Ronan Farrow said Thursday that he and “at least one other prominent journalist” who had reported on the National Enquirer and President Trump received blackmail threats from the tabloid’s parent company, American Media Inc., over their work.
Farrow’s allegation came just hours after Amazon chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos published a remarkable public post on Medium accusing the National Enquirer of attempting to extort and blackmail him by threatening to publish intimate photos unless he stopped investigating the publication. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
In a tweet Thursday night, Farrow wrote that he and the unnamed journalist “fielded similar ‘stop digging or we’ll ruin you’ blackmail efforts from AMI.” Last April, Farrow published a story in the New Yorker about the Enquirer’s “catch and kill” practice — in which stories are buried by paying off sources — that benefited Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Farrow added: "I did not engage as I don’t cut deals with subjects of ongoing reporting.”
AMI did not immediately return a message from The Post about Farrow’s claim.
quote:
The Daily Beast also reported that attorneys for AMI responded aggressively to two stories published last week that detailed Bezos’s investigation into the Enquirer. In its story about Thursday’s Medium post, the Daily Beast disclosed that during the process of that reporting, the publication “and a member of its staff were threatened by AMI’s attorneys.”
One of those lines that makes a lawyer's heart swoon... "I have other things I prefer to work on and to proceed with whatever budget he needed to pursue the facts in this matter."
Jeff Bezos has told his side of the story. Now David Pecker is responding. Pecker, the head of American Media Inc., controls the National Enquirer. In a blockbuster blog post titled "No thank you, Mr. Pecker," Bezos on Thursday evening accused Pecker of an "extortion and blackmail" attempt.
American Media said in a statement on Friday morning that the company "believes fervently that it acted lawfully in the reporting of the story of Mr. Bezos."
"Further, at the time of the recent allegations made by Mr. Bezos, it was in good faith negotiations to resolve all matters with him," the company said. "Nonetheless, in light of the nature of the allegations published by Mr. Bezos, the Board has convened and determined that it should promptly and thoroughly investigate the claims. Upon completion of that investigation, the Board will take whatever appropriate action is necessary."
-------------------------------- When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
Posts: 38216 | Location: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: 19 January 2010
I have no idea who buys the Enquirer. It's always been a joke to me. I bought one in college for a Hallowe'en party (where I went in blackface... OK, just kidding, I didn't do that and was smart enough even then to know there are lines you don't cross....)
But I digress.
I've never seen anyone buy them. When I was in college I worked as a cashier in a drug store that stocked them, and I don't remember ever seeing anyone bring one to the register.
On the other hand, they're everywhere and have been around for decades. Maybe they have subscriptions?
Posts: 35428 | Location: West: North and South! | Registered: 20 April 2005
Jodi
