The emphasis? That's all ours. The phrase "Ben Affleck [saw/watched] his beloved Red Sox lose to the Cleveland Indians?" That would be courtesy of a certain two-timing publicist—and a demonstrable lack of effort on the part of two of the country's premiere gossip columns.

From the NYDN:

First-time director Affleck ducks out of his movie's premiere. Ben's nerves? 'Gone.' Gone Baby Gone" could have described first-time director Ben Affleck, who ducked out of the film premiere Tuesday to watch his beloved Red Sox lose to the Cleveland Indians. (Boo-hoo, right?)

From the NYP:

SECONDS before the lights dimmed at the Cinema Society's screening of "Gone Baby Gone," the director, Ben Affleck, was, well, gone. "I'm going to go watch the game," we heard him whisper just before he slipped out of the packed IFC Center to see his beloved Red Sox lose to the Cleveland Indians.

Looks like the Red Sox aren't the only ones having a crappy week.

From NYT: "Embattled Attorney General Resigns Gonzales Made Call to President Bush on Friday."

If true (and its already on Wikipedia so it just might be!) this means Gonzales will be joining the ranks of departing White House Press Secretary Tony Snow and the recently retired election winner/regime ruiner Karl Rove, a.k.a. co-founders of the "Let's get the hell out of here" club.

And while the official reason for Gonzalez's resignation is still unclear (unfortunately for Gonzales, Rove already invoked the "I'm leaving to spend more time with my son, and thereby ruin his freshman year of college" excuse) we're almost certain this has little or nothing at all to do with that whole "dismissal of U.S. attorneys" controversy Gonzales reportedly knows remembers nothing about.

One thing we do know? CNN is only just now picking up the story. Presumably from Wikipedia, who's had it up since approximately 8am.

Every now and again, we decide to investigate the origin of an *exclusive* celebrity scoop! Today's example: ex-Laguna Beach "star" and current L.A. county jail regular Jason Wahler checks himself into rehab.

Sure, for whatever reason, it's all over the internets. But who was first with the dish?

Jossip investigates after the jump!

CONTINUED »

Hulk and Linda Hogan, who have been married for 20 years and are responsible for their daughter's train wreck of a career, are heading toward a split, reports the lead item in this morning's Page Six. Apparently the trouble started when the Hogan family began shooting VH1's Hogan Knows Best, now in its fourth season.

But wait, didn't we already hear about all this?

CONTINUED »

Breaking news alert! Apparently, in addition to being a pretentious dickwad who wears more eyeliner than your mom, Jared Leto is also lousy in the sack! And his publicist (in the unlikely event he actually has one) is seeing double today.

Reports Rush & Molloy:

Perhaps Jared Leto should concentrate on quality instead of quantity as he cuts a swath across womankind. Penthouse Pet of the Year runnerup Krista Ayne gave the raccoon-eyed actor only an average grade after their alleged tumble. "Okay, I admit it, I hooked up with Jared Leto. He's a really nice guy. The sex wasn't that good though," the bounteous brunette tells Steppin' Out mag's Chaunce Hayden. "I'd give him a 7 on a scale from 1 to 10 in bed." We hear Leto's called Ayne semi-constantly since we called him for comment - perhaps to bring his average up?

But Richard Johnson and his hardworking Page Six minions were not to be outdone.

CONTINUED »

(Click the image above for a larger version in a pop-up window)

If you happened to flip to the story about Whitney Houston and Ray-J's romance "heating up" in this week's Us Weekly, perhaps you also saw the sidebar item about Naomi Watts expecting her first child, with boyfriend Liev Schreiber. Today's Page Six, in fact, picked up Us' supposed scoop.

All of which came as a shock to the editors at In Touch, given that they broke the story a full week earlier in their Feb. 19 issue. Us' current March 5 issue, meanwhile, hit newsstands today.

Needless to say, we're not going to even bother with a back-and-forth about who's the more deserving winner in this Scoop Wars battle. It's a Bauer get, easy.

Have Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz called it quits? Not only are a pair of tabloids claiming it's true, but each of them are claiming it's their exclusive. Even more entertaining for this edition of Scoop Wars? Both tabs are owned by David Pecker's American Media Inc.

Bonnie Fuller's Star magazine and David Perel's National Enquirer are both attaching "exclusive" to this celeb story — though to be sure, this wouldn't be the first time we've seen this happen.

Approaching noon yesterday, we received a blast from Star announcing their exclusive with news of what to expect when the issue hit newsstands today. Supposedly, they grabbed an exclusive quote from JT himself:

This Christmas season, Justin Timberlake spent his holiday at home in Tennessee, surrounded by his close-knit family, including mom (and one-time manager) Lynn, stepfather Paul Harless and his two younger half-brothers. Cameron Diaz, his girlfriend since 2003, went skiing in Vail, Colo., staying at the Vail Mountain Resort & Spa, with her family. Separate vacations? At this time of year? What's the reason? Sources say the glamorous duo, who have gone on many vacations together in the past, went their separate ways after Justin decided that his days with Cam were numbered. And on Dec. 23, as he partied with friends in Senses nightclub in Memphis, a source says Justin told fellow revelers: "Me and Cameron? We're done."

Then today, we got word from the Enquirer:

Justin hung out with a sexy blonde, telling her and his other pals that his three-and-a-half-year relationship with Cameron was over, sources have told The ENQUIRER exclusively.

Both tabloids have details on Justin hanging out at home near Memphis with a high school gal, who he supposedly told his relationship with Cam was over. (The Enquirier, meanwhile, makes a footnote about Justin and Cameron meeting up together a few days after Christmas — which, uh, might debunk all of this anyhow.)

So with nearly identical stories hitting one right after the other, who wins this Scoop War?

CONTINUED »

Remember earlier this morning, when you opened up the New York Post, flipped to Page Six, and read the breaking news that Julia Roberts was expecting a third child with husband Danny Moder? You weren't the only ones — People magazine did the same thing! Except whereas you went and emailed the link to your friends, People went and called Roberts' rep and – OMG! – confirmed the report it just read, and then slapped on the "exclusive" label.

You know where this is going: The easiest Scoop Wars battle, like, ever.

From this morning's Page Six, which goes online in the wee hours of the morning:

JULIA Roberts has a hit movie out and two more films on the way - but her biggest project at the moment is a bun in the oven.

Page Six has learned that the auburn-tressed Oscar winner is pregnant with her third child and will give birth next summer. The happy news comes as Roberts flies high in the nation's No. 5 picture, "Charlotte's Web," in which she provides the voice for the beloved spider.

From People's website, posted at 10:55am:

Hazel and Finn will soon have to share their famous mom's attention: Julia Roberts is expecting her third child with husband Danny Moder, PEOPLE has confirmed exclusively.

Roberts is due this summer, her rep, Marcy Engelman, tells PEOPLE.

We've said it before and we'll say it again: "Confirming" a scoop from a competitor does not make your report an "exclusive." So when we awoke the gossip gods and asked them who shall win this Scoop War, they stammed "Uh, Page Six, you fucktards" and rolled over and back into their slumber.

Guess which B-list celebrity we despise having to write about? Carrie Underwood, and it's not because she's destined to be the next Tara Conner, but because with the exception of Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson, American Idols should not stay on your radar for more than 60 days past the series' finale. But when a Scoop Wars soldier alerts us to a battle to be faught, our unwritten rules fall to the wayside.

At the center of this Scoop Wars battle is word that AI winner Underwood is dating Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who's been linked to Jessica Simpson in the past. David Perel's National Enqurier – flying high this afternoon with a just-launched website redesign – set out word yesterday at 4:20pm that the "Thanksgiving flirtation has turned into a New Year romance," with full details hitting the print issue of the Enqurier, on sale today.

But then Richard Spencer's In Touch Weekly went and dropped the "exclusive" bomb, claiming the scoop at 5:10pm yesterday:

Now Tony, 26, who has been linked with Jessica Simpson, has confirmed that he and Carrie are a couple in an interview with a small-town paper in Charleston, Ill., where he played college football. The article will appear in Wednesday's Journal Gazette/Times-Courier.

Wait, what's that? The news actually came from a small town Illinois paper? We found the article, which carries a pre-holiday, Dec. 19 publication date.

So who gets this exclusive and the Scoop Wars win?

CONTINUED »

Taking off early for Christmas just wouldn't be right without leaving you with another edition of Scoop Wars, which asks: Is Women's Wear Daily picking up where Radar's Jeff Bercovici left off? The former Memo Pad scribe and current Radar gossip has run into a score of trouble for repurposing the exclusives of the competition and other misdeeds at his new gig, and now more one media watcher pointed out to us that an item by Irin Carmon in today's WWD column is remarkably similar to Jim Shi's Fashion Week Daily report. That ran on, ahem, Monday.

So what's the news all about? Joe Zee, the editor of Vitals before the floor fell out from under him, is landing at Elle as creative director. Jim Shi had nearly all the details about the new post – plus bonus anecdotes and insider staffer gossiping! – except confirmation. Which was a bit hard to come by when Zee denied the move because he was still under contract with Conde Nast. Fast forward to today's Carmon item, where news comes that Zee has "fulfilled contractual obligations to Condé Nast" and is summarily taking the Elle gig.

We tried touching base with the girls at Memo Pad to see how these paths got crossed and one item became two, but have yet to hear back.

So who gets the win this Scoop War?

CONTINUED »

Items from Scoop Wars are brought to our attention from readers. Seen the same "exclusive" in two different tabloids? Let us know.

This edition of Scoop Wars is a little incestuous, since our two combatants – Star magazine and the National Enquirer – are both owned by American Media Inc. By why let that stop the fun?

On Dec. 4, David Perel's Enquirer ran an exclusive (pp. 40-41) on Lindsay Lohan supposedly overdosing at the Chateau Marmont (her sometimes home), where her binging required the services of a doctor to flush the goods and bring her back to health.

And in this week's issue of Bonnie Fuller's Star, guess what story we have? The one where Lindsay Lohan overdosed at the Chateu Marmont, on pp.44-45. Not only is the plotline the same (with a few new details, such as Lindsay's Grey Goose demands at the World Music Awards), but there's plenty of evidence Star staffers just copy/pasted the Enquirer's story. Recycling quotes – and merely adding an exclamation mark to the new version – has a tendency to do that.

From the Enqurier:

From Star:

And the winner is? No brainer here, folks. Perel's team at the Enqurier had the story first, Star copy/pasted and updated, and AMI shows that its mounting debt actually might be unhealthy when it comes to funding two separate gossip operations.

Late yesterday came news of Pamela Anderson's miscarriage while shooting box office certain dud Blond on Blonder. But we received the report from two sources: American Media Inc.'s National Enquirer, as well as Wenner Media's Us Weekly. And what makes us care about Pamela Anderson news that doesn't involve a leaking implant? Only that both outlets carried the "exclusive" tagline, which means we had to whip out this edition of Scoop Wars.

Reports the National Enquirer:

"Baywatch" star Pam Anderson has suffered a tragic miscarriage while on location in Vancouver, the ENQUIRER has learned exclusively.

Pam, 39, was eight weeks pregnant by her new husband rock-rapper Kid Rock, 35, and is currently filming the comedy "Blond And Blonder" with co-star Denise Richards in Canada.

While Us Weekly says:

US has learned exclusively that actress Pamela Anderson, 39, and her husband, musician Kid Rock, 35, have suffered a miscarriage.

A spokesperson for Pamela Anderson confirms that the actress suffered a miscarriage late last week in Vancouver, Canada while filming her new movie, Blond on Blonder.

So whose Scoop War win is this? Us Weekly's timestamp puts their posting at 9:07pm yesterday, while an email alert arrived in our inbox from the Enqurier at 6:40pm — giving editor David Perel plenty of proof they had it first. And, meanwhile, the AMI tabloid's details are more robust (always a clear indicator of who owned the story) with notes on when Pamela started bleeding to details of co-star Denise Richards protecting her friend from the paparazzi. As for Us? They merely have confirmation from Anderson's rep. And hell, even we can do that.

Elsewhere, as of this posting (wee hours of Friday morning), In Touch, Star, and People all seem to be asleep on the story.

What better way to kick off a week of gossip than mull over a Scoop War from last week? In the red corner is E!'s Planet Gossip columnist Marc Malkin, who hit his blog at 7:45pm on Friday to report Hilary Swank was injured on the New York set of her new flick P.S. I Love You (seen here on set). In the blue corner is People magazine, which had the same item, nearly verbatim, posted at 11pm. So who wins this minor battle? Let's look at the evidence.

Writes Malkin:

Swank and her co-star Gerard Butler were filming a scene in which Butler performs a striptease. "His suspender snapped and hit Hilary above the eye," one source tells me.

Production was shut down today and it may also be cancelled on Monday, according to my sources.

"It was close," another source says. "If she was hit just a little bit lower, it would have been a major eye injury."

And here's People's item, posted over two hours later and credited to one of its own "sources."

Hilary Swank was injured Thursday on the set of her new film, P.S. I Love You in New York.

During a scene with costar Gerard Butler, in which the actor performs a striptease for Swank, Butler's suspenders became snagged and hit the actress on her forehead, a source tells PEOPLE. Swank received medical treatment, which included sutures for the cut, and filming was halted.

Per the source, Swank is recovering and in good spirits, and production will resume on Monday.

We're handing marathoner Malkin the battleflag on this one. Not only was his item posted first (and really, that's all that matters when it comes to scoops), but he had the more robust details. Not that People is claiming this was their exclusive, to be sure. How come? A source at People tells us: "The general policy [if we have a story that someone else had first] is to get the info from one of our own sources, so we don't have to credit the original report. But if someone else reported it first, then we don't mark it 'exclusive.' But we probably won't credit the original source, either."

Today's Fox 411 column from Roger Friedman included with it a little update about Jermaine Dupri's split from Virgin Records' Urban Division following the sales slump of girlfriend Janet Jackson. Also included? A reference to a previous column that, supposedly, broke the news "exclusively." And all it takes is one mention of "exclusive" to get our Scoop Wars synapse firing.

From today's Fox 411:

We told you exclusively on Saturday [Oct 21st], but it has since then been confirmed that producer Jermaine Dupri, boyfriend of Janet Jackson, has left Virgin Records, and the complete flop of Janet’s new album is the reason.

Oh, but wait, what's that? You say that even if Friedman has the story on Oct. 21, the tag team Rush & Molloy had that story .. the day before? From R&M on Friday, Oct. 20:

We told you on Monday that Jermaine Dupri had threatened to quit his job as president of Virgin Record's urban music division because he blamed his colleagues for badly marketing the CD of his girlfriend, Janet Jackson. Yesterday, sources said Dupri was in fact out of there. A rep for Virgin CEO Jason Flom had no comment by deadline.

And, to be sure, the Monday mentioned was Oct. 16, giving George and Joanna a full five-day lead on Friedman's column. And the obvious winner in this round of Scoop Wars is: Rush & Molloy.

If two gossip columns report the same story on the same day, to whom do we give credit? That's the little problem with our new Scoop Wars obsession. It's much easier to determine the validity of Us Weekly's claim to credit if the Associated Press runs the story the next day without attribution. But today's Page Six and Radar both have the "The Who drummer Pete Townshend strormed out of Howard Stern's studio" story (Page Six here, Radar here). That two outlets have the same information isn't terribly surprising – there's many a day when the Post and Daily News run simul-exclusives – which gave us enough pause to ignore the matter all together. And then the Sirius PR hacks at Dan Klores, looking to build on the controversy, got in touch. (Forgive our obvious plug.)

Yesterday, Pete Townshend, guitarist for legendary rock band The Who, stormed out of a Sirius Satellite Radio studio when he became upset about potential interview topics shock jock Howard Stern was kicking around. The interview was to be aired as part of the free two-day promotion launching Sirius Internet Radio, which allows internet users to subscribe to Sirius via the internet for $12.95 per month.

So who does Dan Klores point to for the story? Nah, not Maer Roshan's cracksquad, but rather Richard Johnson's rumor mill. And as anyone knows, a publicist may misspell her client's name, but she never forgets her favorite column to leak to. (There's also the small matter of Post articles being filed by 10pm the night before, while Radar's item went up at 9:15am today.)

Yesterday, it was Us Weekly vs. the Associated Press in the Scoop Wars when it came to who had the news first of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes wedding date. Today, People is throwing down with Fashion Week Daily over news that Elle fashion director (or, as most people know her, the most witty judge on Project Runway) Nina Garcia and husband David Conrod are expecting their first child together.

On People.com yesterday (emphasis ours):

Project Runway judge Nina Garcia and her husband, David Conrod, a senior managing director at Guggenheim Capital, are expecting their first child together in March, Garcia confirms exclusively to PEOPLE.

On Fashion Week Daily, last Thursday:

Nina Garcia, Elle fashion director and Project Runway judge, can now add mother-to-be to her formidable r�sum�. The Colombian native and her husband, David Conrod, a senior managing director at Guggenheim Capital LLC, are happily expecting their first child next March.

This is where we deliver a pun on People editor Larry Hackett's name .. something about a Hack Job.

After more than a year living in sin and five months of having a child out of wedlock, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are set to marry in a lavish ceremony, with wedding dress designer Giorgio Armani set to receive endless plugs in the tabloids. Cruise's spokesman Arnold Robinson (Scientology agent?) told the Associated Press the soccer mom and dad will wed on Nov. 18 in Italy.

Naturally, the next step in this ordeal – after placing yet another phone call to DCFS – is battling over who had the story first. Some folks are crediting the AP with the get, while others are sourcing Us Weekly — which, to be sure, is claiming ownership on this one. So was it the AP staffer who read the Us report, or the other way around? Who cares if it makes an exciting game for us to play: Let's say we just got off the phone with Robinson, and he confirmed to us that Tom and Katie were getting married. Voila, exclusive!