The National Enquirer

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This article is about the tabloid. For the abolitionist newspaper of the same name, see National Enquirer (1836).

For the technology tabloid website, see The Inquirer.

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The National Enquirer (also commonly known as the Enquirer) is an American supermarket tabloid now published by American Media Inc (AMI). Founded in 1926, the tabloid has gone through a variety of changes over the years, and is currently known for its articles focusing on celebrity news, gossip, and crime. While it briefly sought a reputation for reliable journalism and had some success scooping other media with angles on the O.J. Simpson and Monica Lewinsky stories, subsequent notable erroneous reports such as those concerning the Elizabeth Smart case have not supported that effort and the focus has returned to celebrity gossip. The Enquirer makes no secret of the fact that it will pay sources for tips, a practice officially frowned upon by the mainstream press; in the Smart case, a large payment encouraged the reporting of false information. In recent years the tabloid has struggled with declining circulation figures due to competition from glossy tabloid publications including American Media's The Star.

1 Early history
2 Recent history
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Early history

Founded in 1926 as The New York Enquirer, it was bought in 1952 by Generoso Pope Jr., allegedly with funds provided by Mafia boss Frank Costello. It has also been alleged that Costello provided the money in exchange for the Enquirer's promise to list lottery numbers and to refrain from all mention of Mafia activities.^[1]

In 1954, Pope revamped the format from a broadsheet to a tabloid, and changed the name to The National Enquirer. Pope worked tirelessly in the 1950s and 1960s to increase the circulation and broaden the tabloid's appeal. In the late 50's and through most of the 60's, the Enquirer was known for its gory and unsettling headlines and stories such as: "I Cut Out Her Heart and Stomped On It!" (Sept. 1963) and "Mom Boiled Her Baby And Ate Her!" (1962). At this time the paper was sold on newsstands and drugstores only. Pope stated he got the idea for the format and these gory stories from seeing people congregate around auto accidents.

Pope pioneered the idea of selling magazines at supermarket checkouts. In order to get into the supermarkets, Pope completely changed the format of the paper in late 1967 by dropping all the gore and violence and instead focusing on celebrities, the occult, UFO's, and the like.

In 1971, Pope moved the headquarters from New York to Lantana, Florida. It later relocated south again; but this time only 15 miles to Boca Raton, Florida. During most of the 1970s and 1980s, The National Enquirer sponsored the placement of the largest Christmas Tree in the world at its Lantana headquarters in what became an annual tradition. A tree was shipped in mid-autumn from the Pacific Northwest by rail and off-loaded by crane onto the adjacent Enquirer property. Every night during the Christmas season, thousands of visitors would come to see the tree. This would grow into one of south Florida's most celebrated and spectacular events. Although tremendously expensive, this was Pope's "Pet Project" and his "Christmas present" to the local community. The tradition passed into history with his death in 1988.

By the time of Pope's death, The National Enquirer empire included Weekly World News, and Distribution Services, Inc. The surviving owners, including Pope's widow, Lois, sold the company to a partnership of MacFadden Publishing and Boston Ventures for $412 million. Soon after, the company bought the Enquirer's main competition, The Star, from Rupert Murdoch. The combined interests were controlled by a newly formed company American Media Inc (AMI).

[edit] Recent history

[edit] Anthrax attack

AMI was among the victims of the 2001 anthrax attacks; a photo editor of one of AMI's other publications died after opening an envelope containing anthrax spores. The entire AMI office complex in Boca Raton was closed and remained fenced off for two years, and AMI moved its headquarters to another building in Boca.

[edit] Noted stories and lawsuits

In 1981, actress Carol Burnett won a judgment against the Enquirer after it claimed she had been seen drunk in public at a restaurant with Henry Kissinger in attendance. The fact that both of her parents suffered from alcoholism made this a particularly sensitive issue to Burnett. Under U.S. law, in order to be guilty of libel, a publication must be shown to have knowingly or with malice disseminated facts that were false and defamatory, making Burnett's successful suit unusual in the world of American tabloid journalism. The former longtime chief editor Iain Calder in his book The Untold Story, asserted that afterwards, while under his leadership, the Enquirer worked hard to check the reliability of its facts and its sources.

For a time the Enquirer sought recognition for journalistic research and news scoops. In 2001, the Enquirer uncovered that the Rev. Jesse Jackson had an illegitimate child. Salacious details of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair were first made public by the Enquirer. The Enquirer was regarded by some as having the best media coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. For example, when a distinctive footprint from a Bruno Magli shoe was found at the crime scene, Simpson vehemently denied owning such a shoe. The Enquirer, however, dug up a photograph of him with just such a pair.

Controversy over false content arose again for the Enquirer when a 2002 article alleged that male members of the family of kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart were involved in a gay sex ring. Subsequently, two reporters from the Salt Lake Tribune were fired after it was learned that they had been paid $20,000 for the story, which they had fabricated.^[2] The Enquirer threatened to sue the Salt Lake Tribune for making false and defamatory statements about the publication after an editorial had disclaimed the Tribune's involvement. The salacious details of the Smart story were retracted by the Enquirer, and a rare apology was issued to the Smart family. One of the fired reporters acknowledged that his behavior was unethical, but expressed surprise that the story had been taken seriously, stating, "When I dealt with the Enquirer, I never dreamed that I was accepting money for 'information.'"^[3]

The Enquirer settled a libel lawsuit with the wife of Gary Condit out of court in 2003,^[4] lost a suit brought by Kate Hudson in 2006,^[5] and has been or is currently being sued by a number of other public figures.

In early March 2007 the paper blocked access to its website for British and Irish readers because a story about Cameron Diaz that they had published in 2005 and for which she received an apology had appeared on the site. The apology concerned a story it had run in 2005 entitled “Cameron Caught Cheating” which turned out to be false – an accompanying picture was just an innocent goodbye hug to a friend, not evidence of an affair. Although only 279 UK web addresses had looked at the story, it was deemed to have therefore been published in the UK. UK libel laws are more plaintiff friendly and it is not necessary to prove actual malice for the plaintiff to win.^[6]

[edit] Editorial changes

In 1999 AMI was bought by a group fronted by publishing executive David Pecker. Funding was diverted from the Enquirer, once considered to be the company's principal publication, to The Star. Editor Steve Coz, who guided the paper through the Simpson case, was fired after Pecker appointed Us Weekly editor Bonnie Fuller as group editorial director. He was replaced by David Perel, who had been in charge of the Simpson coverage.

The Enquirer's circulation for a time fell below 1 million (from over 6 million at its height). AMI brought in around 20 British journalists in early 2005, headed by editor, Paul Field, a former executive at the London tabloid The Sun, and relocated the editorial offices to New York for an April 2005 relaunch. The move failed and Field and virtually all the British journalists were replaced after just a year. The company reappointed David Perel and announced the Enquirer offices would return to Florida in May 2006. Circulation numbers then climbed to over 1 million readers again, and according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations remain over 1 million today.

In 1965, before the tabloid changed over to celebrity gossip, it became a target for Mad Magazine, which printed an article titled "The National Perspirer." This was supposed to be a magazine which contained all the news not fit to print in the New York Times." The splash panel on the front page showed a tall blond woman being stretched on a rack, with the ambiguous and silly headline, "I Was Tortured for Eight Years by a Demented Hunchback with Bad Breath Named Harold, but We're Not Getting Married--We're Just Good Friends." Inside are such things as an 8-year-old girl who gives birth to a 14-year-old boy; a woman with faces on both sides of her head; a photo of a cow flop in a field ("We don't know what this disgusting, smelly blob is....it smells something awful!" and a woman who looks like an elephant marrying a man who looks like an ostrich. The publisher's name is given as Selfishio Poop.

The reaction to this article was so clearly divided among Mad's readers that there was a "Thumbs Up" and a "Thumbs Down" column in the issue publishing letters about it.