The National Enquirer
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Early History: The Pope Years
Founded in 1926 as The New York Enquirer, it was bought in 1952 by Generoso Pope Jr. 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 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 National 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 had grown into a publishing company called American Media, Inc. (hereinafter AMI), which by that time included Weekly World News, and Distribution Services, Inc, the company which pioneered the idea of selling magazines at supermarket checkouts. The surviving business interests, including Pope's widow, Lois, sold AMI 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.
Recent History: Evolution and Maturation
Though many see the Enquirer through the historical prisms of sensationalism and embellishment, there was a period of time during which it was recognized for occasional examples of thorough research and scoops; it was the Enquirer that uncovered, in 2001, that the Rev. Jesse Jackson had an illegitimate child. Salacious details of the Monica Lewinsky affair probably would have been left untouched by the mainstream press had the details not first been made public by the Enquirer.
This change in the Enquirer's reporting style was attributed to its involvement in a major legal entanglement. In 1981, actress Carol Burnett won a judgment against the Enquirer after it claimed she had been seen drunk in public with Henry Kissinger. 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 disseminated facts that were false and knowingly done so or with reckless reporting.)
This legal loss in the Burnett case led to a considerable tightening of reporting standards. The former longtime chief editor Iain Calder in his book The Untold Story asserted that afterwards, the Enquirer worked hard to check the reliability of its facts and its sources.
The Enquirer was regarded as having — by a significant measure — the best media coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, even by academics and news pundits.[[Citing sources citation needed]] 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 arose again for the Enquirer when a 2003 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[link]. The Enquirer printed a retraction and an apology, and then threatened to sue the Salt Lake Tribune for making false and defamatory statements about the publication. [link]
The management of AMI has widely been seen as a disaster since 1999 when it was bought by a group fronted by magnate David Pecker. The Enquirer is seen by many to have been allowed to wither while AMI has attempted to boost Star at its expense. Editor Steve Coz who had guided it through the Simpson case, resigned after Pecker appointed Us Weekly editor Bonnie Fuller as group editorial director. He was replaced by his deputy David Perel.
AMI was among the victims of the 2001 anthrax attacks; a photo editor of one of the Enquirer's sister publications died after opening an envelope containing anthrax spores. The entire AMI office complex in Boca Raton was closed and remains fenced off and quarantined to this day. AMI moved its headquarters to another building in the town.
The Enquirer's circulation for a time fell below 1 million (from 6 million at its height), but AMI came up with only short-term solutions, including bringing in some 20 British journalists in early 2005, headed by editor, Paul Field, a former executive at the London tabloid The Sun. AMI relocated the editorial offices back to New York for an April 2005 relaunch. The move failed and Field, along with virtually all the British contingent, was replaced after just a year, when the company reappointed Perel, and announced the Enquirer offices would return to Florida in May 2006. During the period Field was editor of the Enquirer, circulation fell by 250,000 issues a week. For the second half of 2005, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the Enquirer sold an average 1.16 million copies a week, compared to 1.47 million for the same period of 2004. Advertising was down 14 percent the first quarter of 2006, according to the Media Industry Newsletter.
See also
External links
- [National Enquirer website]
- [Carol Burnett vs. The National Enquirer: A Fake Comedy Documentary Short Film About Burnett's Lawsuit Against The Tabloid]
- [I believe the National Enquirer - Why don't you? by Jack Shafer - Article in] Slate magazine
- ["National Orc Enquirer" - Parody of the National Enquirer]
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