I think it's a kind of journalism hack (not to be confused with hack journalism!) because people literally have a psychological impetus to gossip (at least, thi

I think it's a kind of journalism hack (not to be confused with hack journalism!) because people literally have a psychological impetus to gossip (at least, this is what I learned from Joseph Henrichs and Paul Bloom, who seem to explain gossip as helping communities enforce social norms). So if you have some seemingly juicy gossip about a historical figure, maybe people will feel unaccountably grateful to you or unaccountably eager to share with friends? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossip#Evolutionary_view https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossip#Evolutionary_view