Remember New Jersey gossip Chaunce Hayden, editor of free handout Steppin' Out magazine? Probably not—his name hasn't appeared in the New York Post ever since Page Six editor Richard Johnson banned Hayden from his column after he allegedly gave the Post bad intel regarding a non-existent sex tape staring the wife of shock jock Opie. Anyway, Hayden appears to have exacted a bit of revenge by plopping Shallon Lester, a stringer for the Daily News' Rush and Molloy column, on the cover of his next issue.

Rather than bash the Post himself, Hayden lets Lester do it for him:

Hayden: "What separates the New York Post's Page Six from the New York Daily News' Rush and Molloy?"
Lester: "We just write better. We're really clever. I think it comes down to really good writing. A lot of times when I read Page Six I don't know who half of those people are. I feel like if I don't know who they are, Maria Gonzalaz riding the A train to work isn't going to know who they are. Socialites are not celebrities to me. They're not important and they're not newsworthy."

Zing! She goes on:

Hayden: "The New York Post puts Page Six within the first 10 pages of the paper. But the Daily News puts Rush and Molloy much further back. Gossip sells, so why not move it up to the front of the paper like Page Six?"
Lester: "I think the Post does that because everything in the Post is pretty boring and irrelevant. They have nothing else to promote except the gossip column. I think the rest of our articles are really good."

Lester goes on to claim that no one at the Daily News would ever accept a gift or favor in exchange for a column shout-out, unlike her grubby Post counterparts:

Hayden: Ever get offered a bribe to give someone good press?
Lester: Sure. But my necklace does not say revenge for nothing. If people want to f-k with me they're in for a long hard road. I don't respond well to threats or bribery. A lot of journalists do it and you can totally tell when it's happened just by reading the article. Personally, I never take anything in exchange for a story. I hate being indebted to someone, plus we have a very strict policy about that. I've seen a lot of people take, take, take. They're in this job just because they like to get free shit. But they can't write their way out of a paper bag. I see it a lot."

Of course, when the News prints items like, ''Lipstick Jungle hottie Robert Buckley kept his shirt on (boooo!) at the Kobe Beach club this weekend as he mixed St-Germain cocktails for newly single Karina Smirnoff," it's probably because Rush and Molloy truly believe in the integrity of the St-Germain brand and drink the stuff every night, and not because a St-Germain publicist gave them the item!

Lester also notes that Cindy Adams should retire because "her time is up," and that Liz Smith should be phased out for writing in "paragraph form." Ugh. Those pesky paragraphs and full sentences are always getting in the way of good gossip!