickedly Good Wallow in Hollywood.”

23
Ibid.

24
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (19:49).
LAFOON: Fun story, huh?
SPILLER: Yea, everyone loves murder.
LAFOON: Fifteen and bam, it’s over just like that.
SPILLER: Yup.
LAFOON: You’re not objective.
SPILLER: Excuse me?
LAFOON: This story, I know why you’re so obsessed by it.
SPILLER: Why, I’m a mad genius? Or is it just my god-given gift to find editorial gold?
LAFOON: It’s the girl. I remember way back one night you got drunk at McLooty’s and
told me the whole story of your father’s suicide, how you found his body when you were
15, how you never understood why he did it. You were 15 just like this girl. You said you
died that day. Your words, ‘I died that day.’ You said that’s why you wanted to be a
reporter, so you can know the why of things.
SPILLER: I said that.
LAFOON: You were drunk.
SPILLER: Yeah, must have been.
LAFOON: You said your father’s suicide was the one mystery you most wanted to solve.
You said it like everything would just fall into place if you knew the answer to that one
question, why. Why’d he do it?

25
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. First aired March 20, 2007, FX Networks. ABC
Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Frederick King Keller. Written by
Joel Fields. (29:35).

20

26
Episode 10: “The Sexxx Issue,” Dirt. First aired March 6, 2007, FX Networks. ABC
Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Lev L. Spiro. Written by Matthew
Carnahan. (45:05).
Spiller reads her magazine in bed.

27
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (36:44).
MALLORY: Is this an interview?
SPILLER: Isn’t that the point? I mean isn’t it always?
MALLORY: I guess.

28
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. First aired January 2, 2002, FX Networks. ABC Studios, FX,
and Coquette Productions. Directed by Matthew Carnahan. Written by Matthew
Carnahan. (53:49)
Episode ends with Spiller lying in her bed surrounded by pages of cover options.

29
Ibid.
Spiller is observing celebrities at the party. She eyes a woman and a man together, but the
man is looking at another man, apparently disinterested in the pretty woman talking to
him. The scene flashes to a man holding a mini-camera in his hand as he snatches a photo
of the couple. A magazine cover with the couple kissing and the headline “I’M GAY!!!.”
(00:31) comes up on the screen to signify the week’s stories Spiller will get from this
party. Another photo for the cover flashes up with “HOLLYWOOD HOOKUP!!!” (00:39)
over a picture of guy and girl (he is fixing her dress strap) as they stumble out of a room.
Another: “Celebulimia?!?” (00:56) streaked across a picture of a young woman hastily
eating at the bar. Spiller has a confident sneer on her face that says she knows the secrets
of the celebrities around her. Spiller’s mind is focused on her weekly tabloids Dirt and
Now 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

30
Ibid. (00:46).
Spiller is in a formal red gown at an exclusive Hollywood party. Partygoers approach
Spiller to ask her questions, to compliment her, to attempt to discuss business. She
blatantly ignores every approach, as if she is above everyone around her, as if she does
not have time for them.
WOMAN TRIES TO GET SPILLER’S ATTENTION: Hey sweetie! Listen, Jessica
wants you to print a retraction, she’s really—
SPILLER: No. (As she disregards the woman and keeps on walking.)

31
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (34:54).

32
Ibid.

21

33
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (00:29).
KONKEY: That’s Holt McLaren. He gives Lucy dirt. With her help he’s gonna be the
next big thing in action movies.

34
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (01:42).
SPILLER: You know why I’m not afraid? Because you and all your Hollywood pals read
my magazines and secretly love them and know every word is true. And as much as you
all hate to admit it, you need me.

35
Ibid. (41:43).
MCLAREN: I’m an actor. That’s all I ever wanted to do.
SPILLER: No. You wanted to be famous. There’s a big difference.

36
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (30:52).
SPILLER: You’re a really good actor. But the thing that’ll make you pop is that you have
the look and you don’t even know it.
MCLAREN: Well if I pop it’s just because of your magazine.
SPILLER: That too.
MCLAREN: So I guess I owe you?
SPILLER: You do.

37
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. First aired January 9, 2007, FX Networks. ABC Studios,
FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Chris Long. Written by Matthew Carnahan.
(28:14).
SPILLER: I know that you don’t want to be a star. But I also know that you’re from Flora
de Mayo and that your mother and sister are there with other family members.
GABRIELLA: How do you know about my—
SPILLER: I’m a journalist. And I know that you worry about them and their standard of
living.
GABRIELLA: And if I help you?
SPILLER: Well there is a farm with some acreage and a very nice house next to your
mother and it’s for sale for about $200,000, U.S. I think that if you help us, that could be
a very realistic goal. Now the insiders are reporting that she’s going to induce at the
superstar suite at Cedars. They’re all camped out there but I don’t think they’re gonna go
to Cedars. There’re gonna be too many unanswered questions there, due to the nature of
the pregnancy. Don’t you think?
GABRIELLA: I think you are right. But they don’t tell me the location. When the baby
comes they will call and then they will send a car.
SPILLER: OK well why don’t you let us worry about that. All you need to do is take that
baby to the window for a shot of California sun. You know how the babies get jaundice.
GABRIELLA: It’s the house plus $100,000, U.S. I want half the money upfront, non-
refundable. And the other half if you get your picture.
SPILLER: Congratulations on your new home.

22

38
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. First aired January 16, 2007, FX Networks. ABC
Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Paris Barclay. Written by Joel
Fields. (20:39).
TYREESE: I followed your crazy pap. Did you really think I wouldn’t figure out it was
you who sent those pictures?
SPILLER: You’re a smart man Prince. Of course I thought you’d figure it out. I was
counting on it. Gibson Horne owns this magazine. He owns your team. That makes us
family. I don’t want to publish those nasty photos. That’s why I intercepted the negatives,
so I could give them back to you. Because that’s what family does, they look out for each
other, right?
TYREESE: OK.
SPILLER: So, I do something to look out for you, give you the negatives, and you do
something for me. We’re looking into the disappearance of Andre G. I know you hang
out with his pals and his manager. That’s a pretty tight circle you’re in. I want that story.
TYREESE: I don’t know. I don’t know anything about that.
SPILLER: Ugh, I don’t want this to turn into one of those ugly family fights where you
won’t help me and I won’t help you and then that picture of you with the dildo gets out.
Wouldn’t be good for your image, let alone your marriage.
TYREESE: I can’t talk about Andre G. I can give you anything else.
SPILLER: How ’bout an exclusive on how you like taking it up the ass? Would that
work? Come on, I always protect my sources. Whatever you tell me no one will ever
know it came from you.
TYREESE: I can’t.
SPILLER: We go to press in two days.

39
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (04:55).
SPILLER: What does she look like?
ANONYMOUS MALE REPORTER: Not bad, slutty.
SPILLER: Good we love slutty. OK, Tell her if she doesn’t talk to us we’re going to run
it without her side anyway.

23

40
Ibid. (40:31).
SPILLER: Now what can I do for you? Besides receiving your undying gratitude for the
beautiful profile in my magazine.
MCLAREN: I’m not gonna give you any more dirt. Not about my friends or my enemies.
Kira’s in the hospital because I told—
SPILLER: Kira’s in the hospital because she’s a drug addict.
MCLAREN: The point is that you people—
SPILLER: OK first of all, you’re welcome for the profile. Plus the three other tidbits we
managed to place, which any publicist would sacrifice a left nut for. Secondly, you’re
now a source. And I think we’re gonna do wonderful things together. Me, you, and Don
here.
MCLAREN: I’m not gonna help you anymore.
SPILLER: Oh, poor Julia.
MCLAREN: No. Don’t—don’t even go there.
SPILLER: When she finds out about your betrayal, think about it. Poor Julia. I mean I
know how much she adores you.
MCLAREN: She’ll either understand or she won’t. I don’t care. I love her and she loves
me.
SPILLER: Well that’s brave.
MCLAREN: Screw you.

41
Ibid. (41:43).
SPILLER: Holt, I think you need to see something. You know what we love here at Dirt
and Now? Homemade porn. (She starts to show McLaren a tape of Mallory having sex
with her co-star.)
SPILLER: I honestly would rather not leak this…You can give your dirt to Don
whenever. Just make sure it comes in regularly.

42
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (31:43).
TYREESE: If I tell you, they kill me. I’m not shittin’ you. If they knew I was here right
now they’d kill both of us.
SPILLER: I’m willing to take the risk. No one will ever know where I got this
information.

24

43
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (22:29).
ANONYMOUS GUY SPILLER MET AT THE VALET WHILE THE TWO WERE
WAITING FOR THEIR CARS: This is for you. Just our CD. Just in case you want to
give it a listen. (He gives her his CD after they sleep together.)
ANONYMOUS: Nothing like being a desperate musician trying not to appear desperate.
How am I doing? You want to make us famous?
SPILLER: I never told you what I did for a living.
ANONYMOUS: No, why, you’re not like CIA are you?
SPILLER: Wow, you knew the whole time.
ANONYMOUS: That was just my feeble attempt at humor.
SPILLER: Get out…get your shit and go. (She says as she uses a stun gun on the man’s
penis to get him to leave faster.)

44
Episode 9: “This Is Not Your Father’s Hostage Situation,” Dirt. (05:07).

45
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. First aired February 20, 2007, FX
Networks. ABC Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Dean White.
Written by Sally Robinson. (05:38).
SPILLER: She’s a B-list actress with a sinking sitcom. God I love the smell of PR
bullshit in the morning. (She is talking about the tip McPhearson just got on Pritchard
from the travel agent.)
MCPHEARSON: Well I don’t smell it.
SPILLER: Really? Take a deep breath. Dana Pritchard’s 15 seconds are over. She had
them in front of a club when someone with a cell-phone cam caught her husband, rock
star Joey Perez, beating her like a bowl of brownie mix. Good footage, number one
celebrity download for a week. And then America lost interest. Dana’s been linked to
everyone but Osama. She’s an ink-seeker trying to save face and stick it to Perez. Do not
buy it.

25

46
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (11:55).
CONNIE CHRIS’S PUBLICIST: I’m here with a press release and it says that between
nonstop work on her album and national church functions Connie Chris got exhausted.
And she’ll be fully recovered and back to work soon. I wanted to give it to you personally
because it seems that your people are particularly interested.
SPILLER: Really?
PUBLICIST: Yes. Staking out her house, her mother’s house, her grandmother’s house.
SPILLER: Her grandmother’s? Hmm, someone’s showing initiative.
PUBLICIST: Good.
SPILLER: I love press releases. They’re so much fun to translate. Let’s see here,
‘medical attention,’ I’m guessing it’s nose job or abortion, but which? ‘Exhaustion,’ well
that’s tough. Maybe rehab or a psychotic break?
PUBLICIST: Connie Chris is a role model for young people across the country. I will not
have her reputation dragged down by some—
SPILLER: By what Rema? You’re a publicist. You don’t exist without us. Gimme my
first cover. I’ll pay you back. Come on, we’re friends.
PUBLICIST: You don’t know what friendship is, Lucy. (12:53).
SPILLER: I know you’re lying about Connie Chris. I can smell it. Gimme the truth and
I’ll at least give you the chance to put your spin on it.

47
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (13:43).

48
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (05:32).
SPILLER: We’re in a war here. It may be a war of the absurd, but it’s a war just the
same. First it was Blair Marshall, princess of pop without a hit in over a year. Then there
was Logan Hicks, struggling after the breakup of his boy band Straight Up Lovin’. But
when Blair met Logan there was a media frenzy. Blogan. And now, blump. No couple
has ever been so controlling about their pregnancy and their baby pictures. It started eight
months ago with their pregnancy announcement and an unforgettable pap confrontation.
It’s the perfect storm for a cover story. This baby picture is what Walmart mommy wants
and it’s going to be the next cover of Now. I want some kick ass cover lines by lunch.

49
Ibid. (06:56).
SPILLER: Now the other magazines will run a cover pretty much like this one. (Spiller
flashes a cover with a headshot of Klay on the projection screen in her conference room
meeting with Dirt magazine that says We Remember Kira Klay 1978-2007.) But none of
them will run one like this. (Spiller changes the cover to show SHOCKING FUNERAL
PHOTOS.) I have someone on the funeral photos. (Spiller hears her employees gasp in
shock.) What is this too hard-core for you Columbia J-School grads? This isn’t Tiger
Beat.

26

50
Ibid. (39:27).
SPILLER: If Tina Harrod can beat that you should give her the job. (Talking about her
Kira Klay cover.)
BARROW: How does that feel? Being the first tabloid editor to put a dead star on the
cover.
SPILLER: It feels great.

51
Episode 6: “The Sexxx Issue,” Dirt. (35:07).
PATTERSON: You wanna ask my forgiveness for the way you treated me?
SPILLER: I thought I treated you well.
PATTERSON: You climbed over my smoldering corpse to get a promotion.
SPILLER: Aw, don’t be a baby.
PATTERSON: You told me you had feelings for me.
SPILLER: I didn’t say which feelings.

52
Episode 13: “Ita Missa Est,” Dirt. First aired March 27, 2007, FX Networks. ABC
Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Matthew Carnahan. Written by
Matthew Carnahan. (15:56).
SPILLER: Oh please, you’d sell that little newborn for a shot at my desk and we both
know it.
HARROD: Well you know what? If she doesn’t stop crying through the night I may just
take you up on that.

53
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (08:10).
HORNE: Well you’re gonna make ’em for less money. Knock off 20 percent. Lucy, do
not mistake fondness for weakness. I will tolerate a lot of things but I will not tolerate
someone losing my money.
SPILLER: We’ll find a way.
HORNE: No, you’ll find a way. Or so help me I will bury you.

54
Ibid. (42:25).
HORNE: If I do this for you— (He approves Spiller’s idea to merge Dirt and Now.)
SPILLER: You name it, I’ll do anything. I know this will succeed. I know it. I can feel it.
HORNE: Brent Barrow know anything about this?
SPILLER: I came straight to you. Vision is not a part of his job.
HORNE: He won’t be pleased.
SPILLER: I don’t give a shit. I don’t work for him.
HORNE: Then God help you if you’re wrong.
SPILLER: I won’t be.

55
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (04:15).

27

56
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
35.

57
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (25:40).
BARROW: Why do you have guys on Prince Tyreese?
SPILLER: Is he the basketball player? (She plays dumb, even though she and Konkey set
Tyreese up with the hooker.)
SPILLER: Oh come on. We always have people on him. He’s got a squeaky-clean
family-man image and he’s a total slime ball.
BARROW: Did you get anything on him?
SPILLER: No. The son of a bitch loses us every time. (She lies about the photos she has
of him with the hooker.)
(26: 32) BARROW: Let me know if you get anything on Prince Tyreese.
SPILLER: You’re always my first call, Brent. (She lies again; Konkey hands her a manila
envelope of the pictures of Tyreese once Barrow leaves.)

58
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
37.

59
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. First aired January 23,
2007, FX Networks. ABC Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Paris
Barclay. Written by Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin. (03:52).
DOROTHY: We’re getting married, Lucy. Day after tomorrow, right here in the hotel. I
want you and your brother to give me away. You’re gonna need a new dress.
SPILLER: Does Leo know about this?
DOROTHY: Well yes, he’s doing the flowers.
SPILLER: You’re a brave man. (She says this to Paul, Dorothy’s fiancé.)
DOROTHY: You’ve only just met Paul, darling. Do you have to alienate him so soon?

60
Ibid. (19:26).
DOROTHY: Your dad did as he chose that day. Now so am I. (She is talking about how
she is getting married on the anniversary of Spiller’s father’s suicide.)
SPILLER: You act like it’s some kind of retribution. How can you blame him?
DOROTHY: It was a hostile act. He did it at home. There was no note. No explanation.
Why should I honor that day?
SPILLER: Because it’s a pretty significant day to me. (She starts to get emotional, her
eyes water up.)
DOROTHY: Lucy, I took you to that doctor. We talked about it ad infinitum, we’ve read
books, what more could I do?
SPILLER: Well, you could try being a mother for once. Listen, I’m sorry, I’ve got so
much work to do.

28

61
Ibid. (27:31).
LEO: I can’t believe you’d do this to me. (He is looking at the photos Spiller had Konkey
take of him and Dawson.)
SPILLER: I can’t believe you’re banging Jack Dawson, the Republican-family-man-
super-action-macho-homo Jack Dawson.
LEO: If I’d wanted you to know I’d have told you. Jesus Christ, Lucy.
SPILLER: Well it’s not like I’m gonna publish these. You know I wouldn’t do that right?
LEO: You had your own brother followed by the stalkerazzi so don’t act all indignant.
SPILLER: Oh my god. This isn’t serious, is it?
LEO: Yes. I love him and he loves me. Why is that so hard to believe? Two people can
meet and actually fall in love.
SPILLER: Leo, he is a movie star. I have covered this kinda story a thousand times—
LEO: I’m not a story. I’m your goddamn family. Can you be happy for anybody? I meet
a terrific person and you diminish it like it’s some piece of gossip. Mom finally finds
someone she can fall in love again with, after 25 years, and you shit all over that too.
SPILLER: Leo.
LEO: Just don’t with the whole big sister act. I’m embarrassed for us both.

62
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (06:43).
LEO: I didn’t seek him out. He seduced me. I was there to do a job. He played me for a
fool, Lucy. I want to expose his lying, cheating, trainer-blowing ass. (He found out that
Dawson is cheating on him.)
SPILLER: OK, well this just happened so why don’t you give it a little time to digest.
LEO: Digest? Digest what? That a guy tells you that he loves you, that you’re the first
guy he’s ever been with or felt this way about. Then two days later you catch him with
his dick in another guy’s mouth. If you tell me it’s just sex, I’m cool with that. If you tell
me you think you’re falling in love, that you want me to clear my schedule for a month to
be in New Zealand while you shoot your next picture, I’m thinking game on.
SPILLER: Well honey, I understand. But as your sister—
LEO: I don’t want to talk with my sister, OK. I want to talk with the editor of Dirt Now.
Is she in or isn’t she?
SPILLER: You have no idea what you’d be getting yourself into.
LEO: I trust you.
SPILLER: No, no, this has nothing to do with trusting me. You want to out one of the
biggest action stars in the world. I sure as hell would try to protect you but there are no
guarantees. Do you really want to take that risk?
LEO: You bet your ass I do.
SPILLER: Good, cuz this is a great goddamn story.

29

63
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. First aired February 13, 2007, FX Networks. ABC
Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Adam Arkin. Written by Rebecca
Dameron. (24:40).
SPILLER: Jack Dawson’s lawyer is threatening to put you on the stand if we don’t make
a retraction. OK? You know I can’t do that.
LEO: You’d rather drag everyone through a public hearing?
SPILLER: I asked you more than once, ‘are you sure you want to do this Leo?’ You said
to me, ‘You bet your ass.’ That is a direct quote—yes it is! I warned you.
LEO: You warned me? Warning me was bullshit! You should’ve said he has a family and
two kids.
SPILLER: Oh like you didn’t know that.
LEO: God. Are people even real to you?
SPILLER: Yes, you’re real. This is so unfair, Leo. (She says this as Leo walks out of her
house, shaking his head.)

64
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (00:13).
KONKEY: Lucy’s brother Leo got physical with action star Jack Dawson’s wife. Not in
a good way. Leo told Lucy they shouldn’t have done the story on Jack Dawson. Dawson
dropped all the charges, Leo dropped out of sight.

65
Ibid. (22:15).
SPILLER: I saw mom, and she said that you call her every Sunday night. I wanna believe
her because that means that you’re OK. She may just be trying to hurt me though, so can
you please call me and tell me you’re OK? You don’t have to talk to me, you can just tell
me you’re alright. Please? (She leaves Leo another message.)

30

66
Episode 13: “Ita Missa Est,” Dirt. (34:13).
LEO: It was me, Lucy.
SPILLER: OK, don’t arrest him. Just get him away from me. (She is crying.)
LEO: After what happened with Jack Dawson I was so hurt and so angry and I couldn’t
get you to see what you were doing to people, to me, to yourself. I wanted you to feel the
same terror and helplessness as your victims.
SPILLER: My victims? Oh Jesus, Leo.
LEO: I’m sorry, Lucy.
SPILLER: You terrorized the one person who loves you unconditionally because you’re
uncomfortable with her career. Way to go.
LEO: Before I walked out, I was standing on a chair, in my living room with a noose
around my neck. I was ready, Lucy. I was gonna be just like him. No note, no
explanation, no real attachments—so the best I could do was to try to reach out to my
sister to try to put a dent in her perfect little system of justification and denial. I was
trying to reach you because I love you and I can’t just sit by and watch you slip away like
he did. I am sorry, Lucy. Lucy! (He starts to shout as she walks away.)
SPILLER: What?
LEO: I did it for you.

67
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (00:30).
KONKEY: Lucy has serious abandonment issues when it comes to family. Her dad
hanged himself when she was a kid. He left her a note…that was helpful.

68
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (31:25).
Spiller and McLaren have sex in the back of the limo. McLaren brings her to orgasm,
which (as she said in the “Pilot” episode) doesn’t happen unless she uses her vibrator.

69
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (33:25).
SPILLER: I was 15 when he died.
MCLAREN: That’s the first thing you’ve ever told me about yourself. Personal, I mean.
SPILLER: I’ve told you I have never had an orgasm with anyone but you. That’s not
personal enough? Do you trust me?
MCLAREN: I don’t even like you.
SPILLER: I don’t like you either.
MCLAREN: Then we’re safe.

70
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (33:05).
SPILLER: Home sweet home.
MCLAREN: I can’t come in, Julia’s expecting me.
SPILLER: Did I invite you in?
MCLAREN: Oh, I’m sorry…

71
Tom Shales. “FX’s Dirt: A Wickedly Good Wallow in Hollywood.”

31

72
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (32:41).
SPILLER: I do have a lot of work to do. (She says this after having sex with the
anonymous guy she met at the valet stand.)
ANONYMOUS: So essentially I’m a booty call?
SPILLER: Well, yeah. I have like two more hours of work to do tonight.
ANONYMOUS: You’re like a guy, you really are. (He says as Spiller rushes him out of
her door.)

73
Ibid. (16:05).
Spiller is doing work in bed at night again, drinking red wine. She pauses to use a
vibrator.

74
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (00:55).
KONKEY: Lucy’s dad committed suicide when she was 15. Now her relationships with
men aren’t so good.

75
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
37.

76
Ibid.

77
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (47:06).
Spiller is standing alone in her expensive house with no one to share the good news of
her new magazine’s sales with.

78
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (34:22).

79
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. (17:10).
ABBY: You went to college together, he told me. (She says this to Spiller about
Konkey.)

80
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (12:34).
SPILLER: I brought you some food. It’s your favorite soup. (She says this to Konkey.)

81
Episode 13: “Ita Missa Est,” Dirt. (02:52).
SPILLER: OK, so find out. Just find him first. He’s never disappeared for this long
before. If I have to choose between this asshole who’s stalking me and Don, I say find
Don. (She says this to her bodyguard when he suggests that Konkey is her stalker.)

32

82
Ibid. (20:12).
SPILLER: I never tell him what a good friend he is to me. He really is my friend. (She
says this to Leo of Konkey.)

83
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
37.

84
“Then as now, the images of the journalist in popular culture embody the basic notions
of what a hero and villain are.” Ibid. p. 4.

85
Ibid.

86
Ibid.

87
Dixon Wecter. The Hero in America: A Chronicle of Hero-Worship. New York, NY:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1972. p. 482-487.

88
Episode 9: “This Is Not Your Father’s Hostage Situation,” Dirt. (40:57).
SPILLER: Come on Sammy, let me do it. Let me take care of you, come on. (She never
pleads for her life, she pleads for the story.)

89
Episode 13: “Ita Missa Est,” Dirt. (42:38).
MALLORY: You ruined my life.
SPILLER: I’m sorry.
MALLORY: I was thinking about that article you wrote, it was actually pretty good. But
I have some cuts. (She takes a knife and stabs Spiller. They engage in a serious fight.
Spiller stumbles out of her house and collapses on the driveway, holding her stomach
where she was stabbed.)
SPILLER: Don, I need you to get to my house right away. Don’t call 911 until after you
get the pictures. (She manages to call Konkey.)
KONKEY: OK. (He takes out his IVs and leaves the hospital. Konkey gets to Spiller’s
and takes her photos and then holds Spiller, panicking and rocking back and forth.)
KONKEY: It’s OK, Lucy. Help is on its way, you’re going to be OK. I didn’t do this, it
was the forces. I didn’t do this. I didn’t do this. OH MY GOD! (He yells as the scene
fades.)

90
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p. 5.

91
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (05:39).

33

92
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. (22:59).
SPILLER: Every story in this magazine is verified by more than one source.

93
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p. 5.

94
Dixon Wecter. The Hero in America: A Chronicle of Hero-Worship. p.11-12.

95
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p. 5.

96
Ibid.

97
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. (17:55).
SPILLER: I’m gonna chalk that up to young and dumb. Look, play the patron of the arts
if that’s what gets you off, but don’t play with people’s lives.
ABBY: I thought that’s what you did for a living?

98
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (16:26).
ANONYMOUS MALE: No, you don’t look shallow at all. (He is waiting with Spiller for
his car at the valet.)
SPILLER: Well I might be…just a little.

99
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p. 5.

100
Episode 10: “The Sexxx Issue,” Dirt. (03:53).

101
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (10:31).
SPILLER’S BODYGUARD: You think there’s someone who wants to hurt you?
SPILLER: I’m the boss. Everyone wants to hurt me here.

102
Ibid. (29:03).
SPILLER: The only person who’s interested in me seems to want me dead.
LEO: Why do you say that?
SPILLER: I don’t know. Ask my $2,000-a-day security team. It’s weird, though. It’s
surreal. It’s almost like I’m being stalked by a ghost.

103
Episode 10: “The Sexxx Issue,” Dirt. (26:26).
Spiller comes home at night and finds a photo on her bed of her and McLaren having sex.

34

104
Episode 9: “This Is Not Your Father’s Hostage Situation,” Dirt. (01:40).
SPILLER’S BODYGUARD: Now, no offense, but I’ve been to parades with fewer
people than your list of possible suspects.
SPILLER: None taken. If it were smaller I’d be unemployed.

105
Episode 10: “The Sexxx Issue,” Dirt. (03:15).

106
Episode 11: “Pap Smeared,” Dirt. First aired March 13, 2007, FX Networks. ABC
Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Chris Long. Written by Albert Kim.
(04:13).
SPILLER: Don, I want you to carry this. It’s a stun gun, 300,000 volts. OK?
KONKEY: No Lucy, you keep it.
SPILLER: It’s alright. It’s my spare.

107
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (01:02).

108
Episode 13: “Ita Missa Est,” Dirt. (11:40).

109
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p. 5.

110
Ibid.

111
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (36:44).

112
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p. 5.

113
Ibid.

114
Daniel J. Boorstin. The Image or What Happened to the American Dream, New York,
NY: Atheneum, 1962. p. 61-62.

115
Ibid. p. 63.

116
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
35.

117
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (11:05).
SPILLER: I’m not sick I just, I haven’t slept that’s all.

35

118
Ibid. (12:27).
HYPNOTIST: Have you ever used medication?
SPILLER: Benzos, off and on.
HYPNOTIST: Does anyone in your family have a history of insomnia?
SPILLER: I don’t know.
HYPNOTIST: Do you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep?
SPILLER: I sleep alone. I mean both.
HYPNOTIST: Hallucinations? Paranoia?
SPILLER: At night.

119
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (03:11).
Spiller has a nightmare that she wakes up as a red rope tied around her neck tightens,
strangling her.

120
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (42:56).
KONKEY: Want some tea?
SPILLER: No thanks. I just want to sit here for a minute.
KONKEY: You can sleep here.
SPILLER: No, I’m just gonna stay for a minute. (Konkey puts a record of Hawaiian
music on the record player and covers Spiller with his sweater/coat. Spiller lays her head
in his lap and he strokes her head and she finally falls asleep.)

121
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (11:23).
SPILLER: So, not only is she getting married on three-days notice to some stranger, but
she’s doing it on the anniversary of dad’s death. How sick is that?
LEO: To be honest I don’t even know if she remembers.
SPILLER: She remembers the day I got a DUI when I was 20.
LEO: In her defense, Lucy, it was Christmas. Listen, dad’s death was 25 years ago.
There’s a lot of Valium under that bridge. It’s just a day.
SPILLER: No. It will never be just a day to me.

122
Ibid. (30:56).
Spiller keeps her father’s suicide not in the strings of a ukulele wrapped in a Hawaiian
shirt in her closet. She cries as she reads the note and has a flashback of her father
hanging himself in her family’s living room. “Dearest Lucy, I had a dream, which was
not at all a dream…I did this for you. Someday you will understand. Dad.”

36

123
Ibid. (41:55).
SPILLER: This is a very special day for this particular family. Twenty-five years ago my
mother’s first husband, my father, hanged himself in our living room. Ever since then I
have questioned the whole idea of love and commitment. It’s nice to see that my mother
doesn’t share the same doubt. And neither does my brother, apparently. Good for them,
and I mean that. To Mom and Paul, may the truth never infringe upon your happiness.
(This is her toast to her mother’s marriage.)

124
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (41:43).

125
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (16:41).
LEO: And you wonder why you’re alone.
SPILLER: I’m not alone. I have my magazine.
LEO: I just have this image of you in your expensive home with nothing to hold but your
latest issue. Is that really enough? (Spiller doesn’t respond.)

126
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. (04:11).
MCLAREN: This is wrong.
SPILLER: Don’t take me on your guilt trip.
MCLAREN: You’re poison, Lucy.
SPILLER: Excuse me?
MCLAREN: We have to stop.
SPILLER: Then what are you doing standing here?

127
Episode 11: “Pap Smeared,” Dirt. (24:11).
MCLAREN: You know why I’m the only guy that can make you come? Because I’m the
only one that hates you as much as you do.

128
Episode 13: “Ita Missa Est,” Dirt. (28:07).
HARROD: Wow. You really just don’t trust anybody, do you?
SPILLER: Well… (She sarcastically smiles.)
HARROD: I mean you do have to trust somebody, sweetie. This is no way to live. You
don’t deserve to be alone.

129
Episode 11: “Pap Smeared,” Dirt. (22:35).
MCLAREN: What, you have half of the photographers in Hollywood on payroll and you
don’t know who took this? Yeah, that’s bullshit. You’re always laying your traps, aren’t
you? Spinning your little web. (He says this to Spiller when Spiller shows him the photo
her stalker took of the two of them having sex. He thinks Spiller set him up to expose him
or to use it as blackmail.)

37

130
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (29:36).
BARROW: You want my job.
SPILLER: I would kill myself if I had your job. I like to get dirty.

131
Ibid. (01:42).
HARVEY: Damien Fields, less than 20 feet away. You have pictures of him blowing
some guy in Griffith Park. (He points out celebrities at the party that Spiller’s magazine
has written about to remind her of why people might be out to get revenge on her.)
SPILLER: At least we shot his good side.
HARVEY: Kara Valente. Exposé on her and her nanny.
SPILLER: Manny.
HARVEY: And, that time-lapsed series on the hooker parade on and off my yacht. That
was very clever, and very funny. I didn’t even make the cover.
SPILLER: You’re hardly Spielberg, Harvey.
HARVEY: Certainly not anymore after becoming a punch line in one of your magazines.
You know that divorce cost me two out of my three houses? In Hollywood that’s
practically homeless.

132
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (17:32).
SPILLER: What’s eating you? I’m only lookin’ out for you here.
MCLAREN: “You’re only lookin’ out for me? Kira Klay is dead because of what I told
you and what you published. Julia’s back is screwed up and she’s in constant pain. So
don’t tell me you’re lookin’ out for me.
SPILLER: Kira Klay was a drug addict who got pregnant, freaked out and OD’d. Your
girlfriend’s in constant pain because you flipped your car at 90 miles an hour. All I’ve
done is make you look great.

133
Loren Ghiglione and Joe Saltzman, “Fact or Fiction: Hollywood Looks at the News.”
(Resources, Recommended Books, Articles and Web sites, Films, IJPC.org.) Los
Angeles, CA: The University of Southern California, 2003. p. 22.

134
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (45:57).
SPILLER: Where is it? (She points to the empty section of the newsstand looking for the
first issue of Dirt Now.)
FRANKIE: Where’s what? (He is the newsstand operator.)
SPILLER: Don’t mess with me, Frankie. This is a P&W Newsstand. We pay for tier-one
placement. Where the hell is Dirt Now?
FRANKIE: I dunno. Maybe the placement’s too good. They sold out.

38

Chapter 3: Don Konkey, the Paparazzo

Patience, persistence, and point of view
135
are how Don Konkey
136
became the
best in the business and Spiller’s go-to paparazzo
137
for Dirt Now’s most exclusive cover
photographs. Technically, Konkey is freelance,
138
“but outside of the occasional Cat
Fancier magazine photo [he’s] exclusive to Dirt Now.”
139
A typical celebrity paparazzo
seeks out shocking and titillating photographs
140
and “shoot[s] pictures of indescribable
horror and barely escape[s] death to bring back”
141
those photos to be published.
Although on the surface Konkey does just that, he is not the typical Hollywood
paparazzo.
Konkey is a functional schizophrenic.
142
He has difficulty distinguishing his
delusions from reality. For example, he thinks he is in a relationship with superstar Kira
Klay (Shannyn Sossamon) who dies from overdosing on cocaine.
143
He knows she is
dead,
144
but still thinks he can have sex with her.
145
He experiences another delusion
where Klay gives birth to a litter of kittens.
146
He keeps one of the kittens, that he calls
Tristen after his previous cat Tristen who recently died from cancer.
147
Konkey does not
like to take his medication because when he does, he does not have the schizophrenic
episodes
148
that make him think he has a girlfriend and talking cat.
149
Spiller is Konkey’s
only real friend.
150
Likewise, Konkey is the only person Spiller has a genuine friendship
with from Dirt Now.
151
She treats him with respect and kindness and never takes
advantage of him.
152
Despite his illness, Spiller thinks he is a genius at what he does.
153

39
She also believes his work for Dirt Now actually helps his disease by giving him
something to focus on.
154

Konkey separates himself from the menacing pack of paparazzi that “poke their
cameras into people’s faces, yell out questions, [and] recklessly pursue popular actors.”
155

He tells a young photographer that most paparazzi will take any picture just to get any
shot. They do not think, he says, “they just, you know, they got no patience. They just
rush in. We’re not knowin’ what it is they wanna get. I mean, they get a shot, but they
don’t get a story. Stories are better.”
156
It is the “continual bombardment of obnoxious
reporters chasing popular actors [that] contributes to the public’s rejection of the reporter
as hero as someone necessary to society.”
157
Because Konkey does not associate himself
with these types of photographers, it is difficult to see him entirely as a villain.
Konkey actually performs investigative journalism through his photography. His
photos typically solve crimes and complex stories and give Spiller the proof she needs to
publish certain cover stories. Investigative reporters in film and television often “end up
beaten—but never broken. They are always threatened and show great courage in putting
their lives on the line to get the story.”
158
Konkey, though not technically an investigative
journalist, is physically attacked a number of times.
159
His house gets ransacked.
160
A
group of Hispanic photographers take a metal bat to his car and slit his tires.
161
Through
all the abuse, he is always more worried about his camera equipment and saving his film
than he is about himself.
162
He carries empty rolls of film in case anyone ever demands
he hand over his material.
163
No matter how badly he is beaten up he never tells his
abusers that he works for Spiller because he wants to keep her safe.
164
Additionally, he

40
does not like Spiller to know when people push him around because he does not want her
to worry about him.
165
These examples are reflective of Konkey’s primary values. He
puts his job and what Spiller wants before his personal health or safety—even if that
means hurting himself. When he has trouble getting access to a celebrity in a hospital
room he cuts off his finger so that he will have to have surgery—and, therefore, access to
the celebrity he needs a photo of.
166
His dedication to Spiller, because he knows how
much she cares about getting the story, is absolute. However, he too comes across as an
obsessive manic who has an unhealthy relationship with his job.
Konkey relies on hidden cameras and surveillance
167
to get most of his cover
shots.
168
Sometimes he hides out for hours, as when he is trying to get photographs of
basketball star Prince Tyreese (Rick Fox) having sex with a prostitute. He buries himself
in the ground and covers his body with a dirt-colored blanket, leaving only his telephoto
lens exposed.
169
He uses small lapel cameras
170
and cameras that slip onto his finger like
a ring
171
when he needs to be discrete in public. He even goes through celebrities’
garbage if he thinks that will give him a lead
172
on a photo opportunity. Konkey is able to
avoid interacting with sources for most of his assignments but sometimes Spiller needs
him to lie about who he is or whom he works for
173
in order to get a shot.
174
When Spiller
tells him she needs a picture of Christian pop-star sensation Connie Chris’s (Kate Linae)
medical charts, Konkey pretends to be a flower deliveryman to try to get access to her
hospital room.
175
When his first attempt fails he steals a doctor’s jacket.
176
He does not
ever back down from a challenging situation, but his notion of right and wrong disappear
in the face of the higher value: getting the story.

41
The First Amendment protects freedom of speech and freedom of the press. It
invites criticism of government and protects opinion. What it does not protect is invasion
of privacy
177
and trespassing to get a photograph. According to Harold Fuson, a director
for the Newspaper Association of America, “trespass is a strict liability tort; if you are on
the property of another without permission or excuse, even if by accident or mistake, you
are liable.”
178
An illegal intrusion may be accomplished without physical entry onto
private property. Also, conduct that invades privacy may also violate criminal law.
179

Konkey runs into this problem when Spiller’s brother Leo helps Konkey sneak onto
action star Dawson’s private property, enabling him to take a photograph that will expose
the celebrity as a homosexual.
180
Caught taking the photos and beaten up, Konkey is
arrested and bailed out by Spiller. Even though the men take Konkey’s camera from him,
Konkey manages to swallow the film. Spiller takes him to the hospital to recover the
photos.
181
Although Konkey breaks the law to get the shot, he does not get away with it
entirely, showing consequences to unlawful journalism. But Dirt Now still runs the story.
While Konkey is reprimanded for his unlawful actions and viewers are able to see what
the paparazzi are not allowed to get away with, he breaches major ethical standards in the
name of getting the story.
Legally, there is a fine line between what photographers like Konkey can and
cannot do. According to the Society of Professional Journalists’ code of ethics, in order to
minimize harm journalists must “recognize that private people have a greater right to
control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power,
influence, or attention.
182
Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into

42
anyone’s privacy.”
183
During the time Konkey took the photographs of Dawson, Dawson
was at his private home—not in public. Even though Dawson is a public figure, he should
have a reasonable expectation of privacy in his own home. If Dawson were to press
charges, he would have to prove that he had a reasonable expectation of privacy
184
when
the photos were taken of him in order to win his case. Konkey’s photos themselves are
not ever a threat to Dirt Now legally because a photograph by itself will rarely place a
subject in a false light.
185
Konkey knows he is breaking the law, which is why he takes
such precaution to be discreet. But he cares more about getting the story than he does
about obeying the laws of the land.
Konkey has a protégé for one episode, Marqui Jackson (Lukas Haas). Jackson
approaches Konkey and asks if he can follow him around to learn a few things about
photography.
186
Jackson does not understand how to be patient to get the shot that tells
the story. This gets him into trouble when he leaves Konkey’s side. The group of
Hispanics who previously beat up Konkey and wrecked his car brutally attack Jackson.
Konkey hears the fight but does not go to help Jackson until he gets the shot Spiller
wants.
187
Like Spiller, Konkey’s first priority is to get the story, always.
Sometimes Konkey gets upset with the kind of work he does. When he comes
home one night to find his first cat, the original Tristen, dead on the floor he cries to
Spiller and tells her, “We killed him. All the stuff we did, all the bad things.”
188
Konkey
is the most sensitive character in the series. When Spiller tells Konkey that someone has
been following her and taking her picture Konkey tells her, “They’re doing what we
do.”
189
He understands that people in the tabloid business are often selfish and he tells

43
Jackson, “No one will remember them, who you were fighting with, what drugs they
were taking, who they were screwing. Cuz tomorrow there will be another story. Nobody
stays. Nothing stays. Just this.”
190
He sees legitimacy in photography—a story without
words.
In film and television, “newspapermen and women are incredibly loyal to their
publications and, most of all, to their colleagues.”
191
Konkey is the most loyal character
in Dirt. His greatest loyalty is to Spiller. Because her greatest loyalty is to Dirt Now,
Konkey’s loyalty to Spiller translates to his devotion for the publication and the story.
Most photographers represented in film and television would “lie, cheat, deceive a friend,
take advantage of a loved one,”
192
to get an exclusive picture for a cover story. This is not
entirely true of Konkey’s character. Konkey would never purposely deceive or take
advantage of Spiller. He would never put anyone or anything before her either.
193
When
former child star Winter takes Dirt Now hostage Konkey puts himself between Spiller
and Winter’s gun numerous times.
194

Usually Konkey’s schizophrenic episodes involve harmless delusions. However,
in the season finale, Konkey is being told through his schizophrenic hallucinations that he
has to kill Spiller.
195
When he imagines himself slitting Spiller’s throat he freaks out and
drives into the desert.
196
He would rather wander in the desert alone, where he knows he
will likely die, than potentially harm his best friend.
197
When he cannot take his delusions
anymore he takes a knife to his throat, ready to end his own life in order to save
Spiller’s.
198
A helicopter finds Konkey in the desert before he kills himself. When Spiller
comes to see Konkey in the hospital he cries because he is so happy he did not hurt

44
her.
199
He realizes he cannot completely trust himself when he is off his medication.
When Mallory stabs Spiller and Spiller calls Konkey to come over and get the photos—
before he calls the police—he cries and rocks back and forth screaming, “I didn’t do this,
it was the forces, I didn’t do this. I didn’t do this. OH MY GOD!”
200
It is clear how
unstable Konkey’s character is, but also how much he cares about Spiller.
At times it seems as though Konkey and Spiller are a two-man team, the only two
on staff who provide Dirt Now with exclusive material.
201
It also seems the only reason
Konkey even takes photographs is because Spiller asks him to. He truly believes Spiller
is a good person.
202
He does not want to let her down
203
when he knows she is relying on
him for the cover story.
204
Konkey is the only character who knows Spiller on an
emotional level.
205
He knows she is not as tough as she seems to be to the other
employees. He is honest and open with her. Konkey tells her his deepest secrets, such as
that he was molested by his stepmother when he was 14 years old.
206
He is very
observant of Spiller’s behavior
207
and knows her better than anyone else on the series.
The two have a very special friendship.
Konkey’s character is smart and likable. He provides viewers with an image of
the paparazzi they have not likely seen before. An unlikely photographic genius, he is
always one step ahead of the sweaty herd of typical Hollywood photographers. He knows
only one shot will tell the story Spiller wants to tell and he does not stop until he has it.
Although Konkey always seems to get the shot he needs, it does not come easy and he
does not believe in luck. Often the only reward he gets for his job is pleasing Spiller and
seeing her magazine sell well. He does not appear to have a lot of money or care about

45
anything material. He is one of the characters who makes tabloid journalists seem human,
not just muckraking scandalmongers. Even though he knows as a paparazzo, “you never
get time to sleep. You’re always getting arrested. People spit on you. And there’s always
someone new trying to steal your job,”
208
he never complains and never gives up.
However, he does terrible things—perhaps even more horrible than things real-life
paparazzi do. He looks the other way when a friend is getting beat up for something he
did and he sits in trees with telephoto lenses. He misrepresents himself, he lies, he abuses
privacy, he breaks the law, and he continually puts himself in danger. Konkey and Spiller
both serve at the altar of a higher god, the story. The two identify with each other in that
they have the same values when it comes to journalism: do whatever it takes to get the
story, even if that means lying or cheating, suffering or dying.

46

Chapter 3 Endnotes

135
Episode 11: “Pap Smeared,” Dirt. (25:33).
KONKEY: Patience, persistence, point of view. Like the three R’s, but they’re P’s. (He
says when Jackson asks him how long he plans to wait to get the shot.)

136
According to the FX Network Web site, “Ian Hart plays Lucy’s best friend ‘Don
Konkey,’ a schizophrenic paparazzo who has no boundaries in capturing shots of caught-
off-guard celebrities. Don struggles to find a balance between his personal life, his career,
and the disease that wreaked havoc on him. A Liverpoolian actor who shot to fame with
two memorable turns as John Lennon in the early 1990’s, Ian Hart has gone on to build
an impressive career. Ian’s portrayals of the iconic Beatle in the black-and-white short
The Hours and Times and the music-infused drama Backbeat were roundly acclaimed.
After several years on stage, Ian made his feature film debut in 1986 with a small role in
the Liverpool-set feature No Surrender. In 1995, he garnered a Best Supporting Actor
honor at the Venice Film Festival for his work in Nothing Personal. Later that year, Ian
starred in the comedy The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain
and in the independent films Loved Up and Clockwork Mice. Ian most recently wrapped
production on Morris: A Life with Bells On, due out later this year. His other film credits
include Hollow Reed, Michael Collins, The Butcher Boy, Frogs for Snakes, Robinson
Crusoe and the blockbuster hit Enemy of the State starring Will Smith and Gene
Hackman. Later, Ian appeared in Liam, for which he received a British Academy of Film
and Television Arts (BAFTA) nomination; The Homecoming, for which he won The Irish
Times Best Actor Award; Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone; Finding Neverland,
and Blind Flight, for which he received a Best Actor Award from the Tribeca Film
Festival. On the small screen, Ian was featured in the miniseries Longitude, which aired
on A&E in 2000. He also starred in the British drama Aberdeen, winning a Best Actor
award the Czechoslovakia Film Festival; the American comedy Spring Forward (which
debuted at Sundance in 2000) and then took on a supporting role in Best.”

137
The word paparazzo dates back to 1959
137
and is defined as a scandal seeking
“freelance photographer who aggressively pursues celebrities for the purpose of taking
candid photographs.” “Paparazzo,” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary),
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paparazzo (accessed March 2008).

138
Freelance “is a person who acts independently without being affiliated with or
authorized by an organization.” “Freelance,” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary),
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/freelance (accessed March 2008).

139
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (00:04).

47

140
“Paparazzo,” (MSN Online Dictionary)
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/paparazzo.html (accessed March 2008).

141
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
38.

142
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (01:02).
KONKEY: This is hard for me because I have a tenuous grasp on what’s real. I’m a
functional schizophrenic. Lucy helps me, and I help her.

143
Ibid. (46:30).
Konkey is in bed. The dead Klay is lying in bed with him. Klay calls him “sweetheart” as
she snuggles up to him.

144
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (00:27).
KONKEY: This is Holt McLaren. He’s a good actor. He doesn’t like me. But, he gave
Lucy dirt on how Kira Klay was gonna have a baby. She OD’d. Then she died. Now she
lives with me. (He talks about how his schizophrenia makes him think Klay is living with
him.)

145
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (01:36).
Konkey is so delusional that he actually thinks he is having sex with the dead Klay.

146
Ibid. (32:55).
Klay gives birth to a litter of kittens.

147
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (31:32).
KONKEY’S KITTEN: Dad, I think it’s time. (He has hallucinations where his kitten
talks to him.)

48

148
“Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling brain disease. Approximately 1
percent of the population develops schizophrenia during their lifetime – more than 2
million Americans suffer from the illness in a given year. Although schizophrenia affects
men and women with equal frequency, the disorder often appears earlier in men, usually
in the late teens or early twenties, than in women, who are generally affected in the
twenties to early thirties. People with schizophrenia often suffer terrifying symptoms
such as hearing internal voices not heard by others, or believing that other people are
reading their minds, controlling their thoughts, or plotting to harm them. These symptoms
may leave them fearful and withdrawn. Their speech and behavior can be so disorganized
that they may be incomprehensible or frightening to others. Available treatments can
relieve many symptoms, but most people with schizophrenia continue to suffer some
symptoms throughout their lives; it has been estimated that no more than one in five
individuals recovers completely,” “Schizophrenia,” (Schizophrenia.com),
http://www.schizophrenia.com/family/sz.overview.htm (accessed March 2008).

149
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (36:45).
KLAY: It’s time for me to go, Don.
KONKEY: No, I’m gonna make you French toast.
KLAY: It’s time for you to go back on your meds.
KONKEY: I don’t want to go back on my meds. They make me feel bad.
KLAY: You have to.
KONKEY: I don’t want to, I love you. I don’t want to be alone again.
KLAY: You wont be. (She hands him a little white kitten, like Tristen.)
KONKEY: Tristen?
KLAY: No, it’s his son. You’re all he has. (Konkey cries and kisses her as he hugs her
goodbye.)

150
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (00:11).
KONKEY: I work for my best friend, Lucy Spiller.

151
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. (17:10).
ABBY: So, you’re Don’s boss?
SPILLER: Friend.
ABBY: You went to college together, he told me.

152
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (38:48).
SPILLER: You’re a great photographer, Don. You don’t owe me anything.

49

153
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (40:40).
SPILLER: Oh my god, Don. These are fantastic. (She’s talking about Konkey’s pictures
of Chris.)
KONKEY: Thank you.
SPILLER: Tell me she told you what drugs she was using when she set herself on fire?
KONKEY: Heroine and epinephrine and said it felt like touching God.
SPILLER: She actually said that?
KONKEY: Uh huh.
SPILLER: I think I just came a little. Oh my god, Don, you’re a genius. That’s it, that’s
the cover: Connie Crisp. (She picks out a close up of Chris’s face.)

154
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (13:15).
KONKEY: I’m fine. It’s just, you know, it’s up and down like always. I just need to
work, you know, for focus. It’ll help.
SPILLER: OK, why don’t you come in on Wednesday and I’ll have something for you.

155
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
33.

156
Episode 11: “Pap Smeared,” Dirt. (18:07).
JACKSON: At the store, why didn’t you shoot Lulu and Tuesday? (He says this to
Konkey as they go through tracking numbers on packaged documents looking for
something from the celebutante’s realtor.)
KONKEY: That’s not the story.
JACKSON: Yeah, but wouldn’t you want to just get the shot?
KONKEY: They just shoot, they don’t think. You know, there used to be rules. Like,
don’t become part of the story. But they just, you know, they got no patience. They just
rush in. We’re not knowin’ what it is they wanna get. I mean, they get a shot, but they
don’t get a story. Stories are better.

157
Loren Ghiglione and Joe Saltzman. “Fact or Fiction: Hollywood Looks at the News,”
p. 24.

158
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
36.

159
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (44:30).
Konkey gets hit on the head in a parking garage.
ANONYMOUS: Paparazzi piece of shit. (He says this as he kicks Konkey while he’s
down.)

50

160
Episode 11: “Pap Smeared,” Dirt. (19:13).
Konkey comes home at night to find his house has been ransacked.

161
Ibid. (10:47).
ROMERO: Muchachos, muchachos. A mountain will come to Mr. Konkey. Sorry my
shooters roughed you up. Ozzie Romero. (As he hands Konkey a business card.)
ROMERO: You know, we’re a new agency, need to make a splash. We own this story,
now you need to find another one. Now if you want to stick with this job? You’re
workin’ for me. Get whatever he shot. (As he orders one of the Hispanics with him to get
Konkey’s film. They don’t punch him, but they physically provoke him so that he hands
over his film.)
KONKEY: I got a job.
ROMERO: Let me know if you change your mind. I’ll even throw in a bonus to cover the
damages to your car. (As a Hispanic man takes a metal bat to Konkey’s car and slits his
tires.)

162
Ibid. (02:49).
Konkey is on top of a dumpster, snapping photos of Tuesday and Lulu when a group of
Hispanic men beat him badly and take his camera. Konkey is more worried about his
camera than himself.

163
Ibid. (18:52).
KONKEY: Empty rolls. Always carry empty rolls. Then you’ve got something to give
the security guards when they pull you over.

164
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (35:22).
(Tyreese busts into Konkey’s house and pushes him over.)
TYREESE: You set me up with that skank.
KONKEY: Those pictures, those were great. You were in the hot tub and the Chaise
lounge and the whipped cream and the strap-on right in your butt! (As Tyreese shoves
him again.)
TYREESE: You want to talk like that anymore? Say that shit again and see what
happens! Who you working with?
KONKEY: I’m a small businessman.
TYREESE: Who hired you for those pictures?
KONKEY: Nobody, just me.
TYREESE: You lying nut bag. (As he continues to throw Konkey around.)
TYREESE: This ain’t over. (As he leaves.)

51

165
Episode 11: “Pap Smeared,” Dirt. (04:13).
KONKEY: Ow! (As Spiller pats him on his left shoulder.)
SPILLER: Ow what?
KONKEY: Uh, I fell over. (He lies about getting beat up.)
SPILLER: You fell over?
KONKEY: No, well, it was a couple of guys—it’s not a great neighborhood.
SPILLER: You got mugged?
KONKEY: I’m OK, but they took my camera.

166
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (38:50).
KONKEY: Good thing we’re at the hospital, huh? I’m gonna need some surgery. (After
he goes to the loading dock at the back of the hospital with a cup of ice and proceeds to
cut his left pinky finger off on the back of a delivery truck. He puts the finger on ice and
says this to two deliverymen who are staring at him in disbelief because he just cut his
finger off so he could get into the hospital for a photograph Spiller wants.)

167
Episode 11: “Pap Smeared,” Dirt. (15:12).
KONKEY: Tuesday’s voicemail. It’s an audit system. I can hack in through the admin
box, use a default code. (He says this to Jackson as he dials Tuesday’s voicemail on a
speakerphone system in the Dirt Now conference room.)

168
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (32:51).
Konkey hides out in a tree above Klay’s backyard. He uses a blanket to conceal himself
but keeps the telephoto lens exposed. He is recording the conversation between Klay and
her unborn baby’s father on an audio tool using headphones and a speaker. Konkey’s
photo becomes the next cover with the headline: EXCLUSIVE! SHE’S HAVING HIS
BABY!

169
Ibid. (06:43).
Konkey digs a hole in the ground so he can climb in. He has half of his body submerged.
He covers himself with a dirt-colored blanket and leaves the lens of his telephoto camera
exposed. The housekeeper let him in and he gave Stormy (the prostitute Spiller and he set
up to entice Tyreese (18:23)) half the money upfront. Hours later, when it’s dark, Konkey
gets photos of Tyreese doing cocaine and having sex with a hooker in his hot tub using a
strap-on. Tyreese is married with children.

170
Ibid. (09:36).
Konkey uses a large camera with a telephoto lens and also has a mini video recorder
attached to his lapel.

171
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (23:55).
Konkey slips a tiny camera shaped like a ring onto his middle finger to snap pictures of
Dana Pritchard at the lesbian strip club. The photos will out her.

52

172
Ibid. (15:25).
MCPHEARSON: You know we’re not getting squat.
KONKEY: Follow her home and wait ’til it gets dark.
MCPHEARSON: And do what?
KONKEY: Go through her garbage.

173
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (13:27).
SPILLER: This is important. I need you to take a picture today. It’s for the cover. You
OK?
KONKEY: Yeah. Real good.
SPILLER: Good, because this is sensitive. Andre G, the singer, he was murdered. I need
you to go to the Cabrio Wine Vault in Sun Valley and check out Twitty McDaniel’s
collection. You’re looking for Andre G’s head. Don, the manager thinks you’re a
photographer from Wine Spectator magazine.

174
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (01:49).
SPILLER: I need a shot of Kira Klay for the Dirt cover.
KONKEY: She’s dead.
SPILLER: I know, Don. I need you inside the funeral. I’m going to put you in a suit. A
nice suit. You’re gonna blend in in the suit. Now, we have a guy on the inside. He’s got a
shaved head and a pinstriped suit. His name is Baby. You hand him your invite, OK. Tell
him you’re Kira’s cousin, Dan. (As she is talking to Konkey the scene flashes forward to
Konkey putting on the suit with all his secret photography equipment, going to the
funeral, passing a slip of paper to Baby in their handshake at the door, and photographing
the celebrities at the funeral with a number of hidden cameras).

175
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (20:04).
KONKEY: Delivery, 8
th
floor. (As he brings a small vase filled with yellow flowers to
the reception desk at the private hospital.)
RECEPTIONIST: Deliveries go to the loading dock out back.
KONKEY: I always take ’em up to the room, least to the nurse’s station.
RECEPTIONIST: New policy. Loading dock. Our guys will get ’em to the room on time.
KONKEY: My boss is kinda particular.
RECEPTIONIST: Well so is mine. You are not getting upstairs. We got a big celebrity
up there and you’d be surprised what the press would do to sneak in.
KONKEY: Well that sucks.
RECEPTIONIST: Makes it bad for everybody doesn’t it?

176
Ibid. (24:44).
Konkey is in a white doctor’s coat carrying a tray of test tubes. He has on glasses and is
wearing fake, pointed ears.

53

177
Privacy isn’t mentioned in the U.S. Constitution or Bill of Rights because it wasn’t an
issue at the time they were drafted. However, it became an issue at the end of the 19
th

century and has been an increasing one ever since. There are four areas, or torts, of
privacy law: appropriation of name or likeness for trade purposes, right of publicity, use
of name or likeness, and intrusion upon an individual’s solitude. The tort that most
applies to what Konkey does is intrusion upon an individual’s solitude. Here the act of
gathering the news constitutes the intrusion, not the publishing. Clay Calvert and Don R.
Pember. Mass Media Law. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2007. p. 275-342.

178
Harold W. Fuson, Jr. Telling it All: A Legal Guide to the Exercise of Free Speech.
Kansas City, MO: Andrews and McMeel, 1995. P. 51.

179
Clay Calvert and Don R. Pember. Mass Media Law, p. 275-342.

180
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (11:50).
Konkey uses the gate code Leo purposely dropped on the ground that would enable him
to get onto Dawson’s private property. He climbs up to the balcony so he can get a better
shot of Leo and Dawson. He gets photos of them kissing in their bathing suits, but then
Konkey gets caught by two anonymous males at Dawson’s who chase him out and punch
him, kick him, and steal his camera.

181
Ibid. (22:17).
SPILLER: Do you have the film? (When she goes to bail Konkey out of jail and to
hopefully recover the photographs of Dawson and Leo from him.)
KONKEY: I think so.
SPILLER: Do you need to go to the bathroom to get it?
KONKEY: No. It’s not there.
SPILLER: Where then?
SPILLER: What’s the quickest and safest way to remove it from his stomach? (As she
looks at an X-ray of Konkey’s stomach (the scene switches from the jail to the hospital,
Konkey obviously swallowed the film.))
DOCTOR: Well we can send a tube down his throat, and then reach in and grab it with a
claw. Or we can do it microscopically. It’s a little more involved. We’d make an
incision—
SPILLER: What do you think, Don?
KONKEY: Claw.
SPILLER: Me too.
SPILLER: Will it damage the canister?
DOCTOR: No. Stomach acid, on the other hand, can break down just about anything
given enough time. How the hell did you swallow a film canister?
KONKEY: Can I be home by 6:00?

54

182
Courts struggle to find common ground on determining who qualifies as a public
figure, a public official, an all-purpose public figure, a voluntary public figure, etc.
Hugely important is the fact that public officials have access to communication. They
have access to the media and the resources to be heard. Public officials and public figures
have the opportunity to use the marketplace of ideas to counter allegations—they do not
always need a courtroom. The Supreme Court was torn in the challenging case of Time v.
Hill (1967) as it attempted to apply the New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964) rule to
extremely different circumstances. It was only a few months later that the Supreme Court
held that “the rule laid down in Times v. Sullivan applied in libel cases to plaintiffs other
than officials like Commissioner Sullivan,” (Lewis, 189) referencing Curtis Publishing
Co. v. Butts (1967), which made the character of the plaintiff critical in a libel case.
Specifically, the Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. (1974) case established a standard for
defamation concerning private persons under the First Amendment through the ruling of
public persons established by Sullivan. Clearly, the struggle with public officials and
private persons is a complicated one. Clay Calvert and Don R. Pember. Mass Media Law,
p. 197-218.

183
Society of Professional Journalists: Code of Ethics, http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp.
(Accessed February 2008).

184
Clay Calvert and Don R. Pember, Mass Media Law, p. 300-308.

185
Ibid. p. 334-342.

186
Episode 11: “Pap Smeared,” Dirt. (09:51).
JACKSON: Mr. Konkey? Mr. Konkey? I found this out there in front of the store. Is it
yours? (He holds up a camera lens cap.)
KONKEY: No.
JACKSON: My name’s Marqui. How come you don’t shoot digital?
KONKEY: It’s not my lens cap.
JACKSON: Yeah, I know. You get lots of covers. I’ve heard of you. I was just thinking,
do you ever, do you need somebody to carry your stuff?
KONKEY: No. (He gets uncomfortable and gathers his stuff and starts to walk away.)
JACKSON: I don’t want anything—any money or anything—I just wanna learn.

55

187
Ibid. (38:10).
(One of Romero’s Hispanics finds Jackson going back to get the scanner out of the car,
and three of the Hispanics beat him with the metal bat because he won’t tell them where
Konkey is. Konkey hears the fight but sees the Tuesday’s car pull up. Instead of going to
help Jackson, he stays to get the shot. The Hispanics beat Jackson almost to death. They
attach car cables to him and electrocute him. Once Konkey has the shot, he runs back to
Marqui.)
KONKEY: I need an ambulance.
KONKEY: Lucy called me, the ambulance is coming and they’re gonna fix you up, OK.
So you’re gonna be OK, so don’t move, you can’t move… (As Spiller calls him, Konkey
says this to Jackson’s practically lifeless body.)
KONKEY: I gotta go, I gotta go. (Spiller calls him again and he runs out of the garage.)

188
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (51:50).
(Konkey comes to Spiller’s house at night with his dead cat, Tristen, who died earlier
from cancer.)
KONKEY: We killed him. All the stuff we did. All the bad things.
SPILLER: No, Don. No. Tristen had cancer. Remember? We didn’t kill him.
KONKEY: We did. We did. (Spiller cries and hugs Konkey.)

189
Episode 10: “The Sexxx Issue,” Dirt. (28:52).
SPILLER: Someone is trying to do something to scare me. (She is explaining to Konkey
how someone has been following her and taking her picture.)
KONKEY: They’re doing what we do.

190
Episode 11: “Pap Smeared,” Dirt. (44:38).

191
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
37.

192
Ibid. p. 38.

193
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (38:01).
KONKEY: I promised Lucy I’d get this shot. (To the dead Klay.)
KLAY: Damn Lucy. It always comes down to what Lucy wants. You know, you’re just
gonna have to make a choice between Lucy and I.
KONKEY: No, don’t make me do that.

56

194
Episode 9: “This Is Not Your Father’s Hostage Situation,” Dirt. (12:08).
WINTER: Hey, Lucy. (As he hits Spiller on the forehead with his gun. Spiller falls to the
floor. Konkey screams and gets in Winter’s face to stick up for Spiller.)
WINTER: Get down you stupid-looking bastard. Back off, back off! Get down, get
down! (To Konkey. Konkey doesn’t back down. He just screams again.)

195
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (43:02).
MCLAREN: Don, you know you have to kill Lucy. You have to kill her to save her.
(Konkey thinks he is seeing McLaren standing in his home. It is really one of his
schizophrenic hallucinations.)

196
Episode 13: “Ita Missa Est,” Dirt. (12:35).
KONKEY: They want me to kill my best friend but I won’t do it. (Konkey comes into
Spiller’s office late at night and cuts her throat with a knife. He holds her and rocks back
and forth. There is blood everywhere. The scene flashes to the desert, where Konkey has
driven to get away. Cutting Spiller’s throat was a hallucination. He knows that he didn’t
really cut Spiller’s throat, but it completely freaks him out and he says that he won’t ever
really do it.)

197
Ibid. (14:25).
KLAY: Don, you’re gonna die out there if you don’t go back and kill her. (She comes
back as a hallucination in the desert.)
KONKEY: I know. (He walks away from her, and farther into the desert.)

198
Ibid. (21:40).
KONKEY: It’s the only way. I can’t kill Lucy. (He takes the knife to his throat and falls
to the ground just as the helicopter finds him.)

199
Ibid. (25:25).
(Konkey cries when he sees Spiller in his hospital room. He is so happy he didn’t kill
her.)
KONKEY: I’m gonna sign over my medical power of attorney to you.
SPILLER: Why don’t we talk about that when you’re feeling better.
KONKEY: I can’t trust myself when I’m really, really sick. And I trust you. Promise me
you’ll do whatever you have to do even if that means putting me somewhere?
SPILLER: Don, no one is ever gonna put you anywhere.
KONKEY: Just promise me.
SPILLER: OK. I promise you.
KONKEY: Thank you, Lucy.

57

200
Ibid. (45:00).
Konkey takes the photos and then holds Spiller, panicking.
KONKEY: It’s OK, Lucy, help is on its way, you’re going to be OK. I didn’t do this, it
was the forces. I didn’t do this. I didn’t do this. OH MY GOD!

201
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (11:38).
SPILLER: This is just like when we were in school, on the paper, remember? We were
the only ones who could write and shoot. It’s just like that. It’s just the two of us. And we
can’t fail.
KONKEY: I won’t fail, Lucy. I won’t.

202
Ibid. (19:21).
KONKEY: I’m really sorry but I have to take your picture now. Lucy needs it. She has to
compete in a very tough market. She’s a good person. She just has to compete. And I
gotta help her because I’m the only one she has, and I can’t fail. (As he snaps photos of
Klay at the crematory.)

203
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (15:22).
SPILLER: This is Connie Chris, Christian pop star. She dropped off radar last week.
Reliable sources say she’s at St. Alma’s Private Hospital in Northridge. They happen to
have a big drug treatment program there. I need cover-quality pictures, plus her chart.
KONKEY: Mmk. (As he scribbles Spiller’s orders on the palm of his left hand.)
SPILLER: If this first issue doesn’t hit, it’s over for both of us.
SPILLER: Tell everyone I’ll be back in two hours. I want to see cover tries. (She orders
Kenny.)
SPILLER: They’ll all suck. Don’t let me down. (She lowers her voice to Konkey.)
KONKEY: I won’t.
SPILLER: I know you won’t. (She kisses Konkey on the cheek.)

204
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (04:45).
(Konkey approaches Kira Klay’s open casket.)
SPILLER: Just get the shot of Kira. I know you can do it. I know you can. (Konkey
imagines Spiller in his head saying this as he looks at the dead Klay. He takes out a
chapstick camera and snaps photos of the actress in her casket.)

205
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (24:22).
KONKEY: She looks sweet, sad. (He is talking about the photo of the murdered
cheerleader from Walnut Valley.)
SPILLER: Why? She’s smiling.
KONKEY: Sad smile. She reminds me of you when you were younger.

58

206
Episode 10: “The Sexxx Issue,” Dirt. (14:32).
KONKEY: Do you remember Lynette?
SPILLER: Your stepmother. I’ve met her.
KONKEY: She was closer to my age than to my dad’s. She was an actress. I think I made
her feel younger. (He’s telling Lucy how his stepmother molested him.)
KONKEY: I was 14. She called me ‘little lover.’ Sometimes I liked it.
SPILLER: Don, you know none of that is your fault, right?
KONKEY: No. No, Lucy, I don’t.

207
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (37:55).
KONKEY: You look different.
SPILLER: I do?
KONKEY: Your hands are relaxed and your eyes are soft.

208
Episode 11: “Pap Smeared,” Dirt. (25:33).
KONKEY: You never get time to sleep. You’re always getting arrested. People spit on
you. And there’s always someone new trying to steal your job. (To Jackson about being a
paparazzo.)

59

Chapter 4: Willa McPhearson, the Reporter

The lifeblood of Dirt Now’s weekly issues is the staff of hard-working, fact-
finding reporters.
209
Willa McPhearson (Alexandra Breckenridge)
210
is the series’ main
reporter. In the beginning of the season, McPhearson blends in with all the other reporters
as she pitches seemingly mindless stories to Spiller.
211
However, McPhearson becomes
more confident with Spiller and aggressive with her reporting in subsequent episodes.
A reporter represents the public in that it is his or her job to “ask questions of the
powerful and force them to explain themselves.”
212
Furthermore, a reporter can be
someone who is “unspeakably aggressive in seeking the news and deplorably loud in
writing it up.”
213
McPhearson represents a cub reporter more than a sob sister. A cub
reporter “knows nothing about journalism,” and is usually the “one journalist with whom
everyone in the audience can identify.”
214
The cub reporter is a novice, trying to
overcome inexperience. Initially, McPhearson is a stuttering mess during pitch meetings
and can barely manage to look Spiller in the eye. McPhearson has trouble determining
what is Dirt Now news and figuring out how to write for a tabloid.
215
After reading one of
her first stories, Spiller tells McPhearson, “When I was done reading your piece all I
remembered was a typo. It wasn’t bad, but it was dull. And that’s worse.”
216
Even the
other more experienced reporters are hard on McPhearson at first, telling her she needs to
toughen up.
217
It is obvious she is new to her job at Dirt Now and new to the field of
journalism.

60
Cub reporters typically mess up a lot
218
but eventually prove their worth.
219
When
Spiller sends McPhearson out on one of her first big stories, McPhearson ends up paying
$1,900 and taking drugs from a celebrity drug dealer.
220
The drug dealer did not admit to
having any connection to the story Spiller wanted. Spiller is furious with McPhearson for
her unprofessional slip-up. She yells at her, “I thought maybe this girl’s got the balls for
the job, but I was obviously wrong because I gave you the goddamn tip and you came
back with dick.”
221
For her next story, McPhearson ends up in a room at the W Hotel for
a convention of bariatric surgeons (doctors who perform surgery on the morbidly
obese).
222
She allows a celebrity plastic surgeon to masturbate while he looks at her feet
in exchange for exclusive information on a celebrity stomach-stapling procedure.
223

Spiller does not even end up running the story.
224
When McPhearson makes mistakes like
these she is most upset with the idea that she disappointed Spiller.
225

McPhearson wants Spiller to know that she is dedicated to Dirt Now and not in it
for any personal reasons or perks like free office swag.
226
In an effort to gain experience
and prove her dedication to the tabloid, she works later than most of the other
reporters.
227
Spiller eventually starts to trust McPhearson with bigger stories.
228
With
more experience in the field, McPhearson begins to develop an instinct for what makes a
good story—sometimes before Spiller.
229
She begins to prove herself by taking up
Spiller’s ethos. Although Spiller starts to give McPherson a chance to crack stories before
the other reporters, Spiller warns her that she does not get a second chance.
230
If she errs,
Spiller will fire her or move on to a different Dirt Now reporter who can get the job done.

61
McPhearson will do anything Spiller tells her to, even if she does not necessarily
agree with it.
231
She listens to her every word and observes how Spiller does her job as
editor. After Spiller shows a video of sharks eating each other in the womb, McPhearson
stays late at the office to re-watch the video.
232
She understands the field of tabloid
journalism is competitive and that if she cannot be a more aggressive reporter she will get
eaten alive.
Not only does McPherson want to prove to Spiller that she is a good reporter, but
she also wants to be exactly like Spiller. When she finds out Dirt Now’s investigative
reporter, Chuck Lafoon (Paul Reubens), worked with Spiller at the Tribune, she
constantly asks him what Spiller was like when she started in the field. Lafoon tells her
that Spiller was a little bit like McPhearson.
233
Hearing this, McPhearson is inspired by
their so-called similarities.
As McPhearson gets more confidence she starts to develop more of an attitude
with her sources. She realizes that when she has information she has power. Spiller
overhears McPhearson on the phone saying to a source,
You think that you can just shit all over me and this magazine? This is Dirt Now.
We’ve outsold every other weekly two weeks running and we’re about to make it
a third. You listen to me you insignificant piece of shit. You’re giving me this
story because if you don’t, Dirt Now will have a camera up your client’s ass every
second of every day. If she so much as blinks at another contestant we’re gonna
run that she’s screwing him. Every pit stain, every ounce of cellulite, every
photograph that makes her look semi-retarded will be splashed full-color in the
pages of our magazine. And that’s just off the top of my head. Wait ’til I give it
some real thought. Now you’ve got 20 minutes to get her contestant-nailing ass
over here before I make her a pinup girl for every STD known to man and then
some.
234

62
Spiller is proud of McPhearson’s newly developed take-charge attitude—the
attitude she thinks reporters need to survive in the tabloid industry.
The sob sister is a female journalist who is
considered an equal by doing a man’s job, a career woman drinking and arguing
toe-to-toe with any male in the shop, holding her own against everyone and
anything, then often showing her soft side and crying long and hard when the man
she loves treats her like a sister instead of a lover.
235

Like a sob sister, McPhearson is hungry. She wants to prove to Spiller that she is
thick-skinned enough to do the job.
236
When Spiller sends her on an investigative story
with experienced investigative reporter Lafoon, McPhearson tells him she does not need
his help and she can do the story herself.
237
McPhearson’s only romantic relationship in
the first season is a sexual relationship with Dirt Now’s publisher, Barrow.
238
Unlike the
sob sisters of the 1930s-1950s, McPhearson does not get emotionally attached to him.
239

A sob sister is generally are depicted giving “up anything and everything for marriage,
children, and a life at home,”
240
no matter how successful a journalist they might be. In
Dirt, McPhearson is more attached to her job and the possibility of climbing the Dirt Now
editorial ladder than she is to any relationship.
241
When McPhearson’s affair with Barrow
starts to interfere with her job,
242
she dumps him saying, “You’re a distraction, OK?
Look, I can’t do this anymore. If I don’t get my shit together I’m outta here.”
243
Her job
is her top priority.
Researchers found that the perception of reporters in film and television is
typically negative. “To be a reporter was to do something disreputable, to live on the
edge of decent society.”
244
Additionally, a reporter is usually seen as “a busybody, a
keyhole snooper, a penny-a-linter, a ne’er do well.”
245
McPhearson possesses some of

63
these unlikable characteristics in her approach to her job. If she has to, McPhearson will
go undercover or misrepresent herself to get a story. She pretends to be looking for a
discrete celebrity nanny when trying to find out who celebrity superstars Blair Marshall
(Ailsa Marshall) and Logan Hicks’s (Bryce Mouer) baby nurse is. Through fake tears,
she tells a celebrity nanny in a park that she is looking for a nanny like the one Blair and
Logan use for her child because her husband is prominent in the entertainment
industry.
246
The nanny eventually tells McPhearson the nurse Blair and Logan use. On
her next story, McPhearson tells a bariatric surgeon that she needs help with her master’s
thesis when she is really trying to find out for Dirt Now if celebrity Vena Smith had her
stomach stapled.
247

Eventually McPhearson learns how to relate to her sources in order to get more
information out of them.
248
In attempts to get the best friend of a murdered cheerleader to
talk to her, McPhearson talks to her about Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton.
249
Her method
works, as she is able to get Maddy Sweet (Stephanie Turner) to admit she killed her best
friend before the cops even arrest her.
250
Additionally, McPhearson is able to get one of
her sources to give her a lead by making him feel guilty. She tells him if she does not get
the story she will probably just quit her job.
251
According to the Society of Professional
Journalists’ code of ethics, misrepresentation in exchange for information is unethical.
Reporters should “avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering
information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the
public.”
252
Because Dirt Now is typically after confidential information reporters like
McPhearson would be unlikely to obtain that information using traditional reporting

64
methods. Usually her only option—if she wants the exclusive story—is to misrepresent
herself. But that does not make it right.
According to research on the public’s perception of journalists in film and
television, the reporter often “went beyond the news of the day to reveal shams and
corrupt business practices.”
253
It became acceptable for a reporter to “lie, cheat, distort,
bribe, betray, or violate any ethical code as long as the journalist exposed corruption,
solved a murder, caught a thief, or saved an innocent,”
254
and only when their work was
in the public interest. It is not ethical when McPhearson manipulates an under-aged
sexual abuse victim into admitting she murdered her best friend,
255
but that does not
matter to her or to Dirt Now because the story results in a child abuser’s arrest and a
murderer ending up in prison—and most importantly, a cover story sure to sell out at the
newsstand. Some of McPhearson’s stories are catty and pure sensationalism, but she’s
convinced others actually make a difference in society.
McPhearson’s character shows tremendous growth throughout the first season of
Dirt. When Spiller thinks she might be fired she turns to McPhearson to see how the staff
is reacting. At this point McPhearson is so confident with her craft that she tells Spiller
she is not worried—she will find work elsewhere if she has to.
256
By the season finale,
McPhearson threatens her sources just as she thinks Spiller would. Without letting Spiller
know, McPhearson starts filing sources in her own personal vault.
257
The last image of
McPhearson is her sitting behind Spiller’s desk with a long black wig on.
258
She wants to
be Spiller more than anything.

65
McPhearson embodies the typical meddling characteristics of fact-hungry print
reporters. As one Tribune reporter blatantly said, “It is shameful to earn a living in this
way,”
259
by being a reporter. McPhearson does not see any shame in what she does. Her
character is relatively likable because viewers feel sorry for her when Spiller constantly
cuts her down in the beginning. She is one of the most passionate Dirt Now employees
and is willing to do just about anything to make sure Spiller knows that. Her character
demonstrates how challenging it is to keep up at a fast-paced publication like Dirt Now
under the direction of an intimidating editor. Yet, she has an affair with her superior, uses
deception and lies to get sources to talk to her, and, like Spiller and Konkey, will do
anything to get the story. Although it can be argued that her actions are guided by her
desire to get ahead in the business, she is willing to forego all ethics and morals that stand
in her way. Throughout the episodes, viewers see McPhearson’s standards for right and
wrong decline as she gains confidence in her abilities as a reporter and her desire to be
just like Spiller.

66

Chapter 4 Endnotes

209
The word reporter dates back to the 14
th
century and is defined as “any person
employed by a newspaper, magazine, or television company to gather and report news.”
“Reporter,” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary), http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/reporter (accessed March 2008).

210
According to the FX Network Web site, “Alexandra Breckenridge plays ‘Willa
McPhearson,’ a young, ambitious reporter who has finally come to terms with the fact
that ruthlessness and cunning are keys to success in the tabloid world. Alexandra recently
wrapped production on two films: The Art of Travel, starring Christopher Masterson and
Brooke Burns, as well as The Bridge to Nowhere, starring Ving Rhames and Bijou
Phillips. Previously, she has appeared in the films She’s The Man, Wishcraft, and Big Fat
Liar. She also starred in the comedy short D.E.B.S and in the video Rings, which served
as a bridge between the two horror films The Ring and The Ring 2. On television,
Alexandra has guest starred on numerous series, including Psych, C.S.I., Medium, JAG,
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, and Freaks and Geeks. She also appeared in the
ABC’s Family movie Romy and Michelle: In The Beginning and lends her voice in
numerous episodes of Fox’s Family Guy and American Dad. Breckenridge grew up in
Darien, Connecticut, and moved to California at the age of 12. At 12 she discovered her
love for acting while on stage in Mill Valley, California. She then moved to Los Angeles
to pursue a career. After just two months of auditions she got her first break when she
landed a starring role on ABC’s production of R.L. Stine’s Ghost of Feat Street. Her first
recurring series role was on the WB comedy Opposite Sex. Currently, Breckenridge lives
in Hollywood. Her uncle, actor Michael Weatherly of Navy: NCIS, is an important role
model in her life.”

211
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (07:15).
SPILLER: Alright, what’s out there today?
MCPHEARSON: Um, celebrity fat farms.
SPILLER: Do you have art?
ANONYMOUS FEMALE REPORTER: More than you would ever want.
SPILLER: Alright, I’ll put it down for five. Two spreads and a single. Keep the text tight.
The photos should sell the story. Alright, tell photo to watch the adjacencies. I don’t want
Dunkin Heinz or Betty Crocker ads opposite the fatties.

212
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
21.

213
James G. Harrison. “Nineteenth-Century American Novels on American Journalism
I,” Journalism Quarterly, Volume 22, Number 3. September 1945. p. 218.

67

214
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
34.

215
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (15:47).
SPILLER: Basketball star with a prostitute isn’t news. That he wanted her to bang him in
the ass with a strap-on, that’s your lead. (As she throws the copy back on McPhearson’s
desk. The copy is completely marked up in editor’s red pen.)

216
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (03:47).

217
Ibid. (18:54).
MCPHEARSON: Is that normal procedure? I busted my ass on that piece. I mean, tell me
if I’m wrong to be upset and I’ll let it go. It’s just that—
ANONYMOUS FEMALE REPORTER: Willa, you want my advice?
MCPHEARSON: Yeah, of course.
ANONYMOUS FEMALE REPORTER: Grow a pair.
MCPHEARSON: Pardon?
ANONYMOUS FEMALE REPORTER: Tough shit, your piece got spiked. Write
another one, end of story. Now if you’ll excuse me, these celebrities aren’t going to screw
themselves.

218
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (00:31).
KONKEY: Lucy gave her a hot lead on a breaking story. She blew it. (He is talking about
McPhearson on the Connie Chris story.)

219
Loren Ghiglione and Joe Saltzman. “Fact or Fiction: Hollywood Looks at the News,”
p. 25.

68

220
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (25:34).
MCPHEARSON: We actually wanted to throw a party for Connie when she gets out.
(She is at Garbo’s house, the celebrity drug dealer, looking at her drugs.)
GARBO: Connie?
MCPHEARSON: Chris. I told you on the phone that we’re good friends.
GARBO: Really? I just figured you were a nark and I’d just have to kill you before you
left. You brought cash?
MCPHEARSON: Uh, yeah, $1,900, right?
GARBO: Yup. You gotta try this. On the house. Seriously, I need to know you’re not a
nark. Plus, this shit will totally open your mind. One is to get you goin’ and this is to keep
it coming in waves all night. Come on, it’ll change your life. (She holds the drugs up to
McPhearson’s nose and McPhearson inhales.)
GARBO: It’s like coming, isn’t it? Here. (She gives McPhearson a pill and she takes it,
obviously already influenced by the drugs she just inhaled.)
GARBO: You’re really friends with Connie Chris?
MCPHEARSON: Uh, yeah. (Her tone is different because of the effect of the drugs.)
GARBO: Give her a message for me. You tell her there is a dealer in Hollywood who
thinks she’s searing-hot sexy. (Things start to distort for McPhearson. Garbo kisses
McPhearson on the lips.)

221
Ibid. (30:37).

222
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (16:28).
SPILLER: Willa, there’s a convention of bariatric surgeons at the W that ends tonight.
Find a Dr. Kozar and ask him about Vena Smith.

69

223
Ibid. (32:08).
DR. KOZAR: You know, I’ve got a video of me performing surgery. It’s in my room.
MCPHEARSON: Oh, well that might be helpful. I also have a few questions about the
types of patients you treat.
DR. KOZAR: Well, come on up. I’ll be happy to tell you anything you want to know.
MCPHEARSON: So I imagine you treat celebrities.
DR. KOZAR: Oh, they’re the worst. (As he puts a tape into the VCR and he goes and sits
on the end of the bed, facing the TV. He pats the spot on the bed next to him to signal
McPhearson to come sit by him on the bed.)
DR. KOZAR: Come on sit by me, you can see better.
MCPHEARSON: Um, I can see fine, thanks. I heard that Vena Smith got her stomach
stapled—
DR. KOZAR: Come on. (He interrupts her as he physically pulls her onto the bed. He
lays back and turns his attention to her.)
MCPHEARSON: Look, I didn’t come up here to do anything.
DR. KOZAR: That’s a load of shit now, isn’t it? You don’t think you’re the first reporter
to try to pry privileged client information from me, do ya?
MCPHEARSON: I’m not screwing you.
DR. KOZAR: It’s not your precious bloom that I’m interested in. (He looks at her feet.)
MCPHEARSON: My feet?
DR. KOZAR: Oh God, they’re so small and dainty and alabaster. Guessing a perfect size
eight? You let me be who I have to be and I’ll give you what you want—off the record,
of course.
MCPHEARSON: No touching.
DR. KOZAR: Good. (As he gets on the floor and unbuttons his pants.)
DR. KOZAR: Now dangle it, dangle it. (He starts to masturbate to the sight of her feet.
She starts to dangle her shoe.)
DR. KOZAR: No, no don’t let it drop, don’t let it drop. Oh yeah you make me so hard,
hold it up, hold the goddamn foot up. Don’t close your eyes. Look at me, look at me, look
at me! (He continues to moan and say ‘I’m sorry,’ until he comes.)

224
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (03:47).
MCPHEARSON: Uh, Lucy, I uh, well, I didn’t see my Vena Smith article and I was just
wondering if—
SPILLER: That’s because I’m not running it.
MCPHEARSON: Oh, well I kinda got the impression it was going to go in this week.
SPILLER: Really? Where did you get that impression?
MCPHEARSON: Like I said, I just kind of assumed.
SPILLER: Well you know what happens when you assume.
MCPHEARSON: Yes, it makes an ass out of you and me.
SPILLER: No, it pisses me off.

70

225
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. (36:48).
MCPHEARSON: Lucy thinks I’m an amateur. I’m so pissed at myself.

226
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (22:40).
MCPHEARSON: Lucy, I’ve got something on the baby nurse. Um, name, number, rates,
a little history, hometown, immigration status.
SPILLER: Nice, you can pick something from the swag pile. (She is still more interested
in the work in front of her than McPhearson.)
MCPHEARSON: Oh, no thanks.
SPILLER: No thanks?
MCPHEARSON: Well, it sounds kinda stupid but, um, I do it for the story.

227
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (22:35).
MCPHEARSON: Look, I’m sorry I missed dinner but I have to work late. I know I said
I’d be there, Mom but every— (She is on the phone with her mom. Spiller walks by her
desk. The office looks near empty. Only Spiller, McPhearson, and three other reporters
are still there.)
MCPHEARSON: I gotta go. Let me call you back.

228
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (25:04).
SPILLER: Just keep following this story. Don’t leak a word—not even in house. I want
you to create a secret edit queue and file your stuff there. I want only dummy text and
grey space up on that wall. You know what really pisses me off? I was the first person to
report this pregnancy and she played me. I really don’t appreciate that. (She is talking to
McPhearson after finding out Blair is faking her own pregnancy.)

229
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (10:36).
SPILLER: Congratulations, your gut’s a winner. We’re in the game. I’ve offered
$600,000, but I don’t like dancing in the dark. I’m gonna team you up with Don Konkey.
(She is talking to McPhearson about her hunch on the Pritchard story.)

230
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (22:47).
SPILLER: Want a chance to crack it? (She is talking to McPhearson about the Chris
cover story.)
MCPHEARSON: Yeah, yes!
SPILLER: It’s the pager number. It’s probably Connie’s dealer. Ask for Garbo.
MCPHEARSON: Great, thanks.
SPILLER: Willa, don’t page her from here.
MCPHEARSON: I was just, um, canceling my dinner.
SPILLER: This dealer expects to see a young face. That’s why I picked you. Don’t make
me regret it.

71

231
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (25:31).
SPILLER: Also, Willa, I’m gonna want you to write some copy on a fashion piece that
we’re doing on Julia Mallory. It’s a many looks retrospective kinda thing. She’s gonna be
coming in and sitting with you and one of our photo editors.
MCPHEARSON: I thought we were sticking to the trashy angle on her.
SPILLER: Yeah, well we’re gonna go a little counter to that, see how that plays.
(34:22) MCPHEARSON: So our idea is to do a sort of many looks of Julia Mallory
piece. We’re gonna pull a bunch of really great red carpet shots and some candids and,
you know, different hair cuts, cuz readers love that kinda thing. (She is talking to
Mallory, sticking to the angle Spiller wants.)

232
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (45:34).
McPherson is sitting in the conference room all alone at night watching a video of a
school of sharks.

233
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (06:50).
MCPHEARSON: So what was Lucy like when she was starting out? I mean, what was
her first big story? How did she rise so far and so fast? (She is talking to Lafoon when
she realizes he worked with Spiller at the Tribune.)
LAFOON: You’re a one-man press conference. Look, you want to be a reporter,
remember this: everyone wants to tell their story. You’ve gotta cultivate your source one
question at a time. Sometimes, no questions.
MCPHEARSON: Sorry. So what was Lucy like when she started out?
LAFOON: Kinda a little bit like you. Not necessarily a compliment.

234
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt.

235
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
39-40.

236
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (15:47).
SPILLER: Willa, I’m really starting to question your commitment.
MCPHEARSON: My commitment? You know I took some of those drugs that Garbo
woman was selling so that she would trust me. I don’t even take aspirin. I was sick all
night from it.
SPILLER: Who the hell asked you to take drugs?
MCPHEARSON: I just wanted you to know that I have the balls for the job.
SPILLER: That story didn’t call for balls. It called for brains. Don’t confuse the two.

72

237
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. (07:12).
MCPHEARSON: Look, Chuck, she’s a sexual abuse victim. I don’t want her to clam up
because there’s a man in the room.
LAFOON: Little Willa wants to fly solo and not share her byline.
MCPHEARSON: It’s nothing personal. It’s just, Lucy’s wrong. I don’t need help with
this.

238
Ibid. (41:20).
McPhearson and Barrow sleep together. She smiles and picks up a copy of the magazine.
When he leaves the room, she is still in his bed.

239
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (10:03).
MCPHEARSON: Look, we coupled. That doesn’t make us a couple. You can relax. I’m
not expecting to meet your mother.

240
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
40.

241
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (20:28).
BARROW: How much is Lucy paying? (He asks McPhearson with his hands up her
skirt.)
MCPHEARSON: We can talk dirty but we can’t talk Dirt.
BARROW: Any more rules?
MCPHEARSON: How about a pre-not-nup. Six weeks, and then we both walk away. No
obligations, no expectations.
BARROW: No crying.
MCPHEARSON: No cards at Christmas.
BARROW: Option to extend? (As McPhearson pulls his hands out.)
BARROW: I thought we were negotiating?
MCPHEARSON: I told you, work.

242
Episode 11: “Pap Smeared,” Dirt. (00:39).
KONKEY: I don’t think Willa’s little threesome went over very well with Lucy.

73

243
Ibid. (15:48).
MCPHEARSON: You wanted to see me?
BARROW: Shut the door. (When he stands up his pants are around his ankles.)
MCPHEARSON: You’ve got to be kidding me. That’s what you called me in here for?
BARROW: Well, you seemed a little tense today, so…
MCPHEARSON: So what? You thought that bending me over your desk for a round of
pump the co-worker would help me relax?
BARROW: I thought you enjoyed our little get-togethers?
MCPHEARSON: I do. I mean, I did.
BARROW: Did I do something wrong?
MCPHEARSON: Could you just pull up your pants? All I can think of is that you’re out
of toilet paper. Look, you’re a distraction, OK? Look, I can’t do this anymore. If I don’t
get my shit together, I’m outta here.
BARROW: Willa, look, come on.
MCPHEARSON: No, you’re not listening to me. She’s got me watching videos of old
reality shows. This is the editorial equivalent of Chinese water torture. Look, we had fun.
Let’s just call it a day and cash out.
BARROW: What? Just like that? Cold turkey? You don’t want to wean off?
MCPHEARSON: No. Look, I told you what I want. I want to focus on work. Besides,
there are plenty of other women in the office who would gladly fill the roll.

244
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
21.

245
Louis M. Starr. Bohemian Brigade: Civil Newsman in Action, New York, NY: Alfred
A. Knopf, 1954. p. 6.

74

246
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt.
MCPHEARSON: Excuse me, um, I couldn’t help but overhear you’re in the childcare
field.
NANNY: That’s right.
MCPHEARSON: We just lost our wonderful person this week and I am just desperate.
NANNY: You don’t have an agent?
MCPHEARSON: No no no, of course we do, it’s just, um, we have to go through a
hundred interviews before we can find someone who’s, you know, discrete enough. My
husband is very prominent in the entertainment industry.
NANNY: Really. And who’s that?
MCPHEARSON: I’m so sorry, I can’t tell you. You know how it is with security and
everything. It’s crazy. It can be so isolating sometimes. I wish we could live a normal
life, you know?
NANNY: Well, of course you do, dear.
MCPHEARSON: I’m so sorry. I don’t even know you. I just thought you might know
who the most discrete celebrity baby nurses might be.
NANNY: There’s just a handful, dear.
MCPHEARSON: I know. You know, I was just talking to that wonderful nurse who Blair
and Logan were using and she was telling me that she had a friend who might be
available, but you know, I can’t reach them because, you know, they’ve gone into hiding.
NANNY: Blair and Logan’s baby nurse. You mean Gabriella?
MCPHEARSON: Yes! Yes yes, that’s right, Gabriella.

247
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (32:08).
DR. KOZAR: So, you think you got something to work with there?
MCPHEARSON: Oh yeah, yeah wow. This is gonna make my thesis much more
exciting. Thank you.

248
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (13:43).
MADDY SWEET: You actually know Britney?
MCPHEARSON: Well, it was just a little interview. But we did have a burping contest.
SWEET: I bet she won.
MCPHEARSON: Oh, hands down.

249
Ibid. (14:02).
MCPHEARSON: So, who else was Amber into?
MADDY SWEET: She was a Lindsay girl all the way. I’m all about Paris, you?
MCPHEARSON: Oh, Paris.
SWEET: I know, right?

75

250
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. (05:45).
MCPHEARSON: The reverend’s daughter told me she’s the one who killed her best
friend.
BARROW: She confessed that to you?
MCPHEARSON: Yeah. The cops don’t even know yet. Lucy thinks that the confession
cover might hit the stands before she’s even arrested. Chuck and I are going back today
to get her full interview.

251
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (08:36).
MCPHEARSON: You know, I put money on this. I really mouthed off to my boss. She
said it was PR play and now she’s gonna rub my nose for using it. I should just quit my
job. I’m lousy at it. (She’s at lunch with Pritchard’s assistant, playing the down-and-out
sob sister to try to get him to spill something on the story.)

252
“Code of Ethics,” (Society of Professional Journalists),
http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp (accessed March 2008).

253
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
21.

254
Ibid. p. 29.

255
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. (10:40).
SWEET: I hit her with my baton. (She is telling McPhearson how she killed Carmichael.
The Dirt Now photographer starts taking Sweet’s picture.)
SWEET: Shouldn’t I have makeup?
MCPHEARSON: No honey, your skin is beautiful.
SWEET: Are you sure?
MCPHEARSON: Well maybe just a little lip-gloss.
SWEET: Khiels!
MCPHEARSON: It’s yours.
SWEET: Thank you. (She applies the gloss, and poses all smiles for the picture, like it’s
for a class photo or something.)

256
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (20:34).
MCPHEARSON: People are nervous. They’re loyal to you, but to a point. Their major
concern right now is if you get fired how is it going to impact them. (She is talking to
Spiller about the staff of Dirt Now after Gage told reporters Spiller was the only other
person with a copy of his and Mallory’s sex tape.)
SPILLER: And what about you?
MCPHEARSON: I’m not worried. I’ll work.

76

257
Episode 13: “Ita Missa Est,” Dirt. (37:26).
MCPHEARSON: Lucy gets nothing. Willa, however, takes this little tidbit and puts it in
her own personal vault, and owns you. And your first of many favors to come is
exclusive access to the Lessisfolf family. (She says this to the Best New Model host when
she confronts her about knowing she is the one who bought the models the diet drugs.)
HOST: I don’t know if I can deliver that.
MCPHEARSON: You can, and you will. Any gossip in the fashion world, any
supermodel bullshit, any anything comes to me.
HOST: Your mother must be proud of you.
MCPHEARSON: Yours too, what with the drug deaths and all.

258
Ibid. (41:38).
McPhearson sits at Spiller’s desk with a long dark wig on, flipping through copy layouts.
It appears as though she wants to be exactly like Spiller.

259
Louis M. Starr. Bohemian Brigade: Civil Newsman in Action, p. 6.

77

Chapter 5: Brent Barrow, the Publisher

Brent Barrow
260
is Spiller’s watchdog, the mediator between her and the
magazine owner.
261
As the publisher
262
of Dirt Now, Barrow functions as the
“representative of the owner of a newspaper, periodical, or publishing house.”
263
Many
resources
264
define a publisher as a person who publishes products and who also owns the
entity he or she publishes. But Barrow is not the owner of Dirt Now, Horne is. Unlike
Horne, though, Barrow plays an active role in every episode of Dirt’s first season.
Whenever Spiller shows an aggressive attitude toward Barrow or challenges him,
he reminds her that he hired her.
265
In Dirt, Barrow’s biggest role as publisher is not
necessarily publishing the weekly Dirt Now, but attempting to keep Spiller under his
watchful eye. This trivializes the seriousness of Barrow’s position. Although he cannot
fire Spiller (only Horne can) he often reminds her why Horne might choose to do just
that.
266
Spiller is often irritated with Barrow’s interventions and prefers he leave her alone
to do her job.
267
To Spiller, Barrow is never right. However, Spiller turns to Barrow
because she knows he has inside knowledge of Horne's business maneuvers.
268

Barrow understands, perhaps better than any other character, that because of the seedy
topics Dirt Now covers, it is sometimes difficult to consider what they do as hard
journalism. He sarcastically asks Spiller, “Is that how you get through the night?
Pretending to be a journalist?!”
269
He might not consider himself a traditional journalist,
but Barrow does hold high standards for accurate reporting in Dirt Now.
270
When

78
approached by two men in Twitty McDaniel’s (Billy Brown) inner circle who want him
to give up Dirt Now’s source on the Andre G murder story, Barrow tells them,
Confidentiality between the journalist and his or her source is sacrosanct. Shield
laws
271
give journalists the legal protection to keep the identity of a source
private—even when police and prosecutors are threatening contempt
272
and jail
time. Now, to betray that confidence is a breach of ethics so great it compromises
the very foundation of how much the whole of journalism is predicated.
273

He understands Dirt Now’s right to be part of a free press, protected by the Bill of
Rights.
Publishers typically “want to know how the stories will affect the economics of
the newspaper.”
274
Barrow’s biggest problems with Spiller typically involve her
seemingly reckless abandonment of the publication’s budget.
275
He presents Spiller with
editorial budget cuts
276
to emphasize how serious Horne is about spending responsibly.
Next in importance to his economic concerns are his legal ones—they often go hand-in-
hand.
277
When Spiller tries to publish a cover accusing McDaniel of murdering his client,
hip-hop artist Andre G, Barrow intervenes. Unless Spiller’s anonymous source is willing
to come forward when the legal department demands it, Barrow won’t allow her to go
forward with the cover.
278
He is the only character to refer to Dirt Now’s legal
department,
279
which shows he takes legal issues seriously.
In film and television, “the publisher, whether in American or British journalism,
was the man most…blamed for the sins of the press.”
280
Because of this, the publisher is
typically seen as the highest power at media outlets.
281
Barrow doesn’t appear to have the
level of control a typical publisher should have, since publishers rank higher on the
tabloid totem pole than editors. However, Spiller constantly undermines Barrow, such as

79
when she goes behind his back to merge Dirt and Now into one publication,
282
or when
she totally ignores him.
283
Barrow knows Spiller prefers extreme cover stories. He tells
her when he thinks she is crossing the line legally or obscenely,
284
but she often goes
behind his back and runs the questionable story anyway.
285
Even though Spiller rarely
takes Barrow seriously as her superior, he knows that she is great at her job—which is
ultimately getting stories that will sell the magazine—and he respects her for that.
286

Barrow represents the image of the journalist as a flawed individual. While
Barrow is “not all good and not all bad,”
287
he does demonstrate a number of negative
characteristics. One night, Barrow comes home from work to find two of McDaniel’s
business associates in his kitchen, cooking dinner and drinking red wine. The men tie him
up and threaten to cut off his penis and feed it to him if Barrow does not tell them who
Spiller’s source was on the Andre G murder story.
288
Barrow tells the men it was Prince
Tyreese who told Spiller about McDaniel murdering Andre G. The two men later beat
Tyreese’s knees with a metal bat, until they almost kill him. Spiller is furious with
Barrow, saying he committed a journalistic sin by revealing an anonymous source.
289

Even though he is under such torture, this capitulation still makes Barrow look somewhat
weak, selfish, and unprofessional as a journalist.
Viewers are not likely to dislike Barrow for the way he does business, but rather
for how he conducts his personal life. As a person, Barrow comes across as a total sleaze.
He punches the cleaning lady and knocks her out during a hostage situation,
290
he
shamelessly checks out the significantly younger female reporters
291
and interns of Dirt
Now,
292
and he even has a threesome with a barely-18 girl and McPhearson.
293
Spiller

80
often criticizes Barrow for his affinity for younger co-workers.
294
He tells her that she
“has a nice ass.”
295
When Barrow compliments McPhearson on her first cover story he
touches her shoulder suggestively.
296
In many professional settings, it might not be
appropriate for co-workers to get involved romantically. Yet Barrow makes passes at
McPhearson in the Dirt Now office in the middle of the workday.
297
It does not take long
for Barrow to work his charm
298
and get McPhearson in his bed.
299
Immediately after
Barrow and McPhearson have sex for the first time, Barrow walks into another room in
his house to reveal a recording of them having sex. He writes McPhearson’s name on the
mini-DV tape and adds it to his collection of tapes of all the women he has slept with.
300

Barrow and McPhearson carry on their affair for a short time. Sometimes they
fool around in his office, other times in the supply closet.
301
More casual about their
situation than Barrow, McPhearson manages to call the shots
302
and take control of their
sexual relationship.
303
In addition to being weak in his professional life, this situation
makes Barrow look weak in his personal life as well.
Even though sexually, Barrow is slimy and corrupt, he does not use Dirt Now to
satisfy his personal ends. He is usually benevolent and fair when it comes to the business
of the publication. He tells Spiller he is always worried about the magazine’s image
before his own because he understands that what Dirt Now publishes has
consequences.
304
While Spiller says that Barrow has “never had a magazine subscription
he could read with his pants on,” he tries to avoid publishing lurid sensationalism in Dirt
Now.
305
He focuses on increasing circulation of Dirt Now while decreasing the possibility
of lawsuits. Although he does come off as wealthy and entrepreneurially successful,
306
he

81
does not come off as richer or more powerful than Spiller. Like Spiller, Barrow has no
family or friends.
307
His only significant relationship is with Dirt Now. In film and
television, publishers are typically seen as “the ones who are destroying the media’s role
in a free society: to serve the public interest at all costs.”
308
In Dirt, Barrow makes a lot of
mistakes—most of which involve his personal life. He demonstrates how a responsible
publisher should focus on the economics of his publication, but does not come across as a
strong and honest businessman. Barrow does not adhere to the same values as Spiller,
Konkey, or McPhearson. He is not consumed by a need to get the story. He is more
conscious of the laws and money involved with Dirt Now. Because of these conflicting
images, Barrow represents both admirable and objectionable images of what a
responsible tabloid publisher should and should not be.

82

Chapter 5 Endnotes

260
According to the FX Network Web site, “Jeffrey Nordling plays ‘Brent Barrow,’ the
publisher of Dirt Now who is often at odds with Lucy’s business practices, yet relies on
her celebrity exclusives to drive magazine sales. Jeffrey has been acting professionally
for over 20 years. He received his Master’s of Fine Arts degree in Acting at Southern
Methodist University and began his career on the stage both in New York and regional
theaters. Most recently he was seen in the world premiere of Robert Schenkkan’s Lewis
and Clark Reach the Euphrates at the Mark Taper Forum as well as in Richard
Greenberg’s Take Me Out at the Geffen Playhouse. Other regional theater work includes
production with the Old Globe in San Diego and the Oregon Shakespeare Company.
Jeffrey’s work on the New York stage includes Shakespeare in the Park, The Public
Theatre and Classic Stage Company. Most recently, Jeffrey wrapped production on
Surfer Dude, a comedy starring Matthew McConaughey, as well as the independent films
Pornstar and Hole in the Paper Sky. His other television credits include Flight 93, 24,
Shark, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Closer, Judging Amy, nip/tuck, Providence,
Once and Again, Almost Perfect and Melrose Place. Additional film credits include
Home of the Brave, Flicka, Apollo 11, Mighty Ducks 3, Quiz Show, Matrimony, And the
Band Played On, Citizen Cohn, Ruby, Ask Me Again, and Working Girl. Jeffrey is a
proud member of the Screen Actor’s Guild and Actors Equity as well as the Antaeus
Company, a classical repertory company in Los Angeles.”

261
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (29:36).
BARROW: Gib asked me to look at some sales spending ratios, and someone needs a
little intervention.
SPILLER: Since when do you have anything to do with the editorial budget?
BARROW: Since the owner of the company asked me to.

262
The word publisher dates back to the 15
th
century. “Publisher,” (Merriam-Webster
Online Dictionary), http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/publisher (accessed
March 2008).

263
Ibid.

264
“Publisher,” (MSN Encarta Online Dictionary),
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861736028/publisher.html (accessed March 2008).

265
Ibid. (29:36).
BARROW: You know, maybe you should remember who hired you.
SPILLER: You just wanted to screw me.

83

266
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (39:27).
BARROW: Oh yeah? You know somebody else who’s gonna die? Some other big
celebrity couple gonna fake a baby we can steal pictures of? Cuz those are the only kinda
covers that are gonna keep us out of debt every week.
SPILLER: Well thanks for your concern, but that’s my problem.
BARROW: No it’s not. As of tomorrow it’s Tina Harrod’s problem. Unless you accept
my cuts.

267
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (29:36).
BARROW: I hired you because you were the one editor out there that was supposed to
run two magazines at the same time and make them twice as successful as they were
under two editors.
SPILLER: Well, if you want me to run two magazines then give me the freedom to run
two magazines.

268
Episode 13: “Ita Missa Est,” Dirt. (17:16).
SPILLER: OK, no bullshit. Is Gibson floating my job out to Tina Harrod? (As she storms
into Barrow’s office.)
BARROW: Jesus Christ, Lucy, what is it gonna take to get you to knock?
SPILLER: Blow me.
BARROW: Deal. (As he sticks his hand out to shake.)
SPILLER: Yeah right, save it for the next intern.
BARROW: Look, your job is not in jeopardy, OK. Yes, your numbers are down and the
whole Johnny Gage thing doesn’t help but, like I said, Tina and I are just—
SPILLER: Are on the full of shit committee, I got it.
BARROW: My god, why do I bother? You’re not gonna listen to a word I say anyway.
SPILLER: Alright. (As she turns and walks away.)

269
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (26:00).

270
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (20:30).
BARROW: Well we never set out to diss anybody, Twitty. It’s not what we do. We just
seek the truth, that’s all.

271
According to Mass Media Law, shield laws are “state statutes that permit reporters in
some circumstances to shield the name of a confidential news source when questioned by
a grand jury or in another legal forum.” Clay Calvert and Don R. Pember. Mass Media
Law, p. 731.

272
Contempt of court is “an act of disobedience or disrespect to a judge, which may be
punished by a fine or jail sentence.” Ibid. p. 726.

273
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (20:50).

84

274
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
26.

275
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (38:56).
BARROW: Well, I hope this sells, cuz, ya know, the poly bagging is gonna blow your
budget all to hell. And, given that this is the fourth week in a row you’ve gone over
budget, according to the terms of your contract, you just forfeited your annual bonus. (He
is talking about the Andre G murder cover story.)
SPILLER: That’s bullshit. Poly bagging is a production cost. It’s not on the editorial
budget.
BARROW: It is now.

276
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (14:58).
BARROW: And, you know something, you should be kissing my ass just a little bit more
considering I probably just saved your job.
SPILLER: So after you threatened it, now you’re going to save it?
BARROW: Oh give me a break. We both know you want to stay here.
SPILLER: Let me see your little masterpiece. (As she picks up the packet of paper
Barrow left on her desk.)
BARROW: ’Course, editorial’s gonna take the biggest hit.
SPILLER: Well it’s already a wasteland. Look at these bullshit numbers. What—you’re
just gonna eliminate the fact-checking department? How much crack are you smoking?
BARROW: I counted 23-percent reduction in overhead right there.
SPILLER: Twenty percent of which is in editorial. This is like a cheap power grab.
Excuse me I have two magazines to put out.

85

277
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (14:49).
SPILLER: Don’s in jail.
BARROW: Ah, I’m sorry.
SPILLER: Yeah, I’m gonna go bail him out.
BARROW: What? Wait, no no no no. No. Don does not work for Dirt Now. He’s
freelance. We are of no obligation to him whatsoever. Any interference on our part
might—
SPILLER: I’m bailing him out as a friend. You know what friends are, don’t you Brent?
BARROW: Oh, will you let me finish? You’re settin’ us up for a lawsuit.
SPILLER: He has our next cover pictures on him.
BARROW: I don’t care if he has pictures of Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton going down
on the ghost of Frank Sinatra. How he got them is my concern.
SPILLER: He got them by being the best photographer out there.
BARROW: I know you’re a busy woman, Spiller, what with saving the planet one
drunken celebrity at a time, but there are amended statutes you might want to gloss over
before you hand the magazine out to dry.
SPILLER: Are you done?
BARROW: Yeah.
SPILLER: Good, I’m gonna go get my next cover.
BARROW: Loved the friend angle. Almost had me on that one.

278
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (35:25).
BARROW: There’s no way we’re running this. Are you out of your mind?
SPILLER: I sourced it myself. Nothing sells better than death. Were gonna hit our 1.1
and then some. (She is smiling in front of a television screen that is projecting a cover of
Dirt Now with the headline Andre G’s Grisly End!)
BARROW: Lucy, there is no world in which legal is going to approve this story. The
minute this rolls off the press, the D.A.’s gonna demand your source. You don’t give it to
’em? They’re gonna get a judge to hold you in contempt, take you to jail.
SPILLER: I’ll run the magazine from jail. Great publicity.
BARROW: Yeah, so what happens when this manager, Twitty McBlack Guy, sues us for
libel because we just accused him of murder?
SPILLER: He’s guilty. Do you really think he’s gonna want to rush into court for this
one?
BARROW: Thirty percent. Gibson’s interest in Prince Tyreese’s team. Thirty percent.
SPILLER: And?
BARROW: And there are security cameras in the parking garage. I saw the tape. You
with Prince Tyreese. I mean what else would he be doing there? Renewing his
subscription? God. Look, if he wants to come forward, be sourced, that’s fine, that’s
great. Run the story. But if not, you gotta get a different cover.
SPILLER: I have less than a day to go to press.
BARROW: Good luck. (He says as he turns off the projection screen and walks out of the
room.)

86

279
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (18:38).
BARROW: Just wanted to come by, congratulate everybody. Good job this week.
SPILLER: Thanks, Brent.
BARROW: Is that next week’s cover?
SPILLER: That’s something we’re playing around with. I’ll let you know when it’s
locked. (She is talking about the cheerleader murder story as she physically pushes
Barrow out of the conference room.)
BARROW: Uh huh. We have the parent’s cooperation?
SPILLER: We’ll see.
BARROW: Talk to legal. They’re not public figures, if they won’t cooperate—

280
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
26.

281
The publisher “was usually known as chief or Mr., whose orders were always final
and to be obeyed no matter what.” Ibid.

282
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (07:24).
BARROW: Did you go to Gibson Horne behind my back to merge the magazines?
SPILLER: The ad pages weren’t there.
BARROW: And you think the advertisers are going to line up to buy into your glossy
tabloid?
SPILLER: Gibson is behind this new magazine. If you feel you can’t deliver advertisers I
will gladly pick up the phone and let him know.

283
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (14:49).
BARROW: There you are. Got a second? Hello?! (He is talking to Spiller but she totally
ignores him. He is walking up the stairs, she down, and she acts like she doesn’t even see
him.)
BARROW: I just said I need to speak with you.
SPILLER: No, you asked me if I had a second and obviously I don’t.

87

284
Episode 10: “The Sexxx Issue,” Dirt. (10:27).
BARROW: Look, I know you’re—what, rattled—but honey you can’t publish our
magazine with a triple-X on it. Our Walmart rep actually cried. (As he looks at a print out
of the Sexxx issue cover.)
SPILLER: Awwww.
BARROW: They won’t stock the issue. That’s 30 percent right off the top.
SPILLER: We’ll make it up at the newsstand.
BARROW: Look, I know what you’re doing. The Sexxx issue, it’s a great idea, I’m just
saying lose the tipple-X.
SPILLER: Oh, Brent Barrow, eroding your freedom of speech one X at a time. (She says
this as she walks away from him.)

285
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (38:56).
BARROW: I told you not to go with this story. (He is talking to Spiller about the Andre
G murder story.)
SPILLER: I don’t work for you, Brent. (She says back, lounging on a red Chaise lounge
with her legs crossed. She is reading a copy of the issue.)
SPILLER: And, this time I had photographic evidence.

286
Episode 9: “This Is Not Your Father’s Hostage Situation,” Dirt. (39:30).
BARROW: No one will give your story justice like Lucy Spiller.

287
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
36.

288
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (36:01).
MCDANIEL’S BUSINESS ASSOCIATE: You see, first, Maurice is gonna chop off your
dick. And then, he’s gonna slice it into bite-sized pieces to make it easier to chew. But
then we’re gonna simmer it with some tomato and some fennel, if you had some. (He is
talking to Barrow after he and another associate tie him up and sit him at the head of his
dining room table.)

289
Ibid. (48:07).
SPILLER: You worthless piece of shit! (She screams as she storms in Barrow’s office.)
BARROW: No, listen to me! They came into my house. They were gonna cut my dick
off and feed it to me. (He is talking about McDaniel’s business associates who came into
his house and tied him up, demanding to know who sourced the Andre G murder story.)
SPILLER: You gave up a source.
BARROW: They were going to kill me.
SPILLER: He’s done. They don’t even know if he’s gonna live.

88

290
Episode 9: “This Is Not Your Father’s Hostage Situation,” Dirt. (39:30).
The maid punches Barrow. Barrow hits her back and knocks her out.

291
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (09:55).
Barrow stares at McPhearson’s butt as she makes a fresh pot of coffee.

292
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (26: 32).
Barrow walks away and blatantly checks out a female co-worker’s butt.

293
Episode 10: “The Sexxx Issue,” Dirt. (05:15).
BARROW: You wanna know what’s really awesome?
BLONDE GIRL AT THE BAR: What?
BARROW: That tattoo in the small of your back.
BLONDE GIRL: It keeps going. Wanna see? (As she shows Barrow her whole tattoo,
McPhearson kisses Barrow and then kisses her. Barrow watches McPhearson kiss the
blonde.)
BARROW: Shall we move this to a more private venue? (They go into a room where
Barrow sits on the couch, while McPhearson and the blonde girl make out with each
other on top of him. Then the blonde girl strips for them on top of the coffee table.)
BARROW: Why do I get the feeling you’ve done this before? (He is talking to
McPhearson.)

294
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (15:49).
SPILLER: Oh, she’s like 23. She’s way too old for you. (As Barrow checks out the
young blonde intern who walks in and out of Spiller’s office to hand her files.)
BARROW: No, 23’s good.

295
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (41:47).
BARROW: Solid cover. See, I knew if I’d pushed your buttons just right you could pull it
outta your ass.
SPILLER: You don’t get to talk about my ass.
BARROW: It’s a compliment. Good first issue, nice ass, too.

89

296
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. (05:45).
BARROW: Willa, right? I’m Brent Barrow.
MCPHEARSON: Oh, of course you are. Oh, I’m sorry. I mean, of course I know. I know
who you are.
BARROW: It’s alright. That story—the reverend who molested his kid and knocked up
her cheerleader friend is juicy. You’re a very talented young woman.
MCPHEARSON: Oh. Thank you, Mr. Barrow.
BARROW: What are you workin’ on now?
MCPHEARSON: Um, it’s the same story. The reverend’s daughter told me she’s the one
who killed her best friend.
BARROW: She confessed that to you?
MCPHEARSON: Yeah the cops don’t even know yet. Lucy thinks that the confession
cover might hit the stands before she’s even arrested. Chuck and I are going back today
to get her full interview.
BARROW: No, no. No, you don’t need to share your byline with an old boozer. Tell
Lucy to show you more respect. You’re editorial material, Willa.
MCPHEARSON: Thank you.
BARROW: Listen, please. Workers like you make my job an honor and a pleasure. (As
he rubs her right shoulder and walks away.)

297
Ibid. (22:20).
BARROW: What are you gonna do to celebrate? (He is talking about McPhearson’s
cover story.)
MCPHEARSON: Some of the gang told me they’d take me out for a drink.
BARROW: Well what about after?

298
Ibid. (36:48).
MCPHEARSON: Lucy thinks I’m an amateur. I’m so pissed at myself.
BARROW: Close your eyes and tell me what color you see. It’s a little trick I learned
from a bushman in Zimbabwe. What have you got to lose?
MCPHEARSON: Ok. Red.
BARROW: Put that red right there. (As he pulls her hair away from her face.)
BARROW: Now, see it run down. Down your shoulder, down your arm, onto your wrist,
your hand, fingers. (As he runs his hands all the way down McPhearson’s body.)
MCPHEARSON: What are you doing?
BARROW: No, shhhh. Don’t talk, don’t look. Just…no feeling’s bad if you know what
to do with it. (He is holding her hand.)
BARROW: What are you feeling right now? (As he touches her face and kisses her.)

299
Ibid. (41:20).
Barrow and McPhearson sleep together. She smiles and picks up a copy of the magazine
when he leaves the room. She is still in his bed.

90

300
Ibid. (41:53).

301
Episode 9: “This Is Not Your Father’s Hostage Situation,” Dirt. (07:38).
BARROW: Look—
MCPHEARSON: Did I say you could speak? Is it still in your ass? Better be. Meet me in
the supply closet in 20 minutes.

302
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (20:28).
BARROW: How much is Lucy paying? (He is talking to Willa with his hands up her
skirt. He is in his office, eating oysters with a bottle of wine on his coffee table.)
MCPHEARSON: We can talk dirty but we can’t talk Dirt.
BARROW: Any more rules?
MCPHEARSON: How about a pre-not-nup? Six weeks, and then we both walk away. No
obligations, no expectations.
BARROW: No crying.
MCPHEARSON: No cards at Christmas.
BARROW: Option to extend? (As McPhearson pulls his hands out of her.)
BARROW: I thought we were negotiating?
MCPHEARSON: I told you, work.

303
Episode 9: “This Is Not Your Father’s Hostage Situation,” Dirt. (23:37).
MCPHEARSON: Besides, I’m the one in control. He’s the one with the three-inch butt
plug in his ass. (She is talking to the maid about her relationship with Barrow.)

304
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (18:38).
SPILLER: You only worry about your image.
BARROW: I’m worried about the magazine’s image. What we publish has
consequences.

305
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (38:56).
BARROW: Beyond that, these photos, they’re smut. Publishing them is
just…sensationalism. (He is talking about the photos of Andre G’s head in McDaniel’s
wine cellar.)
SPILLER: This coming from a man who’s never had a magazine subscription he could
read with his pants on.

306
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (19:53).
MCDANIEL’S BUSINESS ASSOCIATE: Now, you can sit up here in your big ass
expensive office, in your $2,000 suit and your five buck tie and that punk ass haircut and
you gonna look me in my black face and you gonna tell me you don’t know shit? Come
on, man. You da man. You know every detail that happens in this office, don’t you? Am I
right? Am I right? Am I right? (He is confronting Barrow about the Andre G murder
story.)

91

307
Episode 9: “This Is Not Your Father’s Hostage Situation,” Dirt. (19:40).
MAID: I can tell a lot about a man from his office. Your friend has no photos, no
girlfriend, no wife, and no smiling children watching him from inside the frame while he
does his work. Just things, nothing that tells us why he’s here. (She is talking to
McPhearson about Barrow while the three of them are locked in the supply closet during
the hostage situation.)

308
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
39.

92

Chapter 6: Gibson Horne, the Media Owner

Tabloid tycoon Gibson Horne

is the owner of Dirt Now magazine. Horne only
appears in four episodes of Dirt during the first season. However, his presence looms in
every episode as if to remind Spiller that she does not always have the final say about the
publication and she certainly does not have as much power as she may think.
Researchers have found typical images of media owners in film and television to
be very negative.
309
Media owners are “amoral and affluent,”
310
functioning as the
villains of their media outlets. Furthermore, media moguls are often “money mad or
power hungry” and frequently “ignore the press’s duty to the public.”
311
On the contrary,
Horne does not come across as a villain or even as a disreputable businessman. He is
aloof enough in the series to be considered a smart and serious businessman who knows
how the media work.
William Randolph Hearst is likely “the most familiar real-life publisher in
American history.”
312
Hearst changed journalism “with his sensational coverage of crime,
sex, and disasters, his attacks on the rich.”
313
Horne’s tabloid focuses on similar
sensational coverage of the elite. As publisher, editor, and proprietor, Hearst had many
professional responsibilities.
314
Unlike Hearst, Horne functions only as owner of Dirt
Now, with a 30 percent interest in the company.
315
He never reports, writes, or edits
anything for Dirt Now, and he leaves the publishing up to Barrow. This representation of
Horne and Barrow highlights some of the differences between these fictional media
owners and publishers and the real life ones.

93
In earlier representations of journalism, media owners often took on the role of
publisher. Not so with Horne. As publisher, Barrow is subordinate to Horne. As Horne’s
watchdog, Barrow constantly reminds Spiller of Horne’s expectations for her and Dirt
Now
316
—especially fiscal responsibility.
317
Spiller calls Barrow “Gibson’s little
warrior.”
318
Though Spiller gets annoyed with Barrow as Horne’s messenger, she goes to
him when she wants to know if Horne is serious about firing her.
319
Next to Horne,
Barrow knows the most about the business side of the publication—an area Spiller is
often left out of.
Horne is the only one able to control Spiller. He threatens to replace Spiller with
her nemesis, Harrod.
320
While he genuinely likes Spiller as a person, he warns her not to
mistake his fondness for weakness because “I will tolerate a lot of things, but I will not
tolerate someone losing my money.”
321
His biggest issue with Spiller is not what she
publishes, but her “outta control” spending
322
and issues with magazine overhead, sell-
through, and efficiencies. He tells Spiller that her inability to control Dirt Now’s budget is
a serious problem and if she does not fix it he will bury her.
323

Spiller takes Horne seriously and decides to combine Dirt and Now magazines
into one publication in order to cut their overhead by not just the 20 percent Horne
demands, but by a projected 50 percent.
324
Initially, Horne is not thrilled with the idea.
He tells Spiller, “When I bought Now magazine I thought I paid my way to legitimacy. I
bought an institution.”
325
He does not hold the more sensational Dirt magazine to as high
a standard as he does the more lifestyle-focused Now. Horne tells Spiller if Now
magazine is culturally irrelevant, then so is he. Spiller tells Horne that there is still time to

94
change and adapt to contemporary culture to satisfy their readers. He asks her, “Is this the
shape we want for the culture?”
326
He understands that the industry he works in has a
powerful impact on society. He is not excited about combining the magazines, but he
gives Spiller the opportunity to try it out.
327
If she fails, he warns her, Harrod will have
her job.
Horne is known for living by economic theories like, “let the marketplace
decide”
328
and “scared money doesn’t make money.”
329
He knows how to make money
and he is good at running a successful tabloid. When Horne is angry with Spiller for
bailing Konkey out of jail with Dirt Now’s money, she responds, “Oh what’s a few
million to you? You just made that clearing your throat.”
330
Clearly, Horne has made a lot
of money for himself and his tabloid. That is not a secret around Hollywood, either.
When Dawson’s lawyer threatens Spiller and Barrow with a lawsuit, he tells them they
“will settle for everything in Gibson Horne’s portfolio.”
331
Horne is serious about his
money and his investment in Dirt Now. He will fire any employee who becomes a
liability. When Gage tells a group of reporters he gave Spiller Mallory’s sex tape in
return for favorable coverage in Dirt Now, Horne threatens to fire Spiller. Barrow tells
Spiller it is not about a lawsuit, rather “the perception that Dirt Now magazine trades
stories with celebrities.”
332
Like many other images of media owners in film and
television, Horne personifies the journalist as “a victim of a business that wants profit at
any price.”
333

Even though Horne has to constantly keep Spiller on track and always threatens
her job, he admits when he is wrong.
334
He even calls Spiller “Sweet Pea.”
335
He is

95
likable and slightly intimidating because he is straightforward with his employees and
serious about his job and about his money. He gives the impression that as a media
owner, he is omnipotent. He does not need to be in the office every day from nine o’clock
to five o’clock because he has made his expectations perfectly clear.

96

Chapter 6 Endnotes

309
“Those who own the media in films and TV programs—whether publishers of
newspapers or owners of broadcasting and new media—have often tried to use the media
for their own ends.” Loren Ghiglione and Joe Saltzman. “Fact or Fiction: Hollywood
Looks at the News,” p. 18.

310
Ibid.

311
Ibid.

312
Ibid.

313
Ibid.

314
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, “William Randolph Hearst.”
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000429/. (accessed March
2008).

315
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (26:00).

316
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (01:16).
BARROW: Numbers don’t lie. Dirt Now had a huge launch, but it’s slipping. The Sexxx
issue was a disaster.
SPILLER: OK, well if you factor out the Walmart boycott the Sexxx issue pumped our
newsstand by 20 percent.
BARROW: Yes. Factor it in and our net took a 10 percent hit.
SPILLER: We launched a new book and became one of the top celebrity weeklies in the
nation.
BARROW: Gibson Horne is not interested in last month. He expects to be top dog. The
Hostage Memorial issue didn’t move, Sexxx, TueLu. Hard to justify that beefed-up
security budget for an editor whose circulation numbers are trending down.
SPILLER: OK, so I need a big cover. What a great idea, Brent. Thank god, you’re here.
Tell Gibson to relax. I’ll deliver a monster cover. I always do.

317
Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. (26:00)
BARROW: Gib asked me to look at some sales spending ratios, and someone needs a
little intervention. (He is talking to Spiller about her reckless spending.)

318
Ibid. (29:36).

97

319
Episode 13: “Ita Missa Est,” Dirt. (17:16).
SPILLER: OK, no bullshit. Is Gibson floating my job out to Tina Harrod? (As she storms
into Barrow’s office.)

320
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (08:10).
HORNE: Lucy, are you familiar with Tina Harrod?”
SPILLER: The one who disgraced her magazine by Photoshopping the cover?
HORNE: No, the one who got her newsstand up over 150 percent in less than a year.
She’s got some very interesting ideas about our operation.
SPILLER: Are you talking about bringing her in under me?
HORNE: Instead of you.

321
Ibid.

322
Ibid.
HORNE: See, Brent’s been bringing me up to speed on the numbers and it seems to me
your spending’s outta control. (Talking to Spiller.)

323
Ibid.

324
Ibid. (42:25).
SPILLER: You will never forget this moment. This is what we both live for. You wanna
cut your overhead by 20 percent? How bout 50? We combined the magazines. One
monster publication. The credibility of Now with all the lurid fun of Dirt.
HORNE: Hmm. A glossy tabloid.
SPILLER: It is more than that. No, this is People magazine with a healthy dose of screw
you. It’s the National Enquirer without the penis enlargement ads. Walmart mommy will
love it and so will the rich sorority girls.

325
Ibid.

326
Ibid.
SPILLER: Now magazine brought America to the second half of the 20
th
century. It was
solid and it was dependable, but it is over. It’s culturally irrelevant.
HORNE: Well, then I’m culturally irrelevant.
SPILLER: No. Not if you change. Not if you charge the old with the new. Look at Blair
and Logan. These are two has-beens that became huge because they joined forces. We
have the chance to shape American culture.
HORNE: Is this the shape we want for the culture?

327
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (01:08).
KONKEY: Lucy’s magazines were in trouble so she convinced Gibson Horne to merge
them into one.

98

328
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (42:25).
SPILLER: You’re the one who always says let the marketplace decide. (She is talking to
Horne.)

329
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (28:23).
SPILLER: You always told me, scared money doesn’t make money. (She is talking to
Horne.)

330
Ibid. (29:12).

331
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. (30:39).

332
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (17: 58).
SPILLER: This is bullshit! He’s going to fire me over an allegation?
BARROW: Or, you know, merely suspend. Nothing’s definitive.
SPILLER: There is nothing that ties me to this story, nothing. Tell him to take me to
court.
BARROW: You’ve already been tried sweetie, by the highest court of the land—the
court of public opinion.
SPILLER: OK, I’ll counter sue. Defamation of character and slander.
BARROW: It’s not about the goddamn lawsuit, Spiller. It’s about the perception that Dirt
Now magazine trades stories with celebrities. Now, I’m not asking if it’s true or false, I
don’t want to know. But blackmail? That’s a serious allegation.

333
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
26.

99

334
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (28:23).
HORNE: I heard my magazine went and bailed out some psychotic photographer. Then I
thought, what kind of idiot would risk my holding, not to mention their entire career, over
some pap who nabs the occasional saggin’ titties and rumpled asses on some future
Hollywood square? (He says this to Spiller about how she bailed Konkey out of jail when
he got arrested for trespassing on Dawson’s private property.)
SPILLER: Do you mind if I speak frankly?
HORNE: No, by all means.
SPILLER: Why do you give a shit? Have you seen the sell-through? Fifty-nine percent.
People magazine would suck your dick for those numbers.
HORNE: You haven’t answered my question yet. Am I gonna get—
SPILLER: Sued? Yea, most likely. But that price tag is going to pale compared to what
you’ll pull in. And besides, you always told me scared money doesn’t make money.
HORNE: Neither does stupid money.
SPILLER: Oh, what’s a few million to you? You just made that clearing your throat. Don
Konkey had this week’s cover sitting inside of him. It was business. It was really good
business.
HORNE: OK. What’s the cover?
SPILLER: Photos of Jack Dawson fondling another guy’s nut sack.
HORNE: Jack Dawson? Well that’s not your average Hollywood fag story. I’ll give you
that. Oh Lucy, well, I guess I came all this way for nothing.
SPILLER: No, actually I think it’s a pretty good time to talk about my raise.

335
Ibid. (29:12).
HORNE: Well, I guess I came all this way for nothing.
SPILLER: No, actually I think it’s a pretty good time to talk about my raise.
HORNE: Have a seat, Sweet Pea.

100

Chapter 7: Chuck Lafoon, the Investigative Reporter

Spiller calls in Chuck Lafoon, the Dirt Now “spooks and kooks guy,”
336
to solve
the Walnut Valley cheerleader murder. Lafoon appears in Dirt as the investigative
reporter for two episodes. According to Hugo de Burgh’s Investigative Journalism:
Context and Practice,
An investigative journalist is a man or woman whose profession it is to discover
the truth and to identify lapses from it in whatever media may be available. The
act of doing this generally is…distinct from apparently similar work done by
police, lawyers, auditors, and regulatory bodies in that it is not limited as to target,
not legally founded, and closely connected to publicity.
337

Lafoon functions a lot like a detective for Dirt Now’s crime stories.
Lafoon has experience, credentials, two Pope Awards, and one Peabody
338

Award.
339
He has a history with Spiller and actually taught her a lot of what she knows
about journalism.
340
In Walnut Valley, Lafoon tells McPhearson, “Everything [Spiller]
knows about reporting she learned from me.”
341
Lafoon was Spiller’s mentor when they
worked together at the Tribune a number of years ago.
342
Not intimidated by Spiller, he is
one of the few characters to challenge her. He does not ask Spiller for permission and he
does things his way.
343
For example, he tells Spiller she is not being objective on the
Walnut Valley cheerleader murder story because her father’s suicide leads her to become
emotionally involved with the case.
344
Also, when Spiller shows Lafoon her cover on the
story, Lafoon tells her that it is not accurate.
345
She argues with him, calling the cover a
sales tool, and Lafoon angrily replies, “This is why I don’t do this anymore. I get sent in

101
to get facts and they get twisted around to make the cover work.”
346
He cares more about
the accuracy of his stories than about increasing Dirt Now’s circulation.
Investigative reporters, like war correspondents, “always work tirelessly to aid the
public.”
347
Lafoon’s investigative reporting is not typically as hard-hitting as other
traditional print investigative reporters’ may be. When Spiller tells him she needs him on
the Walnut Valley cheerleader murder story, Lafoon replies, “You already have me up to
my ears in nuts and sluts. I got Family Keeps Pet Hippo in Living Room and Idaho Potato
Looks Like Virgin Mary.”
348
While he does take his job seriously, he does not hold it to
high standards. He tells McPhearson he “was a respected journalist”
349
when he worked
for the Tribune. Dirt mocks the seriousness of investigative journalists who work for
tabloids.
Investigative reporters “usually risk life and limb to get the story that will help the
public.”
350
Because they are often threatened or beaten up, they become “legitimate
heroes.”
351
Investigative journalists in film and television “often end up dead.”
352
Lafoon
never risks his life—he never even gets into verbal confrontations. Although his work
with McPhearson on the cheerleader murder results in justice being served, Lafoon does
not ever become a hero. While he is a voice for traditional journalistic ethics—he
understands objectivity and does not believe in distorting stories to increase sales—he
takes part in the twisted tabloid world even though he looks down on his own job. This
makes it difficult to see Lafoon as more honorable than the rest of the Dirt Now
employees.

102
Lafoon does seem to be an expert on how to investigate and report on crimes.
353

Even though the Walnut Valley district attorney tells him the department agreed they
would not talk to the press,
354
Lafoon manages to manipulate the district attorney into
telling him that Amber Carmichael, the murdered cheerleader, was pregnant.
355
He does
this by telling the district attorney that people become heroes in cases like Carmichael’s
by bringing justice to their communities.
356
Like Spiller, Lafoon has to pay for exclusive
information. He pays the medical examiner $20,000 for her report on Carmichael.
357

Because Lafoon works for Dirt Now, his job becomes more about getting the exclusive
story than solving the crime.
Lafoon’s reputation as an investigative reporter extends to Walnut Valley.
358
His
character is relatively likable, but falls into the-journalist-as-an-alcoholic stereotype.
359

Holding a drink in his hand almost every time he is in Spiller’s office,
360
he is the only
journalist in Dirt with an alcohol problem.
361

His biggest contribution to Dirt Now is giving McPhearson pointers on how to be
a good reporter and helping along her career. “You want to be a good reporter?” he asks
her. “Remember this: everyone wants to tell their story. You’ve gotta cultivate your
source one question at a time. Sometimes, no questions.”
362
Even though Lafoon is
brought in to solve the Walnut Valley cheerleader murder, he lets McPhearson take the
byline—giving her her first cover story.
363
He comforts McPhearson when she thinks she
makes a mistake on the cover story. He even calls her his protégé.
364
While he may not
feel strong loyalties to Dirt Now, he demonstrates a passion for the field of journalism.

103

Chapter 7 Endnotes

336
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (05:47).

337
Hugo de Burgh (ed). Investigative Journalism: Context and Practice, London,
England and New York, NY: Routledge, 2006. p. 9.

338
According to the Peabody Awards Web site, “first presented in 1941, the George
Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished achievement and meritorious service by
broadcasters, cable and Webcasters, producing organizations, and individuals. The
awards program is administered by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass
Communication at the University of Georgia. Selection is made each spring by the
Peabody Board, a 16-member panel of distinguished academics, television critics,
industry practitioners, and experts in culture and the arts.” “George Foster Peabody
Awards,” (University of Georgia),
http://www.peabody.uga.edu/overview_history/index.php. (accessed March 2008).

339
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (03:29).

340
Ibid. (04:24).
SPILLER: She seems hungry. Maybe she’ll learn something from you.
LAFOON: Like you did?

341
Ibid. (05:47).

342
Ibid.

343
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. (07:12).
MCPHEARSON: Will you clear it with Lucy?
LAFOON: We’ll tell her after.

344
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (19:49).
LAFOON: You’re not objective.
SPILLER: Excuse me?
LAFOON: This story, I know why you’re so obsessed by it…it’s the girl. I remember
way back one night you got drunk at McLooty’s and told me the whole story of your
father’s suicide. How you found his body when you were 15, how you never understood
why he did it. You were 15, just like this girl. You said you died that day. Your words, ‘I
died that day.’ You said that’s why you wanted to be a reporter, so you can know the why
of things.

104

345
Ibid. (41:06).
(A cover flashes on the conference room’s projection screen with a photo of the reverend
and the headline He did it! Rev’s Shocking Admission!)
SPILLER: What do you think?
LAFOON: I think it’s not accurate.
SPILLER: Excuse me?
LAFOON: It implies he killed the girl.
SPILLER: He’s her minister, he got her pregnant, she’s murdered. Readers will draw
their own conclusions.
LAFOON: Off a headline that reads He Did It?
SPILLER: It refers to getting her pregnant.
LAFOON: Oh please. The cover’s a lie and you know it.

346
Ibid.

347
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
36.

348
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (03:29).

349
Ibid. (05:47).

350
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
36.

351
Ibid.

352
Ibid.

353
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (008:22).
LAFOON: Local cops, they got nothing.
MCPHEARSON: How can you tell?
LAFOON: No one’s talking to them, they’re talking to no one.
MCPHEARSON: Well maybe they’re just being respectful?
LAFOON: Their mistake. Killer isn’t ID’d in the first 24 hours, probably won’t be. No
one in this crowd’s gonna give up any dirt on the girl. No dirt, no suspect.
MCPHEARSON: Well if they’re not gonna give it up for their own cops, what makes
you think that they’re gonna talk to us?
LAFOON: We’re in a church. Maybe we can get a blessing from the reverend.

105

354
Ibid. (16:13).
DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The chief and I agreed we are not talking to the press.
LAFOON: On the record… (He is following the Walnut Valley district attorney out of
the City Hall building.)
DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It is a matter in our local justice system. We are gonna let the
system do the work.
LAFOON: Thanks, that’s great. (He is writing down what the district attorney is saying
on a reporter’s notepad.)
LAFOON: Seriously. No, I get it. Let the system do the work. It’s a strong quote. Aloof,
in charge, gives the sense you’re closing in. Have you worked a lot of big high-profile
murder cases?
DISTRICT ATTORNEY: High profile? This is Walnut Valley.

355
Ibid.
DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Alright. The Emmy’s report won’t be out for a couple of days.
But the victim, the girl, she was pregnant. (He tells Lafoon the twist of the case.)

356
Ibid.
LAFOON: That’s an amazing guy. The book-worthy cases always have great characters
like that, a leading man making the case, and a twist. You gotta have a twist.

357
Ibid. (40:25).
LAFOON: These stories always need great characters, a hero making the case. Could be
the medical examiner.
MEDICAL EXAMINER: You can drop the sales pitch. National Enquirer’s already
offered me 10 grand for a first look at my report. So, what’s it really worth?”
LAFOON: This small town’s just not as quaint as it used to be, is it? Twenty grand, cash.
And that’s exclusive. No one else sees it.
MEDICAL EXAMINER: OK.

358
Ibid. (16:13).
DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Blue—you’re Chuck LaFoon. I knew I knew you. I read your
book. Did you read his book? (He asks McPhearson.)

359
Ibid. (03:29).
SPILLER: OK. I want Willa McPhearson to go with you.
LAFOON: You think a chaperone can keep me on the wagon?

360
Ibid. (19:49).
Lafoon is drinking dark liquor on the rocks in Spiller’s office.

106

361
Ibid.
LAFOON: You can start negating my concern by focusing on my alcoholism. I can see
I’m a drunk.

362
Ibid. (06:50).

363
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. (07:12).
MCPHEARSON: Look, Chuck, she’s a sexual abuse victim. I don’t want her to clam up
because there’s a man in the room.
LAFOON: Little Willa wants to fly solo and not share her byline.
MCPHEARSON: It’s nothing personal. It’s just, Lucy’s wrong. I don’t need help with
this.
LAFOON: I agree.
MCPHEARSON: Really?
LAFOON: You got my blessing.

364
Ibid. (33:10).
LAFOON: Seen this? (As he holds up the Dirt Now issue of Sweet’s confession while
McPhearson wipes up the entire pot of coffee she spilled in the break room.)
LAFOON: She didn’t do it, Chuck. She was covering for her father. (She is upset. She
thinks her cover story is inaccurate.)
LAFOON: Cops found the baton, plenty of prints. Maddy, not Daddy.
MCPHEARSON: That’s because it was her baton.
LAFOON: The medical examiner matched the angle and depth of Amber’s stab wounds
to Maddy’s height and weight. Innocent until proven guilty, of course. Arise my little
protégé, and join the ranks. (As he helps McPhearson up off the floor.)
MCPHEARSON: I shouldn’t have cut you out. I wasn’t ready.
LAFOON: You did great.
MCPHEARSON: No. I didn’t handle it right. I let her get to me.
LAFOON: When it stops getting to you, that’s when you’re in trouble.

107

Chapter 8: Kenny, the Assistant

As editor-in-chief, Spiller is the only Dirt character given an assistant.
365
Kenny
(Ankur Bhatt)—who is never given a last name—does not appear until the third
episode.
366
Spiller introduces her assistant
367
to Konkey as “Lenny.” Kenny attempts to
correct her only to have Spiller reply, “Whatever.”
368
Spiller does not seem to care much
about Kenny as a person. It does not matter to her what his name is or when his child will
be born. What matters is his efficiency. Like every other Dirt Now employee, Kenny is
easily disposable and replaceable and Spiller does not get attached.
Kenny struggles through the stereotypical assistant-just-can’t-seem-to-get-it-right-
with-his-boss dilemma. When Naomi (Alexi Wasser), a female reporter, asks Kenny how
his new job is going, he sarcastically replies, “Well, my penmanship sucks and I was only
a half an hour early this morning, which I guess is still considered late. On the bright side,
her coffee was a perfect shade of shit, so I’m happy.”
369
Kenny’s job description includes
taking phone calls and messages for Spiller, reminding her of appointments and, of
course, making sure she always has a fresh cup of coffee,
370
a cold bottle of artesian
water, or an aspirin.
371
Initially Kenny has trouble getting Spiller’s coffee to resemble the
“Spanish leather” color she prefers it to be.
372

Kenny even takes care of some of Spiller’s personal messages and appointments
which have nothing to do with Dirt Now, such as when he reminds Spiller that she has to
get her mother’s sunglasses and hat before she picks her mother up from her plastic
surgery.
373
It does not take Kenny long to figure out how difficult it is to please Spiller.

108
Yet, Kenny does not get discouraged easily. He tries to understand how Spiller works and
not to take her sarcastic remarks personally.
Naomi is the only character who seems to pay any attention to Kenny. When he
starts out at Dirt Now she tries to give him a few pointers on how to avoid vexing Spiller.
She warns Kenny that Spiller’s last assistant was fired after she caught him on the phone
with his wedding caterer.
374
Unfortunately for Kenny, his wedding is also in the works.
Spiller finds out about Kenny’s unborn child and future wedding and warns him that he
“better not be planning wedding shit on my dime.” Kenny, seemingly more confident
around Spiller, sarcastically remarks, “I’m on my lunch, and it’s actually baby shit.”
375

It does not take long for Kenny to get comfortable with his position and with
Spiller’s unpredictable orders. Kenny manages to keep his personal life from interfering
with his work at Dirt Now. He only makes one meager attempt to talk to Spiller about the
floral arrangements for his wedding; she tells him she is not interested.
376
As annoyed as
Spiller claims to be with personal life getting in the way of Dirt Now, she does allow
Kenny to leave early from work one day for Lamaze class.
377

Eventually Kenny begins to understand what Dirt Now means to Spiller
378
and
starts to get the hang of his job. He is ready to grab Spiller’s purse out of her hands and
replace it with a steaming cup of Spanish-leather colored coffee as soon as she gets to the
office.
379
It appears as though Spiller prefers Kenny to her last assistant, even though he
comes with a bit more personal baggage. Regardless of how tolerable Spiller may have
been finding Kenny, his character does not live through the ninth episode. When former
child star Winter takes Spiller and the rest of Dirt Now hostage, he shoots and kills

109
Kenny.
380
Naomi is the one most affected by Kenny’s murder; Spiller does not seem
fazed. In fact, no one brings Kenny up after the hostage situation. The offices of Dirt
Now return to normal and Spiller moves on with her career, without an assistant. The fact
that Spiller continues on with the daily operations of Dirt Now without even so much as
pausing to acknowledge the death of her assistant is a testament to her personal values
and her priorities.

110

Chapter 8 Endnotes

365
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s bureau of labor statistics, “editors often
have assistants, many of whom hold entry-level jobs. These assistants, frequently called
copy editors, review copy for errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling and check the
copy for readability, style, and agreement with editorial policy. They suggest revisions,
such as changing words and rearranging sentences and paragraphs, to improve clarity or
accuracy. They also carry out research for writers and verify facts, dates, and statistics. In
addition, they may arrange page layouts of articles, photographs, and advertising;
compose headlines; and prepare copy for printing. Publication assistants who work for
publishing houses may read and evaluate manuscripts submitted by freelance writers,
proofread printers’ galleys, and answer letters about published material. Assistants on
small newspapers or in radio stations compile articles available from wire services or the
Internet, answer phones, and make photocopies,” “Assistants,” (U.S. Department of
Labor), http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos089.htm. (accessed March 2008).

366
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (15:42).

367
The word assistant dates back to the 15
th
century. By definition, an assistant is
“somebody who works to somebody else’s instructions,”
367
or in other words, “a
subordinate to another person.” “Assistant,” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary),
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assistant (accessed March 2008).

368
Ibid.
KENNY: Your brother called about dinner again.
SPILLER: Lenny this is Don, Don this is my new assistant, Lenny.
KENNY: Kenny. (He corrects Spiller.)
SPILLER: Whatever.

369
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (12:48).
NAOMI: So, how’s it going?
KENNY: Well, my penmanship sucks and I was only a half an hour early this morning,
which I guess is still considered late. On the bright side, her coffee was a perfect shade of
shit, so I’m happy.

370
Ibid. (04:54).
KENNY: Does Mom have a name?
SPILLER: Well, I like Bitch Face but why don’t we just stick with Dorothy?
KENNY: OK. February 20, Dorothy’s wedding.
SPILLER: That can’t be the date.
KENNY: Well, yesterday’s the 18
th
, today’s the 19
th
so…is there a problem?
SPILLER: Where’s my coffee?

111

371
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (06:22).
SPILLER: Kenny, aspirin!

372
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (04:39).
KENNY: Oh, and here’s your coffee.
SPILLER: That’s not Spanish leather. (As she picks up a color chart to indicate the color
she likes her coffee to be.)
SPILLER: That’s rawhide. Use the color chip until you get it.

373
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (17:32).
KENNY: And don’t forget, stop at Mom’s house. Get her hat and sunglasses.
SPILLER: Mom’s? What are we, brother and sister now?

374
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (12:48).
NAOMI: You’re going to do fine, just as long as you don’t make the mistake the last guy
did.
KENNY: What’s that?
NAOMI: Get married.
KENNY: What do you mean?
NAOMI: Last guy was getting married. All his wedding prep interfered with his work.
She canned his ass after she caught him on the phone with his caterer.
KENNY: Shit.
NAOMI: Are you getting married?
KENNY: I have to. Because of the baby.

375
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (23:03).

376
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (07:28).
KENNY: So we’ll do the flowers ourselves. Fine, I’ll call then, I will. I gotta go. (He is
on the phone at his desk, talking about his wedding.)
KENNY: Sorry. People hear it’s a wedding and the prices triple.
SPILLER: Not interested. (As she keeps walking past him.)

377
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (17:32).
SPILLER: What?
KENNY: OK if I leave? I have a Lamaze class.
SPILLER: Fine.

112

378
Ibid. (17:58).
SPILLER: I’ll sleep when they put a stake in my heart. (As she gets up and walks out of
her office.)
MCPHEARSON: She’s not kidding, is she?
KENNY: Nope.

379
Episode 9: “This Is Not Your Father’s Hostage Situation,” Dirt. (04:55).
The moment Spiller walks into the Dirt Now office, Kenny brings her a mug of coffee
and takes her purse.

380
Ibid. (37:02).
WINTER: Hey Kenny, can you go get me a drink? (He is getting frustrated that the office
is now more focused on getting their story out rather than him with his gun.)
KENNY: Um, can you just give me one second?” (He is flipping through photos with
Naomi, seemingly uninterested in Winter.)
WINTER: What did you say?
KENNY: We’re just finishing up. The drinks are in the fridge. It’s right over there.
SAMMY: Oh, OK, no problem. I’ll go get the drink. Um, that’s a really good one. Use
that one. (He is talking about one of the pictures that Kenny is flipping through for the
story.)
WINTER: Oh, ah, Kenny… (He turns around and walks away from Kenny and Naomi.
Then he turns back around and shoots and kills Kenny.)
WINTER: Wow. (He seems surprised with his actions. He is smiling, happy to have
some leverage back on the situation.)

113

Chapter 9: Dirt Now, the Tabloid Publication

Together, editor-in-chief Spiller, paparazzo Konkey, reporter McPhearson,
publisher Barrow, owner Horne, investigative reporter Lafoon, and assistant Kenny make
up the heart of the Dirt Now tabloid team. Every character functions differently to put out
weekly covers that wow readers and to keep the publication running smoothly.
New York City, New York, may be the media capital of the world and editorial
home for more than 350 magazines,
381
but Hollywood, California, is the entertainment
capital
382
and the feeding ground for a different breed of publications: the tabloid
magazine. The Dirt series films in Hollywood,
383
where Dirt Now focuses on celebrity
and scandal rather than fashion or politics. The entertainment industry provides Spiller
and the staff of Dirt Now with weekly opportunities to expose the scandals of A-list
celebrities. Spiller never seems to run out of potential material for her publication, but
cover selection is critical. Celebrity drug dealer Garbo (Carly Pope) thinks Spiller has
such an abundance of juicy gossip because, “This is Hollywood, betrayal should have its
on star on the walk.”
384
Celebrity thrives in the competitive entertainment industry in
Hollywood, but the celebrities know there is always someone watching their every move.
That someone is Dirt Now.
Tabloid journalism differs from other journalism primarily because of its content.
The word tabloid
385
dates back to 1901 and is often used to describe publications known
for their sensationalist style, “featuring stories of violence, crime, or scandal presented in
a sensational manner.”
386
Dirt Now publishes weekly, giving the staff significantly more

114
rushed schedules than monthly magazines, but not as rushed as dailies. Like print
newspapers, Dirt Now’s editorial staff wants it to be the publication to break the news
and the first to get the story to readers. Because of this, Dirt Now sometimes functions
more like a daily newspaper with looming deadlines and late nights, than as a typical
monthly magazine. Dirt gives viewers a first-hand view of how a tabloid is run. Every
episode focuses on getting the next cover by any means possible—the cover the other
tabloids won’t be able to get.
Tabloids are not a modern phenomenon. They have been around for more than
one thousand years in one form or another simply because people have always wanted to
be in on the hottest gossip of the day. For example, the epigram, a brief and witty piece of
verse, was the “most convenient ancient form for gossip, news, or propaganda.”
387
Early
“journalists” figured out in the 15th century that the public wanted to read about scandal,
violence, and crime.
388
Many early tabloid journalists did not “worry about what was real
or false.”
389
The modern-day tabloid journalists of Dirt Now exemplify some of the
qualities of early tabloid journalists.
Yellow journalism thrived in the 1890s as a form of journalism that “choked up
the news channels on which the common people depended with a shrieking, gaudy,
sensation-loving, devil-may-care kind of journalism.”
390
It was not until the 1930s
through the 1950s that “Hollywood gossip columnists…achieved enormous power”
391

when they developed the practice of reporting on the gritty details of celebrity life.
Journalists have chronicled the behavior of the celebrities the public watches on the silver
screen for nearly 80 years.

115
Although modern tabloid journalism seems to have recently exploded
(transcending print publications—broadcast and cable channels today are filled with
entertainment magazine programs including Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight,
and TMZ and the Internet is home to the gossip blogger), even “the earliest local news
merchant was branded a gossip, a busybody, a witch, and treated with contempt in life
and literature.”
392
While people have always been quick to decry gossip and exploitation,
they continue to buy publications like Dirt Now. It appears as though the public has a
love-hate relationship with tabloids like Dirt Now and shows like Access Hollywood. On
the one hand, people often decry the means—such as hidden cameras or undercover
reporting
393
—that tabloid journalists use to get their stories; yet, they snap their
publications up at the supermarket.
Dirt demonstrates how tabloids like Dirt Now function as an important (arguably
necessary) role in the “checks and balances” of celebrity society. Often, Dirt Now has
exclusive, scandalous information on someone, which translates to power over that
person.
394
Hollywood’s A-list celebrities, like the general public, share a love-hate
relationship with Dirt Now and other tabloid publications. Although celebrities often
cringe at pictures of themselves with cellulite circled or stories focusing on their illegal
drug addictions, these same celebrities realize that publications like Dirt Now have the
ability to boost their careers and create them as celebrities by reporting on them.
395
The
celebrities in Dirt know that good coverage in a popular tabloid is invaluable.
396
Gage
explains how this system works to a group of paparazzi when asked about his and

116
Mallory’s sex tape, “Come on, you guys know how this works. You get good press. You
wash Lucy Spiller’s hands, she gives you good coverage in her magazines.”
397

A-list celebrities like Mallory or McLaren get into Dirt Now because the hottest
celebrities sell the tabloid.
398
Those with careers on the down slope have to be involved in
something truly incredible to get Spiller’s attention.
399

At one point Winter, a disgruntled former child star, gets so upset with Spiller and
Dirt Now because the tabloid will not run a story on him that he holds the entire Dirt Now
office hostage
400
and even kills Spiller’s assistant. Once the Winter hostage situation is
picked up nationally by broadcast outlets, Spiller agrees to do the story from inside the
crisis,
401
because she knows that now people will want to read about Winter again. Spiller
knows how the media work. When Gage breaks down and panics about being accused of
raping Mallory and selling the sex tape to Dirt Now, he begs Spiller to help him look
good in the media again. “Stick to my script,” she tells him, “I’ll get your life back on
track.”
402
But Spiller does not usually do things for other people just to be nice. She
always thinks about how any situation can benefit Dirt Now. Even though she helps Gage
look good to the public again, she makes sure he gives her publication credit.
403

Directors want the most popular actors to star in their films and can tell who is
popular by flipping through Dirt Now.
404
Even celebrities who claim to loathe Dirt Now
are shown reading or buying copies whether the stories about them are good or bad.
405

Dirt Now has a huge impact on the lives of the celebrities it features. As much as
celebrities claim to be bothered by paparazzi following them, TV shows like Access
Hollywood talking about them, and tabloids like Dirt Now exploiting them, some stars

117
may need publications like Dirt Now to remain in the public eye. For them, it may be far
worse to be out of the public eye than to be in it for something controversial.
406

Just as good press can be great for a celebrity’s career, bad press can be
detrimental. When Spiller invites Mallory to Dirt Now to show her that they have proof
that she leaked her own sex tape, Mallory panics. She begs Spiller to keep her secret in
the “infamous vault,” where Spiller keeps her best stories,
407
and tells her,
This could be our secret, if you kept it. Johnny Gage has already taken the blame
for this, it’s over. I can give you anything, exclusives. Dirt Now can be my
magazine. We can be a great team, Lucy. I’ll give you stories, and you’ll give me
covers. That’s how it works right?

Spiller calmly replies, “I’m not for sale, Julia.” Mallory then gets down on her
knees and begs,
I know. I didn’t mean that. You’re not; I am. I’m the one for sale. I’ll be your star.
I’ll feed you anything you need. I told you I knew about this vault, just keep the
story on the inside and you can own me. I don’t mind being owned.
408

Spiller chooses to run the sex tape story anyway, figuring the money Dirt Now
would make from sales would exceed the benefits from blackmailing Mallory for tips and
stories.
409

While Dirt focuses on the consequences of irresponsible journalism, the series
also highlights the entertainment industry as an entity that is arguably equally corrupt.
For example, even though Konkey has pictures of Dawson and Leo engaging in
homosexual activity, Dawson blatantly lies about the origin of the photographs and
blames tabloids on publishing anything they want without caring about accuracy. Dawson
tells Access Hollywood, “Tabloids will print anything to sell a paper…even if they have

118
to make it up.”
410
Both Dirt Now journalists and Hollywood celebrities are involved in a
twisted relationship where they use one another for fame and fortune.
With the publication of the written word comes the threat of libel lawsuits.
411

Spiller not only pushes her racy covers because she thinks they are sourced legitimately,
she also pushes them because the money Dirt Now would rake in from sales would be
significantly more than the publication would have to pay in damages if a lawsuit ever
did develop.
412
As long as Dirt Now’s stories come from reliable sources, Spiller is
willing to publish them. Spiller is never threatened by the looming legal department of
Dirt Now. She always focuses on getting the cover out first and dealing with the mess it
may leave later.
413
However, a responsible journalist would likely not disregard the law
in the name of getting a story.
When Dirt Now exposes action star Dawson as a closeted homosexual, Dawson
sends his lawyers to speak with Spiller and Barrow about a possible lawsuit. Spiller and
Barrow take control of the conversation by giving Dawson’s lawyer the option to
continue with the lawsuit, when Barrow explains that Dirt Now will have their
lawyers call every gigolo, masseuse, trainer, pool boy, and ass toy Jack’s ever
employed. All the rumors, innuendos, and impressions become facts of the case
and that means we can publish them. I mean that should be worth, what do you
think, five covers, at least? Jack Dawson will be America’s proud, gay icon.
414

When Spiller tells the lawyer his second option is to drop the lawsuit the lawyer
replies, “The damage has been done, people. There’s not enough money to indemnify you
against the lawsuit we will bring. One year from today, you will all be working for Jack
Dawson, well, until he fires you.” Both Barrow and Spiller smile confidently as the

119
lawyer leaves their office. Dirt Now doesn’t flinch at the threat of a lawsuit when its
sources are solid.
Dirt Now is threatened with another lawsuit when Mallory accuses Spiller of
“bartering with a rapist”
415
to get hold of her sex tape. The lawsuit never develops,
though, because Spiller finds out that Mallory leaked her own tape to boost her career.
416

Again, Dirt Now relies on blackmail and bribery to keep lawsuits to a minimum.
Many people believe photos in magazines are tampered with in order to portray a
specific image,
417
often by using Adobe Photoshop software.
418
Dirt addresses this issue.
When Spiller shows her brother the proof of the cover that will expose Dawson as a
homosexual, she tells her brother that Dirt Now’s photo department will Photoshop Leo’s
face out so readers won’t recognize him.
419
Although the publication is not tampering
with the image to change its meaning, they still tamper with it to change it. Spiller brings
up the issue of using Photoshop to doctor tabloid photographs on one other occasion. She
tells Dirt Now owner Gibson Horne that Tina Harrod “disgraced her magazine by
Photoshopping the cover.”
420
Spiller shows contempt for other tabloids that use
Photoshop, but she is not above using the software when it will benefit her.
421

One reason the viewer may have trouble trusting the journalism behind Dirt Now
is that many of the tabloid’s articles are superficial. Dirt Now does write some lighter
stories about such items as well-endowed actors and celebrity camel toe.
422
Some viewers
might find such stories to be ill-spirited and vindictive because,
If the end result is not in the public interest, then no matter what the journalist
does, no matter how much he or she struggles with his or her conscience or tries
to do the right thing, evil has won out.
423

120
So if viewers do not believe Dirt Now’s salacious articles do anything to serve the
public interest, they are more likely to look down on the staff of the magazine and
characters in the series. On the other hand, this could be precisely why viewers are
interested in the series. After all, it is why tabloids sell. An important question to address
is who can really decide what news is in a time when anyone with an Internet connection
can call him or herself a journalist. Dirt Now never tries to sell issues under the pretense
that its stories contain the level of hard news in publications like USA Today or the Time.
However, the publication does break entertainment news and does provide stories that
affect a number of people—regardless of whether or not their reporting is fair and ethical.
As with most publications, Dirt Now functions as much as a business as it does a
tabloid. Sales of each issue depend on its appeal to the readers. Spiller typically knows
how to put a cover out there that will sell each week. This is because tabloids “lived or
died on the marketability of the product.”
424
The daily hurly-burly of the modish offices
of Dirt Now boils down to the simple economic theory of supply and demand: write what
sells or do not keep your job. Even inchoate journalists realized that “the only sure way to
attract readers was to be inventive, to write lively, vigorous prose, and to stick in the
sensational whenever possible.”
425
The staff of Dirt Now practices this kind of journalism
because it understands that, as in the old days, scandal and gossip with screaming
headlines sells the most.
Dirt Now often breaks stories before broadcast and print journalists.
426
When
other media outlets get word of the tabloid’s story they have to credit Dirt Now as
breaking the story or having the exclusive
427
on their newscast.
428
Coverage such as this

121
is invaluable for Dirt Now because those watching will know they have to buy a copy of
the magazine to get the full, exclusive story first.
429

In yet another feat to increase profit, Spiller explains the merger of Dirt and Now
to her staff.
It’s called ovophagy. Sharks battling in the womb, devouring their brothers and
sisters until only the fittest survive, which is why we’re all here today. Lucky us.
Now magazine is venerable, respected, and hemorrhaging cash. Dirt has solid
sales but its readers will always be low-rent so the ad revenue isn’t there. These
two magazines cannot survive. So I thought about the sharks turning a liability
into a source of nutrition. As of today, Dirt and Now are merging into one new
single publication. A tabloid with class. All the fun of Dirt with the prestige of
Now.
430

But by merging the publications into one, the magazine will have to cut staff. Dirt
touches on issues of real-life journalists today who are dealing with layoffs due to
declining readership and budget cuts. At Dirt Now, stories matter more than employees.
Spiller always emphasizes the importance of reporting accurately. Dirt Now can
only survive at the top of the tabloid food chain if its breaking stories are both sensational
and accurate—not speculation or hearsay.
431
Spiller makes that clear during that same
conference room meeting, saying,
I believe in the truth above all else. And this (points to new cover of Dirt Now on
the projection screen) is truth. We have to be sharks. If we succeed, there’s room
for about half of you to stay. If we fail, we’re all finished, including me. We have
one week to prove our right to survive, or, get eaten alive.
432

Spiller cares more about the life of the new tabloid than the jobs of Dirt and Now
employees. She wants the publication to survive, above all else.
The tabloid publishes one salacious cover after another: a small-town preacher,
who was having sex with his own daughter, impregnated his daughter’s best friend whom

122
his daughter then murders;
433
an issue focusing on salacious celebrity sex scandals;
434
and
an issue on how hip-hop artist Andre G’s manager, McDaniel, cut off Andre G’s head
and stored it in his wine cellar.
435
However outrageous, extreme, or seemingly impossible
these stories are, the events they describe occur throughout the show’s plot. But the
accuracy of Spiller’s stories does not excuse the level of blackmail, bribery,
manipulation, and deception involved in getting those stories.
While there are a number of glossy pages inside Dirt Now, Spiller focuses on the
cover. Since sales primarily depend on the cover, Spiller does not settle for just anything
and does not believe there is ever a slow week in Hollywood.
436
She constantly reminds
her staff that there is always something out there and it is their job to find it. She
continually challenges her staff to get in the field and get the best story.
I need a cover, you need jobs. Seems like the perfect match, no? This is
Hollywood, someone is getting screwed and somebody out there cannot wait to
tell you about it. There’s a cover out there somewhere, OK? It’s not going to just
walk through the front door.
437

Spiller is willing to take chances with her covers. She instinctively realizes that
things are not what they seem. When she hears about the murder of a high school
cheerleader in the small town of Walnut Valley, she sends her staff to find out her “secret
life,”
438
without any proof of it. Spiller calls in an investigative reporter, saying, “I need
hard journalism, M.E. reports, D.A.’s office,”
439
which reminds viewers that as
sensational as a story may seem, Spiller always wants Dirt Now to be accurate. The same
standards go for photographs. Even though Konkey has photos of a B-list celebrity
dancing sexually with another woman at a lesbian strip club, Spiller demands more
photos that prove the celebrity is indeed a lesbian before publishing what she has.
440
Dirt

123
Now doesn’t care about stories on the winner of Best New Model.
441
Spiller makes it clear
that her magazine needs something more than the obvious—the sensational.
Although Dirt Now is a fictional publication, the competition Spiller refers to is
real tabloids like People, US Weekly, OK, and Star.
442
While Dirt Now frequently refers
to the competition, other tabloids never one-up the edgy publication. The threat keeps the
staff moving. Spiller’s goal is to never let another tabloid break a story or beat her cover.
The competition matters most when they are going for the same cover story.
443
Spiller is
always ready to trash a mediocre idea in the works for something extreme—as long as
her angle is more innovative than the competition’s.
444
Spiller focuses on breaking stories
and getting the story other publications will not have, figuring out what angle the
competition will likely take and topping it.
445
She often has to tweak her staff’s ideas for
stories during pitch meetings in order to make sure Dirt Now has the most extreme
angle
446
and often says things like, “Everyone’s gonna cover the mystery angle. This new
magazine has to break stories. Solve it. That’s a cover.”
447

Harrod is the one person who poses a threat to Spiller’s position as editor-in-chief.
Harrod is the editor of one of Dirt Now’s competitors—the only fictional tabloid
competition. The idea of Harrod taking Spiller’s job truly scares Spiller. Harrod is the
only competitor who seems to be a legitimate threat.
448
Initially very likable, Harrod
remembers the names of the interns who worked for her years ago. She shows more
emotion and affection than Spiller, masking her manipulative side. She orders
photographers to follow Spiller so she can upset Mallory with photos of Spiller and
McLaren together.
449
While she pretends to want to be friends with Spiller, she really is

124
out to scoop her. This implies that tabloid journalists are all relatively the same—
manipulative and self-serving.
Some of the series’ plots function as a satire or a parody of current-day
Hollywood—seemingly to comment on the superficial sensation on which tabloids target.
For example, Spiller pitches a cover story she wants to do about two blonde celebutantes,
Tuesday Nelson and Lulu Kagel. The young heiresses are strikingly similar to Paris
Hilton and Nicole Richie.
450
Additionally, celebrities appear on the Tami G talk show,
which looks very similar to the Oprah talk show.
451
The season finale opens with Spiller
at a fashion show for the Best New Model Show, a play on the real America’s Next Top
Model.
452
Dirt constantly uses fiction to comment on reality.
Dirt provides immense insight to the daily inner workings of a tabloid
publication. Dirt Now employees do not necessarily appear overworked, though they are
challenged to get the story and get it first. Rarely sitting at their desks, they are always on
the move. They do not seem underpaid, either. They dress and groom well. Some
members of the Dirt Now staff are more disposable than others. Spiller is quick to fire
those she believes do not share her vision or her dedication and moves on with her next
order of business. One of the older male employees speaks up at the meeting about Dirt
and Now becoming Dirt Now, saying, “With due respect, I’m not gonna be part of the
dismantling of an American journalistic icon.” Spiller is quick to fire back,
Of course you’re not, because, with due respect, you’re fired. Now get out. And
anyone else who wants to keep doing the same old tired crap, please feel free to
leave. Those of you who want to do something new, do real reporting, break
stories, stay.
453

125
Dirt Now needs complete employee dedication all the time. The tabloid industry
is competitive, and Dirt shows this by communicating that the Dirt Now employees are
only as good as their next article.
Fast-paced pitch meetings take place in the conference room where Spiller sits or
stands at the head of the table in front of flat-screen television sets. Reporters pack the
oval-shaped conference table and quickly shout out ideas for the upcoming issue by
passing around a “pitch ball.”
454
Spiller often barks out what she expects for the next
issue as she walks out the door, leaving her staff to scramble to get the stories. She wastes
no time; she cannot afford to. These meetings happen every episode and suggest that a
tabloid staff functions as a team. Although Spiller has the final word on stories, her
reporters largely fill the inside pages.
Unlike most newspaper offices, the office of Dirt Now is chic and modern. Scenes
of the lively office whiz by in fast motion to imply the pace of work, with reporters
moving, on their cell phones, on their slick Apple Macs, and so on.
455
The conference
room has flat-screen televisions and projection screens on the wall. Spiller’s blood-red
office is huge, complete with a Chaise lounge, elliptical machine,
456
and dressing room.
She has a separate room that used to be a bank vault where she keeps her most sensitive
material. Similarly, Barrow’s office has leather furniture and a bar that takes up the
length of one entire wall.
457
The Dirt Now office is filled with name-brand swag for
Spiller and her reporters.
458
The publication even has a corporate jet.
459
Always on the
move, Spiller rarely sits at her desk. She multitasks around the office—signs papers, talks
on her phone, and orders people around. The job appears glamorous compared to editors

126
at other hard news print publications. Because of this, viewers get the image that tabloid
publications move fast and have a lot of money.
Another reason viewers may assume tabloids like Dirt Now have a lot of money is
the cash they spend to get exclusive sources, access to people, and photo opportunities.
Spiller offers to pay $600,000 for a lead on a story that Dirt Now is competing for with
People magazine.
460
She ends up paying $700,000 for a story about a “B-lister on a
shitcom,”
461
that she doesn’t even know will be worth running. She hopes the money the
tabloid makes from sales will justify the money Dirt Now shells out for leads.
Sometimes the only way Dirt Now can get an exclusive story is by paying
incredible sums of money. Other times, Spiller uses information she has on someone as
blackmail, often forcing that person to give her information on someone else. For
example, Spiller knows superstar Gage was a male hustler before he became famous, and
that he got his first movie role by performing oral sex on a director. Because Gage would
never want this information to get out, he gives Spiller gossip on other celebrities.
462

Sometimes, the tables turn and Dirt Now has to do something for someone else.
When Winter takes the Dirt Now staff hostage, he explains that Spiller owes him a story
because when he was a big star he chose her, a reporter from TV Guide, to do his story.
463

He thinks he helped boost her career when she was young. He now thinks it is Spiller’s
turn to give his career a boost. Unwritten rules and secret verbal contracts keep the
system functioning. The information game works best when both sides have something to
gain.
464

127
Even though Spiller’s job is to put celebrities in the public eye, she prefers to stay
out of it herself. When Spiller meets McLaren in her car (to ask him why he agreed to
allow Vanity Fair to do a profile on him when he is supposed to be exclusive to Dirt
Now), she realizes that there are paparazzi after their picture.
465
Suddenly, the irony
shows when she becomes a story. She attempts to speed away from the photographers,
driving dangerously with McLaren in the passenger seat yelling, “Holy shit, Lucy, it’s not
like they have guns!” Spiller replies, “No it’s worse, he has cameras.”
466
She is
completely aware of their power, but that does not affect the stories she continues to put
out.
The Dirt Now staff believes its publication constitutes honorable American
journalism. They hold themselves and their publication to the standards of a reputable
news medium. Reginald (Traber Burns) expresses his faith in Now magazine when he
says to Spiller, “Now has been a pillar of the American journalistic landscape for over 70
years. We survived McCarthyism, we can certainly survive a dipping in sales.”
467

Regardless of how Dirt Now compares to traditional journalism, Spiller focuses on the
future of the publication rather than the past. Because of this, Dirt Now is innovative and
relevant.
468
But because the tabloid journalists behind the publication function with
disregard for traditional journalism ethics and morals, it is difficult to validate their
twisted view of what is right and wrong.
Through the 13 episodes, viewers form relationships with the characters and
opinions about tabloids. While viewers might not always agree with the methods and
means Dirt Now uses to get the story, Dirt gives viewers an inside look at how a real-life

128
tabloid publication functions. Dirt Now is a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood, and
“while it may be true that tabloid journalism tends to trivialize who and what we are, it
always involves visceral emotions: love, hate, joy, fear.”
469
Dirt shows that Dirt Now is
not afraid to tap into those emotions and to push the limits, week after week.

129

Chapter 9 Endnotes

381
“Media of New York City,” (Wikipedia),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_of_New_York_City (accessed February 2008).

382
“Los Angeles Media and Research,” (Discover Los Angeles),
http://www.discoverlosangeles.com/los-angeles-page.php?tid=2240&pageid=420
(accessed March 2008).

383
FX Network Web site.

384
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (11:31).

385
Word history: Tabloid was registered as a proprietary name for a brand of tablet in
1884 by Burroughs, Welcome, and Company. It was the underlying notion of
"compression" or "condensation" that led to its application to newspapers of small page
size and "condensed" versions of news stories that emerged at the beginning of the 20th
century.” “Tabloid” (MSN Encarta Online Dictionary),
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861698690/tabloid.html (accessed March 2008).

386
“Tabloid,” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary), http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/tabloid (accessed March 2008).

387
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
10.

388
Ibid. p. 12.

389
Ibid. p. 13.

390
Michael Emery and Edwin Emery. The Press and America: An Interpretative History
of the Mass Media. Prentice Hall Professional Technical, 1991. p. 227.

391
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
34.

392
Ibid. p. 9.

130

393
Episode 9: “This Is Not Your Father’s Hostage Situation,” Dirt. (05:55).
SPILLER: OK, let’s do a little good cop, bad cop. Terry and Willa, I want you to help
Dana deal with her guilt while you two become drinking buddies with the Perez camp,
see what you can get out of them. (She is talking about the Prichard story that is falling
apart.)

394
“The more valuable the news, the greater the power,” Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the
Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique Method of Studying the Public’s
Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p. 7.

395
Episode 9: “This Is Not Your Father’s Hostage Situation,” Dirt. (08:49).
GAGE: Where’s the love?
SPILLER: Come again?
GAGE: Johnny Gage has disappeared from the pages of Dirt Now. What’s with that?
SPILLER: Well, I guess we ran out of different ways to tell about you screwing strippers.
GAGE: I want a cover.
SPILLER: And I want a private jet. Dirt Now’s not gonna blow you over some half-ass
speculation.

396
Ibid. (22:25).
SPILLER: Let me do my job the way I know how and I will make you a star.

397
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (11:31).

398
Ibid. (03:28).
MCLAREN: All I can say is, since there started to be real heat around me, people in the
press wanted to be my friend. And I’m not gonna say who. (He is talking to Mallory
about her sex tape.)

399
Episode 9: “This Is Not Your Father’s Hostage Situation,” Dirt. (07:54).
KENNY: Sammy Winter called again, said it was about a follow-up interview?
SPILLER: I think we’ve done enough stories on Sammy Winter and his futile attempt at
rehab, his prostitutes, the trials and tribulations of being a child star. So, unless he’s
banging an Olsen twin or he has bought some ad space, I don’t give a shit.

400
Ibid. (11:50).
(Spiller and Konkey walk out of Spiller’s office and hear gunshots in their office. The
employees scream.)
WINTER: Stay down! Get back! (He shouts as he shoots into the air.)
WINTER: If anybody wants to get cute, I’ve got enough explosives here to blow us all
into pizza toppings. (As he unzips his jacket to show the bombs strapped to his body.)

131

401
Ibid. (21:52).
SPILLER: I’ve got a deal for you.
WINTER: I’m all ears, baby. What’ve you got for me?
SPILLER: Let’s scrap the bullshit questions. You let me tell the first-person story from
inside the crisis, and I will give you the mother of all covers.

402
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (25:30).

403
Ibid. (31:13).
GAGE: Guys please, I’m here to apologize to Julia Mallory, to Lucy Spiller, and my
fans. I lied about Lucy Spiller. I never gave her the sex tape. I gave it to one of my drug
dealers. He was threatening me and there is no excuse. I blamed Lucy Spiller because I
was angry that I had fallen off the pages of her magazine, one of the most important
publications in the entertainment industry. And worse than that, what I did to Lucy
Spiller and Dirt Now is what I did to Julia Mallory. I know we were both using and
drinking that night, but my drugged-out state is no excuse for my behavior. I’m
committing myself to a live-in alcohol and drug rehabilitation facility for as long as it
takes for me to get well and sober. Thank you. (He says this to a group of paparazzi and
news cameras.)

404
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (09:49).
TEDDY: Kid’s on fire. You better watch yourself, Jack. The press he’s getting…you get
too pushy on this next deal and I might just have to give the part to him. (He is the
director at lunch (played by Richard Portnow) with McLaren. He says this, about
McLaren, to Dawson who’s staring in a three-part action-adventure series).

405
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. (26:36).
McLaren comes back to Julia’s and finds a copy of Dirt Now on her bed with a picture of
her freaking out and the headline: Mallory’s Mess.

406
Episode 9: “This Is Not Your Father’s Hostage Situation,” Dirt. (21:00).
WINTER: Really? It just got picked up nationally. This is my white Bronco. (As he sees
a live broadcast of the hostage situation, The Sammy Winter Saga, on Dirt Now’s
television sets.)

407
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (10:31).
SPILLER: I keep some very sensitive things in there.
BODYGUARD: The room used to be a bank vault. Unless you left it unlocked, only the
most skilled criminal would be able to get in. And you would know if he did.

408
Ibid. (38:40).

132

409
Ibid. (39:48).
(Spiller spreads out the issue with the cover Mallory Exposed! And the picture of Mallory
buying the phone card on the cover.)
MCPHEARSON: You know, there’s still time to walk it back.
SPILLER: What?
MCPHEARSON: If you wanna put the story back in the vault, there’s still time.
SPILLER: Going soft on me? Are you worried bout hurting her feelings?
MCPHEARSON: Actually I was wondering if you were the one going soft? Isn’t the
smart play to put the story in the vault?
SPILLER: This is a great cover, yup. America’s fallen sweetheart sold her sex tape for
press, sympathy, to rekindle her career. It almost worked.
MCPHEARSON: If we just let it work. Leverage over a star like Julia Mallory has to be
worth a lot more in the long run than just one cover.
SPILLER: Is that what you think this whole thing is about? Leverage and power?
MCPHEARSON: No, I’m just trying to think several steps ahead like you usually do.
SPILLER: We go with the story, print the truth.

410
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. (39:05).

411
Libel is common law and state law—not federal law. Libel is a false, unprivileged
statement of fact about (of and concerning) an identifiable person that holds him or her
up to ridicule or contempt (i.e., injures his reputation). Reputation is not synonymous
with character; reputation is what people think about an individual. Opinion is absolutely
protected, and there is no such thing as a false opinion. This is because the marketplace of
ideas, when functioning properly, corrects opinion—not the Supreme Court. Libel was an
accepted doctrine at the time the Founding Fathers gathered to draw up the Constitution
of the United States of America. Rather, what the Founding Fathers had in mind when
they enacted the First Amendment was the issue of prior restraint. The First Amendment
was originally intended to only apply to the federal government. It was the adoption of
the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 that applied the First Amendment to the states. Clay
Calvert and Don R. Pember. Mass Media Law, p. 158-189.

412
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (28:23).
HORNE: Am I gonna get—
SPILLER: Sued? Yeah, most likely. But that price tag is going to pale compared to what
you’ll pull in. And besides, you always told me, scared money doesn’t make money.

133

413
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (25:27).
SPILLER: OK, listen up everyone. We’re gonna crash a cover on Andre G’s murder.
Check it out. (As she walks into the conference room and flips up her laptop to show the
other reporters her ideas for the cover.)
ANONYMOUS MALE REPORTER: What do you have? (Spiller shows a Dirt Now
cover with a picture of Andre G’s head and R.I.P. Andre G! Everyone gasps.)
ANONYMOUS MALE REPORTER: You can’t put that on the cover, Lucy.
SPILLER: We’re gonna poly-bag it with an explicit warning label. (She shows the cover
with the bag over it and Warning: Explicit! Shocking Andre G Murder!!!)
SPILLER: And run the head shot inside.
ANONYMOUS WHITE FEMALE REPORTER: That is fantastic!
SPILLER: Isn’t it? Alright, keep Barrow out of the loop. He had a shit fit last time. This
time we have photos. The LAPD will be notified when we go to press. Lets get to work.

414
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. (30:39).

415
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (17:10).
TAMI G: Now, you are filing lawsuits against the major tabloids?
MALLORY: Tabloids, distributors, anyone who’s looking to profit from the video. Lucy
Spiller bartered with a rapist and he’s profiting from his crime.

416
Ibid. (37:50).
Spiller walks Mallory into the vault to show her the surveillance tape of Mallory buying
the phone card that was used to tip off the media to the existence of the sex tape, proving
that Mallory leaked her own sex tape.

417
In a study titled “Photo Tampering Throughout History,” Professor of Computer
Science at Dartmouth University Hany Farid writes, “Photography lost its innocence
many years ago. In as early as the 1860s, photographs were already being manipulated,
only a few decades after Niepce created the first photograph in 1814. With the advent of
high-resolution digital cameras, powerful personal computers, and sophisticated photo-
editing software, the manipulation of digital images is becoming more common,”
(Dartmouth College), http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/research/digitaltampering/
(accessed March 2008).

418
Professional photographers use this software because “Adobe Photoshop CS3 and
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom® are the perfect complements. Use Lightroom to import,
manage, adjust, and present large volumes of digital photographs, and use Photoshop to
more thoroughly refine individual images. Together, Photoshop Lightroom and
Photoshop work the way the digital photographer works, letting you efficiently and
seamlessly process all of your digital images,” “Adobe Photoshop,” (Adobe Photoshop
Web Site), http://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/ps_pse_comparison.html#photographer
(accessed March 2008).

134

419
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (26:57).
SPILLER: I think the one with his hands down your pants is a keeper. (She is talking
about the photos recovered from Konkey’s stomach.)
LEO: Wow.
SPILLER: What is it?
LEO: You can really see it’s me.
SPILLER: Not for long. Photoshop the shit out of his face.
DANIELLE: Not a problem.
SPILLER: When Danielle’s done, Mom won’t even know it’s you.

420
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (08:10).
HORNE: Lucy, are you familiar with Tina Harrod? (He asks Spiller an obvious question
because Harrod is Spiller’s nemesis.)
SPILLER: The one who disgraced her magazine by Photoshopping the cover?

421
The abstract for the Journal of Mass Media Ethics: Digital Alteration of Photographs
in Consumer Magazines, says “digital manipulation of photographs raises a different set
of questions for magazine editors than it does for newspaper editors. Interviews with
editors of 13 consumer magazines reveal that digital alteration depends largely on the
editorial profile of the magazine. All editors interviewed refused to digitally manipulate
news photos; however, opinions varied on the treatment of feature and cover photos,”
http://www.leaonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327728jmme0603_5?cookieSet=1&journa
lCode=jmme. (Accessed March 2008).

422
Episode 10: “The Sexxx Issue,” Dirt. (08:41).
NAOMI: Battle of the bulge. Who’s packing among Hollywood leading men.
SPILLER: OK, and make sure why you’re at it, see who’s faking it.
ANONYMOUS MALE REPORTER: Celebrity camel toe.

423
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
29.

424
Ibid. p. 16.

425
Ibid. p. 18.

135

426
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (41:19).
(Mallory pulls up http://www.perezhilton.com on her laptop and finds a blog posting of
the photo of her buying the phone card used to leak her own sex tape with LIAR on it. She
turns her attention to the television.)
ENTERTAINMENT BROADCAST REPORTER: Well, Julia Mallory may have fooled
us once, but she’s not going to fool us again. We’re hearing reports today that the actress
will have to drop her lawsuit, according to Dirt Now. The magazine’s upcoming issue
promises to expose Julia Mallory’s involvement in leaking her own sex tape. (For the
entertainment news broadcast on 16news.)
ENTERTAINMENT BROADCAST REPORTER: Dirt Now magazine will run a story
tomorrow saying they have proof that Julia Mallory leaked her own sex tape… (Mallory
hears this as she flips the channel to an Access Hollywood broadcast.)

427
Episode 11: “Pap Smeared,” Dirt. (44:18).
ENTERTAINMENT BROADCAST REPORTER: Tuesday Nelson’s secret affair with
her best friend’s fiancé, artist Tommy Spiro. But only Dirt Now has the exclusive story
that it was Spiro who engineered the trysts and even leaked the news of the cheating to a
rogue paparazzi agency…

428
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (42:01).
(Spiller watches the broadcast news coverage of police arresting the reverend and taking
him in cuffs out of his church.)
NEWS BROADCAST REPORTER: Reverend Thomas Sweet was arrested today for the
murder of 15-year-old Amber Carmichael in Walnut Valley, California. Dirt Now’s new
issue says, according to coroner’s reports, Reverend Sweet was the father of the victim’s
unborn child.

429
Ibid. (18:02).
SPILLER: Tell me the networks are using our name. (As she watches live broadcasts
from Walnut Valley about what the Dirt Now investigative team just discovered about
Carmichael’s murder.)
ANONYMOUS FEMALE REPORTER: We got them all different exclusives in
exchange for crediting us with breaking the story in the new issue.
SPILLER: The numbers should be great, I’m glad we got the West Coast draw.

430
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (01:22).

431
Episode 13: “Ita Missa Est,” Dirt. (07:28).
SPILLER: Track the autopsy. (She is talking to McPhearson about the model that died on
the Best New Model runway.)
MCPHEARSON: She was anorexic, I mean her liver probably…
SPILLER: Probably? Until you can show me your doctorate, maybe you should just flash
your tits to the coroner and find out for sure.

136

432
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (02:54).

433
Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. (00:56).
KONKEY: The magazine is doing this big story about this cheerleader murder. Turns out
the murdered girl was involved with the town preacher. Oh, and she was pregnant. He
was also sleeping with his daughter.

434
Episode 10: “The Sexxx Issue,” Dirt. (08:02).
SPILLER: We bag it and make it look like you have to see the inside. It’s our first
annual. It has to be great. It has to be startling. It has to be fun. Come on, sex, celebrity,
scandal, bring it. (As she flashes a cover on the projection that’s poly-bagged with the
headline: The Sexxx Issue.)

435
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (31:43).
TYREESE: Andre G is dead. They killed him. His manager, Tweety McDaniel, we all
hang out. There’s a group of us.
SPILLER: Poker buddies, right?
TYREESE: Yeah, pretty much. So one day Andre G just stops coming. Stories get out
he’s missin’, got into gang stuff, you know. Nobody knows. Couple a months later,
’nother one of Twitty’s clients, he makes a joke. Says he’s getting better offers from
other labels. Twitty just goes cold. Says Andre G tried to leave him too. Asked if he
wanted to visit Andre, little lesson in loyalty, he called it.
SPILLER: Visit him?
TYREESE: Twitty had his head, OK? In a jar. He said, ‘See, nobody leaves me. I got him
right here and he’s still makin’ money for me.

436
Ibid. (04:08).
ANONYMOUS FEMALE REPORTER: What about a cover on Hollywood meds. Who’s
taking what.
SPILLER: It’s a great chip, not a cover. Work it out. Next.

437
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (01:42).

137

438
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (02:11).
SPILLER: “Four-hundred thousand for an exclusive on the wedding and some waiter
with a cell phone cam scoops us?
ANONYMOUS FEMALE REPORTER: They’re crap images, people want to see the
glam.
SPILLER: People want to see the glam? What is that, a Shakira lyric? I want to see an
exclusive! What do we know about this dead cheerleader?
ANONYMOUS MALE REPORTER: Amber Carmichael. Disappeared at a pep rally.
Found the next day in the woods behind their high school. Not a lot on the wires. No
arrests yet, small town story.
SPILLER: How small a town?
ANONYMOUS MALE REPORTER: Uh…Walnut Valley. ’Bout an hour and a half out
of L.A. Population, 11,000. (Meanwhile Spiller projects a cover with the headline
Cheerleader Murder: Her Secret Life.)
SPILLER: Now that’s a solid cover.
ANONYMOUS FEMALE REPORTER: It’s a great cover, but I mean, we have about
two days to close and we don’t even have a reason to think she had a secret life.
SPILLER: Everyone has a secret life. She was murdered! Her secret life is our next
cover. You better all get to work.

439
Ibid. (03:29).

440
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (24:20).
SPILLER: You’re pitching girl on girl? You better have more than one dance. (She is
talking about the photos of Prichard dancing with a girl at a lesbian strip club.)

441
Episode 13: “Ita Missa Est,” Dirt. (03:20).
BEST NEW MODEL HOST: Look, America is shitting itself for the Best New Model
finale. (She is a parody of Tyra Banks and her show is a parody of America’s Next Top
Model.)
SPILLER: You get me a photo of America shitting itself and I’ll put that on the cover.
HOST: Bet if I chopped off one of their heads you’d put it on the cover.
SPILLER: I just might.

442
Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. (31:49).
SPILLER: People, US, OK, Star, everyone’s going full bore on your girlfriend’s episode
today. (She is talking to McLaren about Mallory’s breakdown at his photo shoot.)

443
Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. (19:25).
SPILLER: The competition on this case is about to get intense. We need to continue
breaking this story. If we do, we won’t get just one more cover, we’ll get five. Explosive
Reveal of Unborn Baby’s Father, The Arrest, Perp Walk, Trial, Justice…This girl is
dead. I want to know who. I want to know what. I want to know why.

138

444
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (06:24).
SPILLER: OK everybody, change of plans. We’re dropping our three cover options.
ANONYMOUS MALE REPORTER: Why? We’re almost there with Hero Pets.
SPILLER: You just answered your own question. And also because of this, Terry?
TERRY: My source at People tells me they’re running this photo on their next cover with
the headline: Let Us Live In Peace. It’s supposed to be Andre G in seclusion in the Virgin
Islands. (She is played by Shauna Stoddart.)
ANONYMOUS FEMALE REPORTER: Just in time for the release of his new CD. What
a coincidence.
SPILLER: Yeah, I think it’s bullshit. Widow G and Andre’s manager are making huge
bucks off these new CDs. My sources say that Andre G was murdered. Some sort of
dispute with his manager, Twitty McDaniel. Yeah, Elliott?
ELLIOTT: I’ll cover all the businesses in St. Croix. If he’s there, someone’s had to have
seen him. (He is played by Glen Badyna.)
SPILLER: OK, good. And Adam, check out his girlfriend’s relationship with Twitty.
ANONYMOUS MALE REPORTER: OK. I’ll talk to the cops. They don’t usually keep
an open Missing Persons file on someone who’s in seclusion.
TERRY: I know someone at Raputiata Records. Let me see what I can dig up on Twitty
and Andre’s relationship.
SPILLER: OK. I want the truth guys. And just as badly, I want to make People magazine
suffer. We have 12 hours.

445
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (09:16).
SPILLER: OK, everyone’s gonna be going after Johnny Gage and Holt and Julia. I want
you to get a shot that no one else has. Consoling, fighting, arguments—doesn’t matter.
Just get their private life.” (She is telling Konkey how to go about getting the shot for the
sex tape story.)

446
Ibid. (08:41).
SPILLER: Get them [the details] quietly. I don’t want anyone to think that we’re digging
there. Let everyone else think that the story is just the videotape and the aftermath. (She
is talking about the story on how Mallory’s sex tape was leaked.)

447
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (03:36).

448
Episode 13: “Ita Missa Est,” Dirt. (03:20).
BEST NEW MODEL HOST: Maybe I should pitch the cover to Tina Harrod?
SPILLER: I’m sure it’s just the kind of pap Tina’s magazine would gobble up. Course,
they only have two-thirds the circulation of Dirt Now.
HOST: Oh, I wasn’t talking about her magazine. I heard she’s taking over yours.

139

449
Ibid. (39:12).
MALLORY: You said on the phone you might be able to do an article?
HARROD: Oh yeah, yeah. You mean to repair the damage of the sex tape and all that?
You’re just trying to keep your career afloat. That Lucy Spiller, she had no right. No
right. You just got caught in Lucy’s celebrity dollhouse. You didn’t do anything wrong,
your boyfriend was her source. None of this press is your fault so please just know that
you really have to know that. (She just got off the phone with Spiller where she invited
her to dinner. Now she is comforting Mallory.)
HARROD: He was more than her source. (She shows Mallory the photos of Spiller and
McLaren in her car proving it was Harrod who had Spiller followed.)
HARROD: I’m so sorry, sweetie. (She is pretending to be the good guy.)

450
Episode 11: “Pap Smeared,” Dirt. (01:52).
SPILLER: It’s the story of misplaced trust. Of deception and betrayal. Not by our
enemies, but by our friends. It’s the story of America’s favorite spoiled celebutantes, the
inseparable Tuesday Nelson and Lulu Kagel, famous for being famous. (The scene
flashes to the girls, clad in oversized sunglasses as the paparazzi swarm the two while
they shop.)
SPILLER: You shop where they shop, party where they party, wear what they wear, and
get up close and personal with Lulu’s fiancé, boho artist Tommy Spiro—who pisses on
the press, who won’t sit for an interview, and is currently getting it on the side from his
true love’s best friend forever, Tuesday. Yup. My source is solid. If we move fast enough
we can expose this little bastard before he ruins this precious friendship. OK, this is our
cover. Go on my little monkeys.

451
Episode 11: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (17:10).
Mallory appears on the Tami G talk show to talk about her sex tape.

452
Episode 13: “Ita Missa Est,” Dirt. (03:20).

453
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (02:32).

454
Ibid. (03:30).
SPILLER: First off, we need some hot-ass cover tries. Who wants Cosmo, the pitch
ball?” (She tosses a white stuffed (possibly with beans) clown-faced ball with red troll-
like hair in her conference room during a pitch meeting for the launch of the new Dirt
Now magazine.)

455
Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. (04:35).

456
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (24:44).
Spiller works out on an elliptical machine in her office.

140

457
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (40:05).
There is a giant bar in Barrow’s office with shelves that take up an entire wall.

458
Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. (10:24).
SPILLER: There’s about $20,000 worth of swag here. Now needs help. Anybody who
can come up with a really great exclusive on Blogan gets to pick something from the pile.

459
Episode 11: “Pap Smeared,” Dirt. (27:33).
BARROW: Listen, I’ve got a sales call in San Francisco on Friday. We could have the
corporate jet…

460
Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. (10:36).
SPILLER: Congratulations, your gut’s a winner. We’re in the game. I’ve offered
$600,000, but I don’t like dancing in the dark. I’m gonna team you up with Don Konkey.

461
Ibid. (24:44).

462
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (25:30).
SPILLER: I remember everything. I remember you getting bitch-slapped. I remember
you cowering in the corner. I remember you pissing your pants. Not your finest hour.
And not one word of it made it in the pages of my magazine. (She is talking to Gage
about his cowardly reaction during the hostage situation.)
GAGE: I know. Thank you, Lucy.
SPILLER: Oh, you’re thanking me? Here, in private. Well, I’m not a very private person
these days, Johnny, thanks to you.
GAGE: Lucy.
SPILLER: But let’s forget about the very embarrassing performance during the hostage
siege. I could’ve always gone with the big story: Johnny Gage Was a Male Hustler
Before He Became a Star.
GAGE: Jesus Christ, Lucy.
Spiller: I have done nothing but protect you. Cheap Callboy Gets His First Movie Role
By Blowing a Director Named Harvey Ross. I could destroy you with one issue. But I
keep your secret safe, in my vault.

463
Episode 9: “This Is Not Your Father’s Hostage Situation,” Dirt. (16:13).
WINTER: I pick a young go-getter named Lucy Spiller, yeah, at TV Guide. (He is talking
about how Spiller was going to do a cover for him on the Top 20 show that he was a child
star on.
WINTER: I pick her over all the others to do my exclusive. Ring a bell, Lucy?
SPILLER: Of course it does. That’s right, I was gonna do a cover.
WINTER: And you said you owed me. Those were your words Lucy, your words, you
owe me. Well I’m here to collect.

141

464
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. (13:01).
PEREZ HILTON: My bread and butter is anonymous tips. Why would I tell you anything
about how I got the video?
MCPHEARSON: You don’t compete with magazines like Dirt Now, Perez. You know, I
could slip you stories that were about to hit the magazine early, things to make your site
hotter. All I need are details on how the tape was uploaded. (She is trying to get Hilton to
tell her how the Mallory sex tape was leaked.)

465
Episode 13: “Ita Missa Est,” Dirt. (31:49).
(McLaren gets in Spiller’s car to talk about why he is allowing Vanity Fair to do a profile
on him when he should be exclusive to Dirt Now. When Spiller realizes that they’re being
followed/watched by paparazzi she takes off on a crazy chase.)
SPILLER: Given both our situations, we’re a story.
MCLAREN: Yeah? How do you figure?
SPILLER: I’d run it.

466
Ibid. (32:33).

467
Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. (02:06).

468
Ibid.
SPILLER: First of all, Reginald, I know how you hate a mixed metaphor, so I would
have to call you on the whole pillar-of-the-landscape thing. Pillars don’t hold up
landscapes. Secondly, thank you for your look backwards. That will be the last look in
that direction that anyone in these offices ever takes.

469
Joe Saltzman. “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media,” p.
12.

142

Chapter 10: Dirt Folds
FX’s edgy Dirt premiered “to decent ratings.”
470
During the 10 p.m. hour, Nielsen
Media (which measures viewers who watch live as well as viewers who play back the
recording on a digital video recorder on the same day) recorded an average of 3.74
million total viewers with 2.1 million aged 18 to 49.
471
An 11 p.m. encore of the show
averaged 2.6 million viewers.
472
Dirt’s audience for the premiere was smaller than that of
other FX original premieres such as The Shield (in March 2002) and Rescue Me (July
2004), but bigger than Nip/Tuck’s July 2003 premiere.
473
“The show’s first-season finale,
which featured a much-publicized kiss between [Courteney] Cox and her former Friends
co-star Jennifer Aniston, drew 2.4 million total viewers in March 2007.”
474
Overall,
season one’s 13 episodes averaged 1.9 million viewers.
475

Real-life publications were quick to review Dirt, most with little praise. “FX’s
enviable reputation with originals is stained by Dirt,” Variety’s Brian Lowry said of the
show’s first season. “The show falls thuddingly flat, feeling tired, gratuitous in its dirty
doings, and a trifle narcissistic.” Lowry compares Dirt to a “trashy version of Just Shoot
Me.”
476

Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle found irony in the show, saying,
As the Dirt Now magazine team kept tabs on fictional celebrities and their
embarrassing downfalls, Dirt often felt like a show struggling under the weight of
this elaborate faux-Hollywood world. It was striving for commentary on fame,
media vultures and power, but many of the characters in the pages of the
magazine failed to hold our interest.
477

143
Similarly, the A.V. Club’s Nathan Rabin was far from impressed with the cast of
Dirt. “As with far superior explorations of the dark side of the human psyche, like Profit,
Mad Men, and Action, there's a transgressive kick in seeing just how far the characters
will go,” Rabin said. “Of course, the aforementioned shows offered neat little bonuses
like fascinating, multidimensional characters and terrific dialogue. The best Dirt can offer
is industrial doses of sex and sleaze, augmented by T&A, rampant drug abuse, and
threesomes, threesomes, threesomes.”
478

Due to dismal reviews and the negative effects of the 2007 Writers Guild of
America strike, season two of Dirt was slated for a 13-episode run, but only seven aired
before the show was canceled. Dirt’s ratings “were down significantly in season two.”
479

While the pilot aired on January 2, 2007, to 3.74 million viewers overall with a 1.8
rating/5 share in adults aged 18 to 4.9, its finale drew only 1.06 million viewers overall
and earned a 0.6/2 in the same age group.
480
The second season averaged a “54 percent
slide from the 3.7 million who tuned in for the series premiere in January 2007.”
481

To put Dirt’s second-season ratings into perspective, veteran crime drama Law
and Order returned for it’s 18
th
season in spring 2008 with higher ratings—an average of
3.8 million viewers aged 18 to 49— than it’s 17
th
.
482
It is more likely that long-running
series like Law and Order or CSI have a more substantial effect on how the public view
journalists than the season and a half of Dirt that drew a minimal audience.
The demise of FX’s Dirt may foretell current trends in the tabloid publishing
industry. Weeklies like the fictional Dirt Now thrive on breaking the story. The Internet
offers instantaneous and often free content via gossip blogs. Web sites like Perez Hilton,

144
TMZ, Pop Sugar, Pink Is The New Blog, and the Superficial bring celebrity news and
scandal to millions of Web surfers at the click of a mouse button. The general public can
get hour-by-hour updates on juicy stories with photos and video clips rather than buying a
hard copy once a week.
“There is a real generational change going on at the moment and many young
consumers are using Web sites for their gossip,” Ellis Cashmore, author of the book
Celebrity Culture, said in an article in the UK’s Independent. “These sites are updated
several times a day and are free. Consumers may not see any point in buying a copy of
Heat! or Hello! at the end of the week.”
He added: “Although circulation is falling, it has to be remembered that in most
cases they are falling from a very high starting point as they have had a lot of early
success.”
483

Though many tabloids are experiencing a drop in circulation and sales, some
weeklies are still reaping a profit (such as OK and US Weekly). “Celebrity culture is not
on the wane, though. You only have to look at the number of people who queue up at
auditions of reality TV shows in the hope of becoming celebrities themselves,” said
celebrity publicist Max Clifford in an article in the Independent.
484

A report by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising in July 2008 showed that
advertisers were moving toward the Internet and away from traditional media. The report
found companies were opting for the Internet over traditional ads in radio, newspapers,
magazines, and television.
485
Although the Internet is the newest news outlet, consumers
still desire stories of celebrity scandal.

145

Chapter 10 Endnotes

470
“FX’s Courteney Cox Series Airs to Solid Ratings, Dismal Reviews,” (Media Buyer
Planner, January 3, 2007), http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/2007/01/03/fxs-
courteney-cox-series-airs-to-solid-ratings-dismal-reviews/ (accessed March 2009).

471
Ibid.

472
Ibid.

473
Ibid.

474
Kimberly Nordyke. “Dirt Trampled in Ratings,” (Reuters, March 5, 2008),
http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSN0554836020080305 (accessed
March 2009).

475
Ibid.

476
Brian Lowry. “Review of Dirt,” (Variety, Dec. 31, 2006),
http://www.variety.com/awardcentral_review/VE1117932370.html?nav=reviews07&cate
goryid=2352&cs=1&p=0 (accessed January 2009).

477
Tim Goodman. “Dirt is Back, Flinging Mud from the News,” (San Francisco
Chronicle, Feb. 29, 2008), http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/29/DD8JVAQR4.DTL (accessed January 2009).

478
Nathan Rabin. “Dirt: The Complete First Season.” (The A.V. Club, Dec. 25, 2007),
http://www.avclub.com/articles/dirt-the-complete-first-season,7348/ (accessed December
2008).

479
Stuart Levine. “FX’s Dirt Bites the Dust,” (Variety, June 10, 2008),
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117987203.html?categoryid=1417&cs=1 (accessed
March 2009).

480
Ibid.

481
Kimberly Nordyke. “Dirt Trampled in Ratings.”

482
James Hibberd. “Law and Order Returns Post Average Ratings,” (TV Week, January
3, 2008), http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/james-
hibberd/2008/01/law_order_return_posts_average.php (accessed March 2009).

146

483
Michael Savage. “Celebrity Magazines Feel the Heat as Gossip Sites Boom,” (The
Independent, Aug. 15, 2008), http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/celebrity-
magazines-feel-the-heat-as-gossip-sites-boom-897540.html (accessed February 2009).

484
Ibid.

485
Ibid.

147

Chapter 11: Dirt in the Realm of Film and Television
The characters in Dirt are hardly different from the array of tabloid journalists in
film and television seen over the years. Although Dirt premiered in 2007, the images of
the tabloid editor-in-chief, publisher, paparazzi, reporters, and investigative journalists in
the series are not that far off from the images of tabloid journalists presented in 1931 in
the crime film Five Star Final—one of the most devastating portraits of the tabloid
journalist in film and television history.
The tabloid journalists in Five Star Final lose sight of ethical and moral standards
in the name of getting the story just like the characters in Dirt. Like Spiller, Joseph W.
Randall (Edward G. Robinson) is the obsessive-compulsive city editor of the New York
Gazette, a notorious muckraking tabloid representative of other popular 1920s scandal
sheets. Like Spiller, Randall is obsessed with getting the story that will result in the
highest possible profit. In a feat to increase circulation, Randall revives a series on a
scandalous tale of sex and murder—from twenty years ago—that involved a secretary
who shot the man that impregnated her but refused to marry her. Since the crime, the
secretary happily married and raised a daughter. She reacts with horror at the tabloid’s
desire to renew the story because it will likely wreak havoc on her now happy family.
486

Like Spiller, Randall does not care about the people behind the stories, just what the
stories can do for his job and his publication.
Like Spiller, Konkey, and McPhearson, the Five Star Final journalists
misrepresent themselves (one reporter pretends to be a priest) and they disregard the

148
privacy for the secretary and her family. They publish the explicit expose (although
accurate, it is hardly fair) that brings the secretary and her husband such shame they both
commit suicide. The daughter is so distraught she attempts to murder the tabloid’s
publisher.
487

Five Star Final represents “an uncompromising look at the consequences of
journalistic irresponsibility.”
488
While the 1930s may seems far removed from today’s
society, the values upheld by the Five Star Final’s tabloid journalists parallel those of the
journalists of Dirt Now: getting the story and superior circulation trumps all that is ethical
and moral. Some of the film’s character’s actions are so repulsive they result in suicide
and attempted murder. Some of Dirt’s characters are equally corrupt, their actions also
resulting in physical violence and death threats. The tabloid journalists of Five Star Final
and Dirt focus first on sensational scandal and profit where they often overstep the
boundaries of honest and fair journalism.
Another example of how far the media will go to reap a profit is the 1941
comedy-drama Meet John Doe. Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) is furious at being
fired from her job as a newspaper columnist and prints a fraudulent “John Doe” letter that
threatens suicide in protest of political and societal injustices. Eventually, the paper
rehires Mitchell as well as another reporter to impersonate the fictional John Doe since
the suicide note caused a whirlwind of attention across the nation—translating to soaring
newspaper sales. Mitchell milks the John Doe stories for all they are worth, until the tales
evolve into a political movement resulting in actual suicide attempts.
489
Even though the
film is 70 years old, Meet John Doe is a “sobering film [that] remains an important social

149
commentary.”
490
The film’s journalists abuse the power of the press by publishing false
stories as a circulation tool. Like Dirt’s tabloid journalists, the characters of Meet John
Doe uphold values clouded by sensationalism and profit.
The 1951 film Ace in the Hole is a drama that examines the media’s relationship
with the news it reports. Described as “cynical, unethical, and unscrupulous,”
newspaperman Charles “Chuck” Tatum (Kirk Douglas) has a history of alcoholism,
adultery, and slander, as well as being fired from 11 publications. Tatum goes so far as to
manipulate and prolong the rescue of a man trapped in a collapsed cave so he can get
more front-page articles out of the story.
491
Movie reviewer Roger Ebert called the film a
“portrait of rotten journalism and the public’s insatiable appetite for it.” He went on to
say, “It's easy to blame the press for its portraits of self-destructing celebrities,
philandering preachers, corrupt politicians, or bragging serial killers, but who loves those
stories? The public does.”
492
Ace in the Hole’s depiction of a scandal-seeking male
reporter in the early 1950s blames not only the journalist “who masterminds a media
circus,” but also the public which demonstrates an appetite for the salacious—a similar
theme in Dirt.
Spiller’s do-whatever-it-takes-to-get-the-story attitude is not unique to Dirt. This
representation of cutthroat journalism has existed in film and television for years. For
example, Network is a 1976 four-time Academy Award winning satirical film about the
fictional Union Broadcasting System (UBS) television network’s struggle with poor
ratings. Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) represents a woman willing to do nearly
anything to get ahead in the business—similar to McPhearson’s motivation to get ahead.

150
An entertainment producer, Christensen goes to such extremes as to cut a deal with left-
wing terrorists robbing banks for a news series based on terrorism.
493
Like Spiller,
Christensen is a “lone wolf”
494
completely engulfed in ratings and profit. According to
Network writer Paddy Chayefsky, “The message of Network was when do we say, ‘Hold
it!’ A human life is a hell of a lot more important than your lousy dollar.”
495
Both
Network and Dirt show viewers what happens when journalists go to far in the name of
profit.
Films that portray the tabloid journalist as unethical and amoral abound. Similar
to the above examples are: The Front Page (1931) where a tabloid editor and reporter
conspire to hide a fugitive cop killer so they can secure an exclusive interview with the
convicted felon,
496
Slander (1956) depicts a corrupt magazine publisher who puts
circulation above all else only to be murdered by his own mother because he had ruined
so many lives,
497
and the made-for-television Scandal Sheet (1985) were a tabloid
publisher targets an actor on the verge of a career comeback with the sole goal of selling
more issues.
498

Journalists in film and television throughout the 19
th
and 20
th
centuries are
consistently corrupt and exceptionally unethical; and it is these images that provide the
public with reason to loathe this type of journalism. Although 80 years has passed since
film and television first portrayed an obsessed tabloid scandalmonger, the image of the
tabloid journalists in Dirt show little has changed since then.

151

Chapter 11 Endnotes

486
“Five Star Final,” (TV.com), http://movies.tvguide.com/star-final/114841 (accessed
March 2009).

487
Ibid.

488
Hal Erickson. “Five Star Final: Plot Synopsis,” (All Movie),
http://www.allmovie.com/work/91604 (accessed March 2009).

489
“Meet John Doe (1941) Plot Summary,” (Internet Movie Database),
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033891/plotsummary (accessed March 2009).

490
Tim Dirks. “Meet John Doe (1941) Review,” (Filmsite),
http://www.filmsite.org/meet.html (accessed March 2009).

491
“Ace in the Hole (1951) Plot Summary,” (Internet Movie Database),
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043338/plotsummary (accessed March 2009).

492
Roger Ebert. “Ace in the Hole,” (Sun Times, August 12, 2007),
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070812/REVIEWS08/7081
0003/1023 (accessed March 2009).

493
“Network (1976) Plot Summary,” (Internet Movie Database),
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/ (accessed March 2009).

494
Glenn Abel. “Network Fay Dunaway,” (DVD Spin Doctor),
http://dvdspindoctor.typepad.com/network_mad_as_hell_dvd_r/network_fay_dunaway/
(accessed March 2009).

495
Glenn Abel. “Network Fay Dunaway.”

496
Hal Erickson. “The Front Page: Ploy Synopsis,” (All Movie),
http://www.allmovie.com/work/the-front-page-18776 (accessed March 2009).

497
Hal Erickson. “Slander: Plot Synopsis,” (All Movie),
http://www.allmovie.com/work/slander-110551 (accessed March 2009).

498
Hal Erickson. “Scandal Sheet: Plot Synopsis,” (All Movie),
http://www.allmovie.com/work/scandal-sheet-128726 (accessed March 2009).

152

Chapter 12: Conclusion
Images of the tabloid journalist in Dirt are not that much different from images of
the tabloid journalist presented 80 years ago when novels, television, and film portrayed
tabloid journalists as villains who destroyed lives and published inaccurate and unfair
stories. Because of this, the public’s disgust with tabloid journalists has not changed
much either.
Spiller abuses the power of the press when she relies on manipulation and
blackmail to get her sources to speak up. Although paparazzo Konkey sets himself above
the typical pack of menacing Hollywood paparazzi by understanding how a photograph
tells a story, he trespasses and misrepresents himself. Reporter McPhearson also
misrepresents herself and uses bribery and manipulation to get sources to talk to her.
With these depictions, Dirt seems to give viewers an accurate representation of what
some real tabloid journalists go through to get a story. But however accurate these images
are, they are hardly admirable or honorable.
The likable actors playing the tabloid journalists in Dirt are pleasant and
enjoyable to watch, giving their evil characters a level of humanity and a personality with
characteristics that make their actions seem less objectionable at times. This is consistent
with journalists in film and television throughout history. Popular actors that the public
loves have played scandalous journalists and sometimes the audience forgives these
journalists for their unethical actions because of their affection for them. Although this
dichotomy exists, the journalists in Dirt do terrible things. Throughout the 13 episodes

153
nearly all of the journalists in Dirt deceive, bribe, blackmail, manipulate, cheat, bully,
and pay people off for information. These actions are not representative of good
journalism and the Dirt Now journalists are far from journalist heroes.
Although the series had a short run and is now off the air, the images viewers see
in Dirt are important because they depict a corrupt world of competitive journalism
consistent with film and television representations throughout history. The series’ tabloid
journalists adhere to the same system of values other tabloid journalists in film and
television do, where every ethic fades in the face of getting the story. Although the
journalists in Dirt hold accurate reporting to a high standard, they sacrifice all morals and
ethics that stand in the way of the story.

154

Bibliography

Abel, Glenn. “Network Fay Dunaway.” DVD Spin Doctor.
http://dvdspindoctor.typepad.com/network_mad_as_hell_dvd_r/network_fay_dun
away/ (accessed March 2009).

“Absence of Malice (1981) Plot Summary.” Internet Movie Database.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081974/plotsummary (accessed March 2009).

“Ace in the Hole (1951) Plot Summary.” Internet Movie Database.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043338/plotsummary (accessed March 2009).

Bianco, Robert. “FX makes a mess with drab Dirt.” USA Today, (January 2, 2007).
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2007-01-01-dirt-review_x.htm
(accessed February 2008).

Boorstin, Daniel J. The Image or What Happened to the American Dream. New York,
NY: Atheneum, 1962.

Burgh, Hugo de (ed). Investigative Journalism: Context and Practice. London, England
and New York, NY: Routledge, 2006.

Calvert, Clay, and Don R. Pember, Mass Media Law. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill,
2007.

Dirks, Tim. “Meet John Doe (1941) Review.” Filmsite.
http://www.filmsite.org/meet.html. (Accessed March 2009).

“Dirt.” Internet Movie Database. http://www.imbd.com (accessed January 2008).

“Dirt.” TV.com. (2007). http://www.tv.com (accessed January 2008).

Ebert, Roger. “Ace in the Hole.” Sun Times, (August 12, 2007).
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070812/REVIEWS0
8/70810003/1023 (accessed March 2009).

Emery, Michael and Edwin Emery. The Press and America: An Interpretative History of
the Mass Media. Prentice Hall Professional Technical, 1991.

Erickson, Hal. “Five Star Final: Plot Synopsis.” All Movie.
http://www.allmovie.com/work/91604 (accessed March 2009).

155
Erickson, Hal. “The Front Page: Plot Synopsis.” All Movie.
http://www.allmovie.com/work/the-front-page-18776 (accessed March 2009).

Erickson, Hal. “Scandal Sheet: Plot Synopsis.” All Movie.
http://www.allmovie.com/work/scandal-sheet-128726 (accessed March 2009).

Erickson, Hal. “Slander: Plot Synopsis.” All Movie.
http://www.allmovie.com/work/slander-110551 (accessed March 2009).

Farid, Hany. “Photo Tampering Throughout History.” Dartmouth College, (February
2008). http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/research/digitaltampering/ (accessed
March 2008).

“Five Star Final.” TV.com. http://movies.tvguide.com/star-final/114841 (accessed March
2009).

Fuson, Jr. Harold W. Telling it All: A Legal Guide to the Exercise of Free Speech. Kansas
City, MO: Andrews and McMeel, 1995.

The FX Network official Web site for Dirt. 2007.
http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/dirt/ (accessed January 2008).

“FX’s Courteney Cox Series Airs to Solid Ratings, Dismal Reviews.” Media Buyer
Planner, (January 3, 2007). http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/2007/01/03/fxs-
courteney-cox-series-airs-to-solid-ratings-dismal-reviews/ (accessed March
2009).

Garvin, Glenn. “FX Cancels Dirt.” Miami Herald, (June 9, 2008).
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/changing_channels/2008/06/fx-cancels-dirt.html
(accessed March 2009.)

Ghiglione, Loren, and Joe Saltzman. “Fact or Fiction: Hollywood Looks at the News.”
(Resources, Recommended Books, Articles and Web sites, Films, IJPC.org.) Los
Angeles, CA: The University of Southern California, 2003.

Goodman, Tim. “Dirt is Back, Flinging Mud from the News.” San Francisco Chronicle,
(February 29, 2008). http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/29/DD8JVAQR4.DTL (accessed January 2009).

Harrison, James G. “Nineteenth-Century American Novels on American Journalism I,”
Journalism Quarterly, Volume 22, Number 3, September 1945.

156
Hibberd, James. “Law and Order Returns Post Average Ratings.” TV Week, (January 3,
2008). http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/james-
hibberd/2008/01/law_order_return_posts_average.php (accessed March 2009).

Levine, Stuart. “FX’s Dirt Bites the Dust.” Variety, (June 10, 2008).
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117987203.html?categoryid=1417&cs=1
(accessed March 2009).

“Los Angeles Media and Research.” Discover Los Angeles, (2007).
http://www.discoverlosangeles.com/los-angeles-page.php?tid=2240&pageid=420
(accessed March 2008).

“Lou Grant.” The Museum of Broadcast Communications.
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/L/htmlL/lougrant/lougrant.htm (accessed
March 2009).

Lowry, Brian. “Review of Dirt.” Variety, (December 31, 2007).
http://www.variety.com/awardcentral_review/VE1117932370.html?nav=reviews0
7&categoryid=2352&cs=1&p=0 (accessed January 2009).

“The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” The Museum of Broadcast Communications.
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/marytylermo/marytylermo.htm
(accessed March 2009).

“Media of New York City,” Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_of_New_York_City (accessed February
2008).

“Meet John Doe (1941) Plot Summary.” Internet Movie Database.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033891/plotsummary (accessed March 2009).

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008. http://www.merriam-webster.com/ (accessed
February 2008).

MSN Encarta Online Dictionary. 2007.
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/dictionaryhome.aspx (accessed
February 2008).

“Murphy Brown. The Museum of Broadcast Communications.
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/murphybrown/murphybrown.htm
(accessed March 2009).

Ness, Richard R. “From Headline Hunter to Superman: A Journalism Filmography.”
Scarecrow Press, Lanham, MD, 1997.

157

“Network (1976) Plot Summary.” Internet Movie Database.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/ (accessed March 2009).

Nordyke, Kimberly. “Dirt Trampled in Ratings.” Reuters, (March 5, 2008).
http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSN0554836020080305
(accessed March 2009).

“Occupational Outlook Handbook: Writers and Editors.” The U.S. Department of Labor,
Bureau of Labor Statistics, (December 2007).
http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos089.htm (accessed March 2008).

“Overview of Schizophrenia,” NIH Publication No. 02-3517.
Printed 1999, reprinted 2002.
http://www.schizophrenia.com/family/sz.overview.htm (accessed March 2008).

“Peabody Award.” The University of Georgia, (2007).
http://www.peabody.uga.edu/overview_history/index.php (accessed March 2008).

Perez-Pena, Richard. “US Weekly’s Circulation Rises 10% in Soft Year.” The New York
Times, (February 12, 2008).
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/business/media/12mag.html (accessed
December 2008).

“Photoshop Family.” The Adobe Web site. (2008),
http://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/ps_pse_comparison.html#photographer
(accessed March 2008).

Rabin, Nathan. “Dirt: The Complete First Season.” The A.V. Club, (December 25, 2007).
http://www.avclub.com/articles/dirt-the-complete-first-season,7348/ (accessed
December 2008).

“Ratings for Dirt Pilot.” TV.com., (January 4, 2007).
http://www.tv.com/dirt/show/60202/ratings-for-dirt-pilot/topic/76816-
623789/msgs.html (accessed March 2009).

Reaves, Sheila. “The Journal of Mass Media Ethics: Digital Alteration of Photographs in
Consumer Magazines.” Lea Online, (2007).
http://www.leaonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327728jmme0603_5?cookieSet=1
&journalCode=jmme (accessed March 2008).

158

Saltzman, Joe, “Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: A Unique
Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News
Media.” (Resources, Recommended Books, Articles and Web sites, Popular
Culture, IJPC.org.) Los Angeles, CA: The University of Southern California,
2002.

Saltzman, Joe. Frank Capra and the Image of the Journalist in American Film. Los
Angeles, CA: The University of Southern California, 2002.

Saltzman, Joe, “The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture Database.” (Resources,
Database Online, IJPC.org.) Los Angeles, CA: The University of Southern
California, 2007.

Savage, Michael. “Celebrity Magazines Feel the Heat as Gossip Sites Boom.” The
Independent, (August 15, 2008).
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/celebrity-magazines-feel-the-heat-as-
gossip-sites-boom-897540.html (accessed February 2009).

Shales, Tom. “FX’s Dirt: A Wickedly Good Wallow In Hollywood.” The Washington
Post, (January 2, 2007). http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2007/01/01/AR2007010100972.html (accessed February
2008).

“The Society of Professional Journalists: Code of Ethics.” The Society of Professional
Journalists, (1996). http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp (accessed February 2008).

Stanley, Alessandra. “Disposable Friendships and a Fight to the Finish.” The New York
Times, (March 27, 2007).
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/arts/television/27stan.html?n=Top/Referenc
e/Times%20Topics/People/A/Aniston,%20Jennifer (accessed February 2008).

Starr, Louis M. Bohemian Brigade: Civil Newsman in Action, New York, NY: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1954.

“Top 100 consumer Magazines of 2007.” Info Please.
http://www.infoplease.com/entertainment/magazines/top-100-consumer.html
(accessed January 2009).

Wecter, Dixon. The Hero in America: A Chronicle of Hero-Worship. New York, NY:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1972.

159
“William Randolph Hearst.” The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000429/ (accessed
March 2008).

Zelizer, Barbie. Institutions of American Democracy: The Press, “Definitions of
Journalism.” Oxford University Press, 2005.

160

Appendix A: Episode List of the Complete First Season of the FX
Network Original Series Dirt

Episode 1: “Pilot,” Dirt. First aired January 2, 2002, FX Networks. ABC Studios,
FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Matthew Carnahan. Written by
Matthew Carnahan.
In the series premiere of Dirt, editor-in-chief of weekly tabloids Dirt and Now Lucy
Spiller (Courteney Cox) sets up married-with-children basketball star Prince Tyreese
(Rick Fox) with a hooker. Spiller blackmails Tyreese with the photos paparazzo Don
Konkey (Ian Hart) took of him doing cocaine and having sex with the hooker in his hot
tub using a strap-on. Konkey convinces struggling actor Holt McLaren (Josh Stewart) to
trade information on Hollywood scandals with Spiller in return for favorable coverage in
her magazines. Celebrity A-lister Kira Klay (Shannyn Sossamon) overdoses on cocaine
and dies after finding out Dirt was going to expose her pregnancy.

Episode 2: “Blogan,” Dirt. First aired January 9, 2007, FX Networks. ABC Studios,
FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Chris Long. Written by Matthew
Carnahan.
Dirt and Now’s owner Gibson Horne (Timothy Bottoms) tells Lucy Spiller if she doesn’t
get control of her reckless spending he will fire her. Spiller sends Don Konkey to Kira
Klay’s funeral so he can get cover photos of her corpse inside the casket for Now. Spiller
focuses her Dirt cover on exposing Hollywood power couple known as “Blogan” for
faking their pregnancy and being too vein to carry their own child. Novice reporter Willa
McPhearson (Alex Breckenridge) sets out to prove to Spiller that she is thick-skinned
enough for the job. Holt McLaren asks Spiller to run a story on his girlfriend, celebrity
Julia Mallory (Laura Allen) because she is having trouble dealing with Kira Klay’s death.
Spiller approaches Horne about merging the two weeklies into one super tabloid.

Episode 3: “Ovophagy,” Dirt. First aired January 16, 2007, FX Networks. ABC
Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Paris Barclay. Written by Joel
Fields.
Lucy Spiller needs a big cover for the lunch of Dirt Now. When Spiller sends Willa
McPhearson to find out if Christian pop star Connie Chris (Kate Linae) is in rehab for
using drugs, McPhearson ends up taking drugs to prove to the celebrity drug dealer
Garbo (Carly Pope) she is not a nark. After cutting off his finger, Konkey is able to get
access to Chris’s hospital room and finds out she is taking a professional break because
she burned her entire face freebasing heroine and epinephrine. Spiller orders her staff to
look into the mysterious disappearance of hip-hop artist Andre G. Prince Tyreese follows
Konkey into the Dirt Now parking garage and realizes Spiller was the one who set him
up. Spiller uses the photos she has of Tyreese to get him to give her dirt on Andre G.
Tyreese tells Spiller that Andre G’s manager, Twitty McDaniel (Billy Brown), murdered
the singer and has his head in a jar.

161

Episode 4: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Dirt. First aired January 23,
2007, FX Networks. ABC Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Paris
Barclay. Written by Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin.
Lucy Spiller continues to blackmail Prince Tyreese until he tells her where Twitty
McDaniel is keeping Andre G’s head. Don Konkey gets the cover shot of Andre G’s head
in a jar that McDaniel keeps in his wine cellar. Spiller has Konkey follow her brother Leo
(Will McCormack) and finds out he is sleeping with married-with-children action star
Jack Dawson (Grant Show). Leo is furious with Spiller. McPherson gets into another
sticky situation when a source says he will only give her the information she wants if she
lets him satisfy his foot fetish by masturbating to the sight of her feet. Spiller tries to
break in her new assistant, Kenny (Ankur Bhatt).

Episode 5: “You Don’t Know Jack,” Dirt. First aired January 30, 2007, FX
Networks. ABC Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Chris Long.
Written by Dave Flebotte.
Lucy Spiller publishes the photos Don Konkey took of her brother, Leo, and action star
Jack Dawson kissing. Leo tells Spiller, against her recommendation, to publish the photos
that out the celebrity. Spiller has to bail Konkey out of jail after he is arrested for
trespassing on Dawson’s private property to get the photos. After being tied up and told
he was going to get his penis cut off and fed to him, publisher Brent Barrow (Jeffrey
Nordling) gives up Spiller’s anonymous source on the Andre G murder story. Because of
this, Prince Tyreese is beaten almost to death. Willa McPhearson gets more confident in
her skills as a reporter.

Episode 6: “The Secret Lives of Altar Girls,” Dirt. First aired February 6, 2007, FX
Networks. ABC Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Jesse Bochco.
Written by Joel Fields.
Lucy Spiller calls in her old mentor and Dirt Now’s investigative reporter Chuck Lafoon
(Paul Reubens) to go with Willa McPhearson to Walnut Valley, Calif., to investigate the
murder of a high school cheerleader. McPhearson gets her first cover story when she gets
Maddy Sweet (Stephanie Turner) to admit to murdering her best friend, Amber
Carmichael, because she was jealous that her father, the town minister, got her pregnant.
The reverend was also sleeping with his daughter. Spiller and Holt McLaren begin an
affair.

Episode 7: “Come Together,” Dirt. First aired February 13, 2007, FX Networks.
ABC Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Adam Arkin. Written by
Rebecca Dameron.
Jack Dawson’s lawyer threatens Dirt Now with a libel lawsuit. Leo’s guilt over the
situation turns to anger toward Lucy Spiller for publishing the photos. Leo leaves town to
get away from Spiller. Willa McPhearson starts to doubt her reporting when she realizes
she is becoming too emotionally involved in Maddy Sweet and the Walnut Valley
cheerleader murder story. Don Konkey gets photographs of Julia Mallory in a complete

162
drug-induced state and Spiller helps Holt McLaren get her into rehab. McPhearson begins
an affair with Brent Barrow.

Episode 8: “The Thing Under the Bed,” Dirt. First aired February 20, 2007, FX
Networks. ABC Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Dean White.
Written by Sally Robinson.
Willa McPhearson has an instinct about a celebrity wedding and teams up with Don
Konkey to crack the story. They find out that B-list sitcom celebrity Dana Pritchard
(Kristin Minter) is getting married to another woman. A stalker leaves candid
photographs of Spiller in her home and car. Spiller is so overworked she is having trouble
sleeping. Spiller still can’t get in touch with her brother, Leo.

Episode 9: “This Is Not Your Father’s Hostage Situation,” Dirt. First aired
February 27, 2007, FX Networks. ABC Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions.
Former child star Sammy Winter (Vincent Gallo) takes the Dirt Now staff hostage. Lucy
Spiller convinces him to allow them to produce an entire issue about him from the
viewpoint inside the hostage situation. Winter kills Spiller’s assistant, Kenny, to prove
that he is serious about getting good publicity. Actor Johnny Gage (Johann Urb) asks
Spiller to put him back in the pages of Dirt Now.

Episode 10: “The Sexxx Issue,” Dirt. First aired March 6, 2007, FX Networks. ABC
Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Lev L. Spiro. Written by
Matthew Carnahan.
Lucy Spiller wants the staff to focus entirely on celebrity sex stories for the next issue
because she wants everyone to have fun post-hostage workweek. Willa McPhearson and
Brent Barrow have a threesome with a young girl they meet at a bar. The girl’s father
tries to bring a lawsuit against Dirt Now, saying the two of them raped his underage
daughter. He tells Spiller he will settle for three covers for his rising-star daughter. Spiller
finds out the girl is not underage and that her father initiated the threesome in order to get
her publicity. Spiller gives Holt McLaren the only two copies she has of his girlfriend and
Johnny Gage’s sex tape. Spiller hires a secret security team to try to catch her stalker.

Episode 11: “Pap Smeared,” Dirt. First aired March 13, 2007, FX Networks. ABC
Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Chris Long. Written by Albert
Kim.
Lucy Spiller sends Don Konkey out to get photos of best friend celebutantes Tuesday
Nelson and Lulu Kagel because Lulu’s fiancée is cheating on her with Tuesday. Novice
paparazzo Marqui Jackson (Lukas Haas) follows Konkey in hopes of learning the craft of
photography. Jackson gets beaten almost to death by a group of gang-banger paparazzi.
Spiller’s stalker puts photos of Spiller undressing on every computer screen in Dirt
Now’s office. Willa McPhearson ends her affair with Brent Barrow because he is
interfering with her work.

163
Episode 12: “Caught on Tape,” Dirt. First aired March 20, 2007, FX Networks. ABC
Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Frederick King Keller. Written
by Joel Fields.
Lucy Spiller and Willa McPhearson learn that Julia Mallory leaked her own sex tape to
boost her ailing acting career. Don Konkey’s schizophrenia acts up and he has
hallucinations of Holt McLaren telling him he has to kill Spiller.

Episode 13: “Ita Missa Est,” Dirt. First aired March 27, 2007, FX Networks. ABC
Studios, FX, and Coquette Productions. Directed by Matthew Carnahan. Written
by Matthew Carnahan.
Lucy Spiller lunches with Tina Harrod (Jennifer Aniston) to talk about the rumors that
Harrod is out for Spiller’s job. Spiller’s security team finds Konkey in the desert just
before he slits his own throat. Spiller finds out her brother Leo is her stalker. Spiller and
Holt McLaren are followed and photographed by the paparazzi. Harrod shows the photos
to Julia Mallory and outs McLaren for being Spiller’s source. Mallory sneaks into
Spiller’s house and attacks her with a butcher knife, stabbing Spiller in the stomach.
Spiller calls Konkey to get to her house and get the photographs before he calls for help.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract The FX Network original series "Dirt" is one of the most comprehensive representations of tabloid journalism on television to date. Although the series only aired for one and a half seasons, examining and understanding the images of the tabloid journalists in "Dirt" is necessary because the relationship between the public and real-life tabloid journalists is hostile and angry. While a fraction of what the public thinks about journalists comes from real-life experiences with tabloid publications and journalists, part of what the public thinks about these journalists comes from the images they see on television programs like "Dirt" -- images that ultimately reinforce the tabloid journalist as corrupt, unfair, unethical, and amoral. Although tabloid journalists had a presence in film and television prior to "Dirt," the FX series demonstrates an in-depth portrayal of the competitive field of tabloid journalism while reinforcing the idea that getting the story is the ultimate goal.

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

The lovesick journalist: the image of the female journalist in Danielle Steel’s novels

Asset Metadata

Creator Emerick, Jaclyn Suzanne (author)

Core Title Playing dirty: analyzing the images of the tabloid journalists in the complete first season of the FX network series "Dirt"

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Journalism (Print Journalism)

Publication Date 04/27/2009

Defense Date 04/01/2009

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag film,journalist,OAI-PMH Harvest,tabloid,television

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Saltzman, Joseph (committee chair), Durbin, Daniel (committee member), Nelson, Bryce (committee member)

Creator Email emerick@usc.edu,jse431@mac.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m2120

Unique identifier UC195880

Identifier etd-Emerick-2821 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-225548 (legacy record id),usctheses-m2120 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Emerick-2821.pdf

Dmrecord 225548

Document Type Thesis

Rights Emerick, Jaclyn Suzanne

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Repository Name Libraries, University of Southern California

Repository Location Los Angeles, California

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu