by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
One year ago this month journalist Ronan Farrow writing in the New Yorker exposed a practice of the National Enquirer and its parent company, American Media, which he called "catch and kill." In explaining the concept Farrow used former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, as his example. Back when Donald Trump was first starting his run for the presidency, McDougal shopped around a story involving a supposed affair that she had with the married Trump. The head of American Media, David Pecker, a close friend of Donald Trump's, did what he had reportedly done on other similar occasions when he came across stories damning to Trump: he purchased exclusive rights to the story and then declined to run it. Pecker "caught" the story and "killed" it as a favor to his good buddy.
At the time Ronan Farrow published that expose in the New Yorker, another story involving Pecker and the National Enquirer was also circulating. Television journalists Joe Scarbrough and Mika Brzezinski, who were working together on the set of "Morning Joe" and engaged to be married, were in a public fuss with Donald Trump. The couple reported that three people "at the very top of the administration" called and pressured them to issue a public apology to Trump for their coverage of him. They were reportedly told that if the apology was not forthcoming, the National Enquirer would publish a negative story about them, something the couple referred to as a "hit piece."
Supposedly if the couple apologized to Trump and he approved of the quality of their groveling, then he would pick up the phone, call David Pecker, and the story would be killed.
Easy peasy.
But instead of playing ball with blackmailers, Scarbrough and Brzezinski went public with what was happening. The Enquirer did follow up with a negative story about the couple's past marriages.
That was then.
Now David Pecker and his media companies appear to be involved in another sordid affair. Yesterday the world's richest human, Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, reported that Pecker and his company had tried to blackmail Bezos in an attempt to stop his newspaper, The Washington Post, from investigating just how Pecker's American Media had obtained compromising sexually explicit emails between Bezos and his girlfriend. Some of the material had already been published, but Pecker's people said that they had some really good stuff - including a nude shot of Bezos wearing just his wedding ring - that they would follow up with if Bezos did not back off of his own investigation. Bezos called it blackmail and published the threats that he had received.
Trump has talked of changing postal rules and rates, claiming that Bezos's other company, Amazon.com gets special deals from the USPO that benefit Amazon. Some see Trump's sudden interest in postal rates as merely a politician trying to stick it to a political adversary.
The Washington Post began it's investigation into how American Media and National Enquirer got the damaging texts and photos involving Bezos and his girlfriend with the notion that his phone had been hacked by investigators working for the Enquirer and Pecker. Now, however, they seem to be moving in another direction - with a theory that a government agency may have been involved in the hacking.
Would agents and sycophants of Donald John Trump put their own careers at risk to do a bit of spying on political enemies of the boss? And if they came up with something really juicy, would they pass it along to a sleazy tabloid? This poor typist lived through the outrages of the Nixon administration - and he knows that Donald John is not nearly as bright as Tricky Dick.
Prediction: This Bezos story is going to be one to watch. Sex, money, spite, stupidity - and one extremely pissed-off rich guy with enough money and clout to bring down a government! Boom!
Popcorn, please!
Citizen Journalist
One year ago this month journalist Ronan Farrow writing in the New Yorker exposed a practice of the National Enquirer and its parent company, American Media, which he called "catch and kill." In explaining the concept Farrow used former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, as his example. Back when Donald Trump was first starting his run for the presidency, McDougal shopped around a story involving a supposed affair that she had with the married Trump. The head of American Media, David Pecker, a close friend of Donald Trump's, did what he had reportedly done on other similar occasions when he came across stories damning to Trump: he purchased exclusive rights to the story and then declined to run it. Pecker "caught" the story and "killed" it as a favor to his good buddy.
At the time Ronan Farrow published that expose in the New Yorker, another story involving Pecker and the National Enquirer was also circulating. Television journalists Joe Scarbrough and Mika Brzezinski, who were working together on the set of "Morning Joe" and engaged to be married, were in a public fuss with Donald Trump. The couple reported that three people "at the very top of the administration" called and pressured them to issue a public apology to Trump for their coverage of him. They were reportedly told that if the apology was not forthcoming, the National Enquirer would publish a negative story about them, something the couple referred to as a "hit piece."
Supposedly if the couple apologized to Trump and he approved of the quality of their groveling, then he would pick up the phone, call David Pecker, and the story would be killed.
Easy peasy.
But instead of playing ball with blackmailers, Scarbrough and Brzezinski went public with what was happening. The Enquirer did follow up with a negative story about the couple's past marriages.
That was then.
Now David Pecker and his media companies appear to be involved in another sordid affair. Yesterday the world's richest human, Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, reported that Pecker and his company had tried to blackmail Bezos in an attempt to stop his newspaper, The Washington Post, from investigating just how Pecker's American Media had obtained compromising sexually explicit emails between Bezos and his girlfriend. Some of the material had already been published, but Pecker's people said that they had some really good stuff - including a nude shot of Bezos wearing just his wedding ring - that they would follow up with if Bezos did not back off of his own investigation. Bezos called it blackmail and published the threats that he had received.
“I was made an offer I couldn’t refuse, or at least that’s what the top people at the National Enquirer thought. I’m glad they thought that, because it emboldened them to put it all in writing. I’ve decided to publish exactly what they sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten.”The newspaper that Jeff Bezos owns, The Washington Post, has been routinely vilified by Donald Trump in tweets, and Trump claims that it has a bias against him. Here is a sampler that Trump tweeted on January 13th:
"So sorry to hear the news about Jeff Bozo being taken down by a competitor whose reporting, I understand, is far more accurate than the reporting in his lobbyist newspaper, the Amazon Washington Post. Hopefully the paper will soon be placed in better & more responsible hands!"
Trump has talked of changing postal rules and rates, claiming that Bezos's other company, Amazon.com gets special deals from the USPO that benefit Amazon. Some see Trump's sudden interest in postal rates as merely a politician trying to stick it to a political adversary.
The Washington Post began it's investigation into how American Media and National Enquirer got the damaging texts and photos involving Bezos and his girlfriend with the notion that his phone had been hacked by investigators working for the Enquirer and Pecker. Now, however, they seem to be moving in another direction - with a theory that a government agency may have been involved in the hacking.
Would agents and sycophants of Donald John Trump put their own careers at risk to do a bit of spying on political enemies of the boss? And if they came up with something really juicy, would they pass it along to a sleazy tabloid? This poor typist lived through the outrages of the Nixon administration - and he knows that Donald John is not nearly as bright as Tricky Dick.
Prediction: This Bezos story is going to be one to watch. Sex, money, spite, stupidity - and one extremely pissed-off rich guy with enough money and clout to bring down a government! Boom!
Popcorn, please!
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