NEW YORK (AP) — Catch and kill. Checkbook journalism. Secret deals. Friends helping friends. Even by National Enquirer standards, testimony by its former publisher David Pecker at Donald Trump’s hush money trial this week has revealed an astonishing level of corruption at America’s best-known tabloid and may one day be seen as the moment it effectively died. “It just has zero credibility,” said Lachlan Cartwright, executive editor of the Enquirer from 2014 to 2017. “Whatever sort of credibility it had was totally damaged by what happened in court this week.” On Thursday, Pecker was back on the witness stand to tell more about the arrangement he made to boost Trump’s presidential candidacy in 2016, tear down his rivals and silence any revelations that may have damaged him. THE ENQUIRER HELPED FUEL THE RISE OF TABLOID CULTUREHowever its stories danced on the edge of credulity, the Enquirer was a cultural fixture, in large part because of genius marketing. As many Americans moved to the suburbs in the 1960s, the tabloid staked its place on racks at supermarket checkout lines, where people could see headlines about UFO abductions or medical miracles while waiting for their milk and bread to be bagged. |
China's Deep Space Exploration Lab eyes top global talents3D printing expo displays highXi Focus: Decoding Xi Jinping Thought on Culture Through His Inspection Visit to JiangxiNumber of roundAI industrial chain spurred on by SoraChina Energy's massive hydropower station to open in March 2024US urged to stop slandering TikTok2.8m cars built across country as sales peakA photovoltaic power station was built on the rooftop of a residential building in ZhengzhouChina to build up airport hubs in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou