I enjoy laughing and groaning at the tabloids when I’m waiting at the checkout lines. I never pick them up–what if I run into someone I know and they think I actually enjoy that cruft? Instead I shake my head at the fact that people don’t have better things to talk about than a bunch of lies. (Seriously. I saw one cover last week declaring that Rachael Ray, Paula Deen, and Martha Stewart all hated each other. Could it be possible that the rumormongers are running out of gossip?)
But exactly how many lies are in those tabloids? The Gawker team decided to find out. They looked at five tabloids concentrating on celebrity gossip and rumors that could be falsified: marriage, separation and divorce, pregnancy, etc. and tracked how many stories were accurate, studying stories and covers separately. The conclusion was exactly as you’d expect, though surprisingly nearly 60% of Us Weekly‘s stories were accurate in the range studied, with Ok! and Star tying for last place. Now you know which tabloids to put even less stock into at the checkout line, especially if they say that Brad and Angelina are getting back together. That’s probably true no matter where you read it.