Gossip panel deemed 'best SXSW panel ever'

Although it didn't get as much buzz in the Twitter circles as the Facebook fiasco, the Gossip panel at SXSW was lively, fascinating, funny and fun. And it all started with one simple "boo."

Seconds after the hilarious Heather Gold introduced the panel she was moderating, she heard someone boo the intro of Valleywag editor Owen Thomas. The heckler was none other than Star magazine reporter Julia Allison, who was almost immediately invited on the stage, and when it became obvious that there were no empty chairs, Gold offered a lap, which Allison playfully accepted (pictured).

After that, the discussions were heated, revealing, intense and hilarious as industry leaders, panelists (from the N.Y. Times to TMZ), and attendees tried to figure out why we are interested in celebrity and Internet gossip and what is appropriate and what is juvenile and wrong. Strangely the entire spectrum played out right in front of us.

Because of the unusual introduction to Allison, some of the early discussion revolved around her (ironic) issues with gossip. She admitted that she hates the entire genre and wants to get out of the business and away from Star as soon as she can.

About midway through the session, panelist Shaila Dewan of the New York Times was made aware of a post that someone in the room had published on Valleywag. She complained to Thomas that while the  panel was in session, Valleywag had posted a story from the room with the headline, "Julia Allison crashes SXSW, explains it all".

As all of us in attendance had seen that Allison had been invited onto the stage of the panel by the moderator. "That's pretty slutty, Owen," Dewan said on her wireless microphone in front of the packed conference room. "That's pretty cheap to say she crashes South by Southwest."

Without missing a beat, and without changing his smug grin, Thomas replied by asking, "Let me get this straight, you're calling Valleywag slutty and cheap?" And before Dewan could retort, Thomas sarcastically said, "Thank you."

During the audience Q & A portion of the discussion, Six Apart Chief Evangelist Anil Dash got on the mic and said to panelist and Blogger.com co-founder and Twitter President Ev Williams that they were both partially responsible for the speed and volume of gossip on the Web. "Ev, it's our ... fault man," Dash proclaimed. "We are all the things that we say are the problem."

Minutes later, Lane Becker of Get Satisfaction approached the microphone and said: "This has been the best SXSW panel I have ever been in."  The crowd applauded in agreement.

--Tony Pierce

Photos: Tony Pierce / Los Angeles Times