It is one of the most compelling scenes in any movie. In a dark car park, a man gives journalist Bob WoodwardAn American investigative journalist and author who is known for his coverage of the Watergate scandal and for his books telling the stories of American presidencies.  advice that will help him and Carl BernsteinAn investigate journalist and author who reported on the Watergate scandal alongside Bob Woodward. bring the WatergateOne of the largest scandals in modern political history concerning President Nixon. Two journalists were pivotal in breaking the story: Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. scandal to light: "Follow the money."

In fact those words in All The President's Men were never spoken. But gossip thrives when facts are disputed, as in these cases.  

1. Silencing Marilyn US president John F KennedyPresident of the US from 1961 to 1963, when he was shot dead in Dallas. He was the fourth American president to be assassinated; Abraham Lincoln was the first. is rumoured to have paid Marilyn Monroe over $1m to keep quiet about their affair. But documents supporting this turned out to be fake.     

2. Scheming queen In France in 1784, a cardinal was tricked into buying an expensive necklace, thinking that Queen Marie Antoinette wanted it as a present. Many people unfairly blamed the queen. Her unpopularity probably contributed to her death¹.      

3. Sox rocked Eight Chicago White Sox were banned for life for throwing the 1919 World Series, allowing gamblers to win huge sums. The players are remembered as the victims of clever criminals, but in fact, it was their own idea.

4. No-vax Novak Serbia's president claimed that Novak Djokovic was deported because Australians hated his country. But any other player would have been treated the same way.

5. Austrian hysteria In 1889 Crown Prince Rudolph², heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his lover Maria Vetsera were found dead. The rumour spread that he had shot her and then himself. But most historians believe they were murdered.

6. Blaming Boleyn Enemies of Anne Boleyn claimed that she persuaded Henry VIII to divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry her. But Henry's letters show that this is untrue.

7. Vice slice A child-abuse scandal rocked Turkey's government in 2016. Government supporters tried to play it down by accusing opponents of keeping quiet over "Pizzagate" - a baseless conspiracy theory.

Yes: Speculative talk based on little or no information can only do harm. It causes unjust damage to reputations, leads people to make bad decisions and makes the truth hard to establish.

No: It is a way of ensuring that people behave in a responsible way. Everyone - particularly politicians - will act more carefully if they believe they are in danger of becoming the focus of a scandal.   

Or... It is essentially a harmless pastime. Gossip is usually about celebrities whom ordinary people will never meet, and the saying that any publicity is better than no publicity holds true.

¹She was guillotined during the French Revolution in 1793.

²Historians have speculated that if the politically moderate Rudolph had survived, World War One might never have happened.