TMZ has entered a comfortable détente with the celebs it covers and the lawyers they employ. That's the contention of managing editor Harvey Levin in an article in today's NYT, where he argues that the celebs court all the publicity the site gives them. Is there an end in sight to the war between the paparazzi and the people they cover? Find out after the jump.

Levin dismisses legal efforts to restrict the movement of the paparazzi as ineffective and difficult to police given how much photogs can make from the photos. He sees a different model emerging:

"Almost all of them want it," he said of the celebrities who show up on TMZ and in other parts of the peepshow media. The real issue, he added, is how those involved can make a buck. “You’ve got to understand, this is a business,” Mr. Levin said. “How do you make money off of a business?”

Only the day before, the rapper Snoop Dogg had proposed more or less the same thing, but from a celebrity point of view. Speaking for a TMZ camera, he advised Mr. Levin to pay up if he intended to keep using the performer’s face on a billboard advertising the Web site.

“You know my slogan, ‘Break bread or fake dead,’” Snoop Dogg said.

For those slow on the uptake, a sidekick translated: “Harvey Levin, send the check."

That's another golden principle the site can add to its Cider House Rules.

TMZ' Principles [Gawker]

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