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Privately address specific perpetrators. Find an appropriate response. Change the subject. Disengage.

Article:
If you're trying to deal with persistent gossips take them aside individually and discuss the issue. Especially if you're someone in a position of authority, you might need to take care of a situation with gossiping.  Deal with chronic gossipers. Figure out who they are and try to avoid them. If you can't avoid them, don't give them the satisfaction of imparting information to you. When they try to gossip, change the subject, or get away from them. Unlike people who gossip every once in a while, chronic gossipers are unlikely to be deterred by a simple talking to. For example: if Dan, your brother-in-law, constantly discusses your siblings around you and talks about how his sister is a harpy and his brother is a thief, take him aside and ask him what the problem is with your siblings. Tell him that it isn't appropriate to pass along information about them to other people. If there is a problem (your brother actually has stolen something from him, for example), help to deal with it. Remember that men are just as likely to gossip as women, even if it isn't often called gossip, but men can pass harmful or inaccurate information, too. When someone comes to you with a juicy bit of harmful gossip, find a way to deflect the situation, or make the gossiper aware of the harmful nature of what they're saying.  Some ways to gently turn the attention towards the harmful nature of gossip: "Let's look at this from X's point of view," (X being the subject of the gossip) "Why do you talk about X so much?" or "Hey, maybe we could find a way to fix this" try to find a way to get to the bottom of the gossiper's issue with the person they are spreading rumors about. If they are a chronic gossiper, you're probably going to have to shut them down a little more forcefully. Sometimes you just have to move away from negative gossiping and focus on something more positive. try to do this without blaming the gossiper, because that can turn their ire on you.  When they start gossiping, say something like "Hey, we should plan what we're going to this afternoon after work." They usually will forget about it. You can also say something like "This conversation has gotten really negative about X. Let's talk about something more positive" (especially if the subject of the gossip is negative). In the end, if you can't turn the topic of the conversation, it's best to walk away or explain that you're not interested in hearing that type of gossip. You may irritate the person gossiping and they might say things about you, which are welcome to contradict. However, it might be best simply to not engage with that type of situation.  For example, you could say something like "Hey, I'm not interested in hearing unsubstantiated rumors about so-and-so," or "I don't really care what X's sexuality is." If you simply don't want to make a big deal out of the situation, you could make an excuse "I have to get back to work" or "I have to go home," etc.