MediaTakeOut: PR's Worst Nightmare or Smallest Concern?

MediaTakeOut has been considered one of the most visited urban celebrity gossip sites since its launch in 2006. Written in a short blog-like format, MediaTakeOut informs the public of the most recent celebrity gossip, providing articles, pictures, messages, and tweets from MTO's unknown souces. Getting attention for its "naked pics" and its "guess who did this now!" headlines, MTO has quickly become some celebrity's worst nightmare; but can the same be said for the celebritys' PR agents? Is MTO a nightmare for PR agents, or does its (perceived) lack of credibility put MTO at the bottom of their list of concerns?

To effectively answer this question, I took to Twitter and sparked a discussion with a few public relations professionals. Of course MTO is not a site that should be completely ignored, since, despite its credibility (or lackthereof), still maintains a solid following, but to what degree should PR agents worry about it? The main conclusion drawn from the many ideas of the discussion is that the agent's concern depends on the damage the celebrity would receive from the specific MTO post. An idea shared by a majority of the publicists is that the public does not necesarily care about credibility, and from personal experiences I can attest to that. In reality, the degree to which a celebrity's PR agent should be concerned depends on the damage anticipated from the post. Although a publicist should be ready to counter any negative press, if the post is minor, the agent may not even consider addressing it - and that is a decision left solely up to the client and the publicist. However, a more damaging post should yield appropriate plans to counteract the negativity created. With that being said, although MTO may not be highest on a publicist's list of concerns, the site should still be monitored as closely as other forms of media.
Please note: Not all of MTO's posts are negative.