When Bonnie Fuller told us last night that she polygraphs some of her sources for Star to ensure they're telling the truth, we nearly shit ourselves. And so did at least a dozen other media reporter types in the audience who we talked to at last night's Reuters panel "Public Figures, Private Lives." (That was after the audible gasp from the audience.)

Polygraphing sources? Does American Media Inc. even have the budget for that? (And if they do, doesn't David Pecker pad his own pockets with it?) We've heard murmurs about this before, but we've also heard murmurs about Mel Gibson not hating Jews. Do the tabloids operate on a Hollywood-level of mysticism we don't know about?

Apparently so. We touched base with a number of chief editors at the celebrity rags and, it turns out, polygraphing sources is not entirely uncommon. National Enquirer editor David Perel tells us: "We have polygraphed sources in the past and in fact made mention of it in the article we published, showing the result. Some sources do sign contracts, in particular when we are buying something exclusive, such as photographs." (The Enquirer, it's worth noting, is also a AMI title.)

That's "sign contracts," as in paperwork binding sources to their story and agreeing to testify in court should the magazine come under legal assault (read: accusations of libel). Fuller also said that's regular practice at Star.

But the meat (pun intended) of last night's panel – with Fuller flanked by Slate's Jacob Weisberg, Reuters' Paul Holmes, First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams, former RIAA prez and media/GLBT issues consultant Hilary Rosen, and Splash News chief Gary Morgan – was devoted to the gays. Mark Foley this, House pages that. But what about Lance Bass and Reichen Lehmkuhl, yo? Forget closeted Congressman. How does Fuller handle covering gay celebs who aren't out?

Well, she doesn't. As most panel members agreed, sexual orientation remains a part of someone's private life, off limits to even tabloid scrawl. So yes, two gay (but not out) celebrities sleeping with each other will be kept under wraps, while two straight celebs are fair game. And besides, Fuller claims Star didn't even know about Lance and Reichen until the former *Nsync-er came out in People — which is less a debate over outing gay celebs than it is for finding new reporters. Seriously. There were photos of those two. Everywhere.

Update: While some editors didn't have much to say on the record, we did just hear from In Touch executive editor Dan Wakeford, who says: "We’ve never polygraphed a source in our four years of existence. Polygraphs are not accepted as court evidence. We make our stories accurate by avoiding single sourced stories and investigating them thoroughly." So booyah.

Attention all Anderson Cooper stalkers! Next Tuesday, Sept. 5, Anderson will be at the 92nd St. Y talking about "the events that are transforming the world." You know, who Lindsay Lohan's fucking, what Katie Couric is wearing and why the Meatpacking District sucks so hard. Or, whatever the Y's website says.

Anderson Cooper, the anchor of CNN’s prime-time evening news show Anderson Cooper 360, talks about the events that are transforming our world and the way broadcast journalism covers breaking stories. Cooper, a winner of a National Headliners Award and an Emmy, is the author of Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival, where he recounts the unforgettable events he has covered, from the tsunami in Asia to the hunger crisis in Niger to Hurricane Katrina

.

But, exclusively for you Jossipers out there, we hear there a few remaining tickets to this event — at a discount! Woo-hoo! Ten Dollars off. Just make sure you type COOP in the discount field at checkout.

So, instead of $35, you only have to pay $25 to see Anderson and Charlie Rose cover the "breaking stories." Saving money and staring at those icy blues? Go, go now. There's only like a handful of 'em left. Priority goes to Hurricane Katrina victims. Ha, ha. Just Kidding. Now go.

Anderson Cooper in Conversation with Charlie Rose: Covering the Breaking Story [92nd St. Y]

Frank Bruni's got nothing on Salon's Heather Havrilesky, whose tales of 30-item breakfasts, hors d'oeuvres, and chocolate, chocolate, chocolate (courtesy Fox) has completely reshaped our opinion on what the Television Critics Association's annual event has to offer. Sure, we've got Keith Olbermann fueling his Bill O'Reilly feud and Katie Couric's revamped position on reporting from the Middle East, but foodie porn at a notoriously stuff event bests any account. Writes Havrilesky:

But most important, there's the food. Why didn't anyone tell me about the food? Apparently, after years of manipulating TV critics, publicists have figured out that we're a comfort-oriented species, likely to do anything in pursuit of a soft chair and a salty snack. Accordingly, food is the absolute highlight of the tour, used to lure pale cave dwellers out of their dim abodes in search of chocolate brownies and strawberry-basil smoothies.

Take the promotional mailing I got in the mail yesterday, which looks just like one of those breakfast menus that hang on the doors of nice hotels, where you can check off the foods you want delivered to your room the next morning. This mailing, for an event promoting something called "The Greg Behrendt Show," briefly details the location and time of the event at the top, then lists more than 30 different breakfast foods that will be available there (I'm not exaggerating), including bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese, chocolate beignets, potato pancakes topped with homemade applesauce, hickory-smoked bacon, espresso, pomegranate juice, homemade blueberry muffins and fresh fruit kabobs.

Though it's easy to trumpet trays of food when compared to Project Runway's offering: orange Tic Tacs and parsley leaves.

I Like to Watch [Heather Havrilesky, Salon]

Among the myriad press releases, press releases disguised as personalized emails, and press releases disguised as Levitra spam are regular doses of B-list party invites. Today, we bring you a C-list party invite, if only because you'll be able to hob nob with Vanity Fair .. readers!

Learn how to support a good cause while giving your BlAmEx a David Barton workout, after the jump.

CONTINUED »

Back in November, we lauded Bar Mitzvah Disco, if only because the book that exemplifies Jews trying to be hip from Roger Bennett, Nick Kroll, and Jules Shell gave us a look inside club impresario Noah Tepperberg's graffiti-themed entre into manhood.

Next week, they're about to do the same for someone else we've grown a particular fondness for: Gawker's Jesse Oxfeld.

From the book's official website – maintained by a one Enrique Goldfarb, with the malapert superlative "Northern New Jersey's #3 Bar Mitzvah Entertainer" – comes news of Oxfeld's appearance, alongside You Cant Make It Up's Michelle Collins. What's not on the website, however, is this little tidbit we garnered through minimal digging (which is all we're allowed to do, as outlined in our freelance contract): Oxfeld will be screening his bar mitzvah video for all to see. And you thought a gaggle of Jersey Jews wouldn't be allowed on the island.

So what can we expect on the footage? Oxfeld chanting his Haftorah to the tune of a Kylie Minogue single? Jesse hoisted into the air during a hora dance as Aunt Zelda snaps away with her Polaroid? The possibilities are endless. And there's only one way to find out:

Bar Mitzvah Disco, a Very Celebrated Show
March 8th
The Slipper Room
167 Orchard Street
Cocktails and tiny food at 8pm, show at 9pm, bar mitzvah partying all night long!!!
reservations: 212 253 7246

The invite to the soiree (sans painstaking endless hours searching for the right matte finish and serif font that you're accustomed to when bar mitzvah invitation shopping), after the jump.

UPDATE: Jesse writes in to dampen our spirits. There will be no footage of his hora dancing, nor reading of his Haftorah.

It'll just be a small portion of the video, played in concert with some live action. Even more disappointing for you, you will not see me chant a Kylie Minogue-flavored Haftorah for several reasons. This is partially because I prefer a Sondheim-inflected version and mostly because I was bar mitzvahed in a conservative shul, where there is no videotaping on the shabbos.

Which begs the question: Why didn't the Oxfelds do as all Jews do on shabbat and hire some lowly Pentecostal who knows how to hit the red button on the camcorder?

Related: Noah Tepperberg and the graffiti Bar Mitzvah

CONTINUED »