It is one of the most compelling scenes. 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.  meets an insider. The man gives him advice that will 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 and lead to President Nixon's resignation: "Follow the money."

Many accept All The President's Men as an accurate account. But those words were never said. Woodward and his partner Carl BernsteinAn investigate journalist and author who reported on the Watergate scandal alongside Bob Woodward. were already on to the fact that money from Nixon's re-election campaign had been used to pay the Watergate burglars.

Woodward aid: "The mythologising of our role in Watergate has gone to the point of absurdity." But gossip thrives when facts are disputed, as in the following 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 to keep quiet about their affair. Documents which appeared to prove this were fake.     

2 Scheming queen In 1784, a Frenchwoman called Jean de la Motte tricked Cardinal de Rohan into buying an expensive necklace, pretending Queen Marie Antoinette wanted it. De la Motte then gave it to her husband to sell. Although the royal family had no involvement in the scam, many people continued to believe that Marie Antoinette was to blame. Her resulting unpopularity probably contributed to her death¹.

3 Sox rocked One of the biggest scandals in sport was the Chicago White Sox's defeat in the 1919 World Series. When the Sox lost to the Cincinatti Reds, some gamblers made a huge amount of money. Eight of the players were banned for throwing the series, but are widely remembered as the dupes of criminals. In fact, the idea came from the players themselves.

4 No-vax Novak Serbia's president claimed the deportation of Novak Djokovic from Australia was motivated by hatred of his country. But any player who defied Australia's Covid-19 rules would have been treated the same.

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

6 Blaming Boleyn Enemies of Anne Boleyn claimed she seduced Henry VIII and persuaded him to divorce Catherine of Aragon. But Henry's letters show it was he who initiated their affair.

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.