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Is Harvey Levin Killing His TMZ Baby?

Famous for reporting scandals about Paris Hilton and Michael Richards, TMZ.com is facing some gossip of its own. And it can be summed up like this: TMZ is in turmoil.

Publicly, you may have read the site's general manager, Alan Citron, just jumped ship to Buzznet, the music-based social network site that also runs Celebuzz, its celebrity and pop culture spin-off. (Citron and Buzznet's founder, Tyler Goldman, are friendly from their days at Movielink.) And Gillian Sheldon, TMZ's supervising producer and unofficial No.2 to chief Harvey Levin, who has been with the site since launch, has also left, for another Telepictures unit.

Are these two high profile departures pure coincidence? Time Warner would like you to think so. But you're smarter than that.

What you aren't reading is this: Levin, as he is wont to do, is driving away his top talent by refusing to make compromises on the direction of the site or its content. We're told staffers are furious with the way he's been running things of late, allowing copy to go to the site riddled with spelling errors and, more drastically, vicious attacks on undeserving subjects. The only one laughing is Levin; his minions are generally disgusted. And given Levin's notorious managerial style, that's saying a lot.

If you're looking for a timeline as to when things started heading downhill, throw a dart on the day the TMZ television show launched last fall. In the months since, traffic to TMZ.com has fallen, as have revenues. But Levin, we're told, has been too strong-headed to accept that things need to change.

Which they should. If you've visited TMZ of late - which, as we just said, fewer of you are doing these days - you've probably noticed the slipping direction of the site. Cheap shots, third-grade jokes, and a general lack of interesting celebrity content. Sure, without Paris Hilton making the nightclub rounds and Britney Spears cleaning up her act, there's less news to move on. But even the tabloids are figuring out how to weather the storm; why not TMZ?