Exhausted with crapping on MSNBC, News Corp.'s attack dog megaphone Page Six goes after 30 Rock's biz network: 'THE top talents at CNBC are battling over a billboard. A network insider tells us Maria Bartiromo, Suze Orman and Donny Deutsch "all want their pictures on CNBC's billboard overlooking the West Side Highway, and there's always a lot of fighting and lobbying behind the scenes over it. They're like a bunch of prima donnas." A CNBC flack denied any rivalry and insisted all three have had their mugs featured on the board in the last year.'

This is funny, because:

How many MSNBC-bashing items can MSNBC-basher Page Six squeeze into one column? At least three, it looks like. There's the Keith-Olbermann-threatens-to-quit item (unless he gets better security at the RNC, because he's afraid of assassination attempts); the everybody-hates-Luke-Russert item (Tim's son was driven around the DNC in a golf cart, big pimpin' style); and the Don-Imus-is-doing-great item (rubbing it in MSNBC's face that the racist radio host can survive without the network).

Though Jared Paul Stern insisted there was never an affair between his wife Ruth "Snoodles" Gutman and "stalker" Deane Benbenek, this photo evidence suggests otherwise. Benbenek insists you're looking at the real thing, though he declined to offer photos showing his face. [Read the whole story here.] Very NSFW.

CONTINUED »

JOSSIP REPORTS — How long has it been since you thought about ex-Page Six mudslinger and current UrbanDaddy blogger Jared Paul Stern and his fumbling attempts at white collar crimes? Well, Jared is back in the public eye — or we're putting him there — thanks to 1) a restraining order; 2) an arrest warrant; 3) an affair; 4) and the photo evidence to back it all up.

CONTINUED »

This list of all of Paris Hilton's lies is amusing because, though it chronicles a number of her fibs, it is far from a comprehensive account of all her tall tales. But there is only so much column space in a newspaper gossip column.

That Claudia Cohen was best known for slinging gossip in Page Six was apparently, um, lost on Page Six, who today defends their former masthead member against the SLEAZY New York Times. The Times' smear? Daring to quote people at UPenn who aren't thrilled about a building being named after the late Cohen, courtesy ex-husband Ron Perelman exercising his naming rights after a $20 million donation in 1994. But don't worry, Richard Johnson: For the right price you'll be able to name a building at your own alma mater, Empire State College, after whomever you please. Even Ron Burkle.

Chaunce Hayden, the Steppin' Out editor whose name regularly appeared in Page Six until he found himself embroiled in a false report about a Bam Margera and Lynsi Smigo sex tape, is the center of this Radar profile, which lists his various past careers: male stripper, car washer, failed punk rocker, bartender, swimming pool digger. Hayden acknowledges that nobody actually reads his publication, which is littered around New York and New Jersey, which might be a growing concern because until lately, it's been his single entry into getting his gossip items, and his name, in the press. Then the Post banned him (Smigo has since filed a $10 million defamation suit against him and the paper); MSNBC blacklisted him after a he caused a commotion on Joe Scarborough's show; he's persona non grata at ABC, when he went on-air to report Diane Sawyer had just shushed him; and Howard Stern would like to see him dead after Hayden said, on ABC, that Stern should be looked at for insider trading for allegedly leaking details of his then-impending move to Sirius. Interesting, though, that Radar is reporting all of this. Not because the gossip industry isn't the pub's territory — it is — but because paragraphs like this:

CONTINUED »

To be sure, it's quite fair that Lynsi Smigo — the fiance of Opie & Anthony radio host Gregg "Opie" Hughes — would be so disgusted that somebody would insinuate she made a sex tape with Jackass' Bam Margera that she would sue over the matter. It's just sort of silly to think that the matter will see a courtroom.

Back in April, Page Six ran an item with the sex tape claim, provided by Steppin' Out editor Chaunce Hayden. Which explains why, in addition to the Post, Hayden and P6 editor Richard Johnson are named as defendants. Nevermind that Johnson & Co. have since thrown Hayden under the bus, blaming him for the erroneous report and severing a lengthy relationship with the column regular. But it's not like Hayden has the cash Rupert Murdoch's Post does.

Smigo is looking for $10 million. As a consolation prize, she'll take 10 minutes with Hayden's tongue. [TSG]

On last night's Countdown, Keith Olbermann preemptively named Page Six's Paula Froelich his "Worst Person in the World" after finding out she was working on an item, for today's column (here's the item), that accused colleague Chris Matthews of gunning for the Meet The Press gig at Tim Russert's funeral. Matthews denied the charge on the record, and said the "agent type" he was speaking to was real-estate developer Bob Monahan, and that their conversation wasn't about his plot to secure the gig, but about an upcoming speech Matthews was going to give to a group of mayors. As for Olbermann, P6 quotes a source saying he's threatened to quit if he isn't named to the MTP gig; Olbermann also denies the claim. And it better be true, because everybody we've spoke with says Olbermann and Matthews are about the last people NBC News president Steve Capus plans to install on the Sunday morning talker. Russert himself took a liking to political director Chuck Todd, though it's also unusual that Russert is said to have bandied about Todd's name as his pick of successor, since Russert, while still alive, had no plans of giving up the show anytime soon.

Former Page Six scribe, Law & Order inspiration, and current UrbanDaddy blogger Jared Paul Stern's second (alleged) attempt at extorting money from Ron Burkle has failed. The first time around, he was reportedly caught on tape offering the Friend Of Clinton the opportunity to pay for favorable coverage in the column with cold hard cash. This time, he sued over defamation about that first time around. Oh well: A judge has tossed his lawsuit against Burkle and the Clintons.

When it was revealed this week that former CBS-Philadelphia news anchor Alycia Lane might have been the victim of email hacking by then-co-anchor Larry Mendte, who stands accused of leaking her emails to the media, plenty of copy was used speculating why he would sabotage his one-time friend and ratings-winning partner. (Mendte is now being investigated by the FBI for his alleged unlawful snooping.)

Hacks like us, however, began connecting the dots between rumors that he leaked her personal emails to the press and the stories that appeared in Page Six, May 2007, about Lane sending emails with racy photos to sports anchor Rich Eisen, which were intercepted by his wife Suzy Shuster. Was Mendte the anonymous source of those incriminating emails that nearly cost Lane her job?

Today, very interestingly, Page Six itself is joining the speculation. Indeed, they're reporting on the rumors that Mendte was their source.

CONTINUED »

Alycia Lane, the former CBS anchor in Philadelphia who was fired after calling a cop a "dyke bitch," may have been the victim of email snooping. By her ex-co-anchor.

Larry Mendte, who teamed with Lane in September 2003 and quickly saw their ratings shoot skyward, is being investigated by the FBI on allegations that he opened Lane's private Yahoo email and then leaked what he read to the media.

On Saturday, federal agents raided Mendte's home and seized a computer. Should they find evidence that Mendte, who earns an estimated $700,000 a year, was leaking her secrets, Lane's case against CBS, for wrongful termination, could gain a helluva lot more ammo. (More on that below.)

Lane, of course, made headlines in May 2007 when her emails, with some racy photos, to sports anchor Rich Eisen, which were intercepted by his wife Suzy Shuster (thanks to their joint email account), who promptly replied to her with a scathing email.

But staffers at the station are left wondering: Why would Mendte 1) read her private emails; and 2) leak their contents? After all, weren't these colleagues friends?

Perhaps not, say current and former staffers: "Their off-air relationship had its highs and lows; they seemed to be barely speaking by the end of last year."

CONTINUED »

Was Harvey Weinstein so furious with Page Six's report about Sharon Stone's amfAR antics that he bum rushed every other gossip in the industry asking for a counter attack?

That's what we've been hearing since the Post's item ran on Saturday, which chronicled Stone, who hosted the event, which raised $10 million, crawling into Diddy's lap to discuss his crack budget and spending hours on "self-indulgent commentary."

Weinstein, whose Weinstein Company helped underwrite the event, scored at least one coup: Fox 411's Roger Friedman battled back against Page Six, as we discussed earlier today, defending Stone's hosting abilities. Nevermind that Friedman and Weinstein are friends, and part of the gossip's Cannes column was spent talking about the film Polanski: Wanted and Desired, which Weinstein's company will be distributing abroad.

Bless any celebrity that takes on the unenviable task of entertaining the wealthy and powerful at a charity event in an effort to raise money for a good cause. That's what Sharon Stone did at the annual Cannes event for amfAR, the AIDS research organization whose capitalization nobody can quite get right, hosting the four-event auction that nabbed a cool $10 million, with an assist from Madonna.

But Stone's method of scrounging up cash didn't win everyone over.

A scathing Page Six report last week had a spy recounting her jokes about Diddy's budget for crack and all the sob stories she told about herself. "Her whole speech was about her," said P6's source. "What she has done, how her crusade had affected her . . . all with the backdrop of dying kids on the screen behind her. Then, it was [bleep] this, [bleep] that throughout the whole auction. It was vulgar beyond belief … At one point she actually said one of the items from the auction could be hung from 'your [beep] ring.'"

That didn't sit well with Fox 411 gossip Roger Friedman. Which is why he's on the attack today against Page Six's report.

CONTINUED »

ETHICS Page Six's Paula Froelich could not attend the party where a drink named after her would be poured because the event was an open bar, not cash. [Gawker]