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7 Tabloid Glory Days
This chapter is based mosdy on interviews with current and former National Enquirer employees who wish to remain anonymous. In addition, some printed sources were used. Among those that were particularly helpful are an account of working at the Enquirer by P. J. Corkery, “Exclusive! Inside the National Enquirer,” Rolling Stone; Jim Hogshire, Grossed-Out Surgeon Vomits Inside Patient! An Insider’s Look at Supermarket Tabloids; and an account by then-Enquirer writer George Bernard, Inside the National Enquirer: Confessions of an Undercover Reporter.
Other sources consulted include David Lamb, “Into the Realm of Tabloids,” Los Angeles Times; Beth Ann Krier, “When the National Enquirer Pounces, Sales Jump—And So Do Its Critics,” L.A. Times; Matt Spetalnick, “Tabloids Create Strange, Wacky World on Florida’s East Coast,” Reuters; John A. Byrne, “Slugging It Out in the Supermarkets,” Forbes; Isadore Barmash, “Enquirer Promoting New Image,” New York Times; Rudy Maxa, “This Reporter Rifles Garbage,” Washington Post; Elizabeth Peer and William Schmidt, “Up From Smut,” Newsweek; and James Lardner, “Can 17,000,000 Readers Be Wrong? Life on a Journalist’s Funny Farm,” Washington Post.
8 60 Minutes
In addition to an interview with Mike Wallace, this chapter is based on interviews with dozens of current and former employees of 60 Minutes, all of whom wished to remain anonymous. A number of published sources were consulted as well, including Mark Hertsgaard’s excellent “The 60 Minute Man,” Rolling Stone, 30 May 1991, and a follow-up by Carol Lloyd, “A Feel for a Good Story,” Salon. See also Edward Klein, “Hidden Mike,” Vanity Fair, Richard Zoglin, “What Makes ‘60 Minutes’ Tick,” New York Times; John O’Connor, “Still the Best of TV’s ‘News Magazines,’ ” N.Y. Times; Peter Bart, “Seer of ‘60 Minutes,’ ” Variety; Donovan Moore, “60 Minutes … tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick …” Rolling Stones; Les Brown, “How ‘60 Minutes’ Stumbled into Prime Time,” N.Y. Times. A number of books were consulted for information on Mike Wallace and the history of 60 Minutes, particularly Wallace’s Close Encounters and Don Hewitt’s Minute by Minute. See also Robert Metz, CBS: Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye; Barbara Matusow’s The Evening Stars: The Making of the Network News Anchor.
9 Gossip Goes Mainstream
This chapter is based largely on interviews with current and former People staffers, particularly founding editor Richard Stolley.
Articles consulted include Michael Gross, “Up with People,” GQ; Jennifer Bojorquez, “Idol Minds,” Sacramento Bee; Kimberly Goad, “Richard Stolley: His People Skills Set the Tone for Two Decades,” Dallas Morning News; John McGuire, “People at 20,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Janet Caw-ley’s “People Who Need People Marks 20th Year,” Chicago Tribune.
Among the books consulted, Judy Kessler, Inside People, was immensely informative and useful, as was Curtis Prendergast with Geoffrey Colvin, The World of Time Inc.: The Intimate History of a Changing Enterprise, Vol. 3: 1960–1980.
10 The Death of a King
This chapter is based on contemporary articles and interviews with reporters and editors who covered Elvis’s death and funeral, including Tom Kuncl and Peter Herbst. A number of books were particularly useful, including Neal and Janice Gregory, When Elvis Died; Lee Cotten’s All Shook Up: Elvis, Day-by-Day, 1954–1997; Patricia Jobe Pierce, The Ultimate Elvis: Elvis Presley Day by Day.
11 The Networks Go Tabloid
This chapter is based on interviews with current and former employees of ABC, including Barbara Walters and past interviews with Av Westin, Geraldo Rivera, and others who wished to remain anonymous. Among the published sources: Desmond Smith, “The Wide World of Roone Arledge,” New York Times Magazine; Richard Zoglin, “ABC Ya, Roone,” Time; Marc Gunther, The House That Roone Built; Elizabeth Gleick, “Geraldo Rivera: Fresh from a Triumph in the O.J. Wars, the Rogue Reporter Still Hungers for Respect,” People; Geraldo Rivera, Exposing Myself; William Plummer, “The Monroe Report: News Staffers at ABC-TV Cry ‘Cover-up’ When Their Bosses Kill a 20/20 Magazine Segment on Marilyn Monroe,” Time; Kim Mills, “Author Charges Politics in Cancellation of ‘20/20’ Segment on Monroe,” Associated Press; Jay Sharbutt, “ABC Boss Defends Monroe Decision,” Los Angeles Times; Paul Rosenfield, “How Does It Feel to Be Barbara Walters,” L.A. Times Calendar, Jeff Greenfield, “The Showdown at ABC News,” N.Y. Times Magazine.
12 Celebrities Fight Back
Carol Burnett’s trial was covered by a number of newspapers and magazines at the time; especially useful were Myrna Oliver’s articles in the Los Angeles Times. See also Clark Taylor, “Carol Burnett: ‘I’d No Idea I Was This Strong,’ ” L.A. Times; and Jay Mathews’s “Burnett Wins Enquirer Suit,” Washington Post. For a lively account of Michael J. Fox’s wedding, see his own article: “Michael J. Fox’s Nuptials in Hell!” Esquire.
See also P. J. Corkery; Judy Kessler, Inside People; Linden Gross, “So Rich, So Famous, So Pestered,” Cosmopolitan; William Sherman, “Rockin’ with the Rock Impressarios,“Cosmopolitan; Jon Underwood, “Axl Rose Won’t Sign a Contract That Makes Him Sing in a Town Starting with the Letter M Because He Thinks M Has a Curse on It,” Daily Mail; Richard Harrington, “Whatever the Promoter Will Bear,” Washington Post; Fred W. Wright, “Special Requests,” Tampa Tribune; and Patrick Goldstein, “Hollywood’s Real True Lies,” L.A. Times.
13 Tina Brown
This chapter is based largely on my reporting on Tina Brown and Vanity Fair over the last decade, including brief conversations with Brown in the course of that reporting. In addition, a number of former staffers spoke on the condition of anonymity. Numerous printed sources were consulted, including Alan Franks, “Party Animus,” The Times Saturday Review; Bill Higgins, “Connecticut Haiku Goes Hollywood,” Los Angeles Times; Georgina Howell, “All Is Vanity; Nothing is Fair,” London Sunday Times Magazine; Bill Thomas, “Mighty Tina,” L.A. Times; Neil Mackwood, “The Girl from Little Marlow Bites the Big Apple,” Daily Mail; Greg Easley, “Ms. Brown, Mr. Mailer Wants to Know If You Picked Up His Dry Cleaning,” Spy; Geordie Greig, “Hollywood Babble On,” Times of London; Alexander Cockburn, “Nausea: Critique of Vanity Fair,” The Nation; Geoffrey Stokes, “The Trouble with Tina,” Spy.
14 The Good Old Gal and the Tycoon
This chapter is based on my reporting on Trump over the last decade, including numerous interviews with Donald and Ivana Trump and the various players in the Trump divorce. In addition, a number of printed sources were particularly useful, especially, Jonathan Van Meter, “The Sour Smell of Success,” 7 Days. Other sources include daily coverage of the Trump saga in the newspapers, particularly Howard Kurtz’s articles in the Washington Post; Walter Anderson, “Liz Smith: The Lady Behind the Gossip,” Cosmopolitan; Cliff Jahr, “Loose Lips: Gossip Columnist Liz Smith Gives the Lowdown on Celebrities,” Ladies Home Journal; David Sheff, “The Playboy Interview: Liz Smith,” Playboy; Lome Manly, “Off the Record,” New York Observer; Divina Infusino, “Liz Smith Serves Gossip in Big Scoops,” San Diego Tribune; Richard Bernstein, “Gossip’s Hot, and Hers Is the Name to Drop,” New York Times; Clifford Pugh, “Texas Boots and Texas Roots: Columnist Still Talks with a Thick Drawl,” Houston Chronicle; and Merrie Morris, “The World’s Most Famous Gossip Columnist Is Wearing Jeans,” Washington Times.
15 The Rise of Tabloid Television
Interviews included Maury Povich and other sources at Fox and the New York Post. Printed sources include the transcript of CNBC, 14 September 1994, “Steve Dunleavy of ‘A Current Affair’ Discusses His Job and That of Tabloid Reporters”; Maury Povich, Current Affairs: A Life on the Edge; Mike Thomas, “It’s Scandalous! Malcolm Balfour, King of the Trash Tabs, Tells the Titillating Truth!”, Orlando Sentinel Tribune; David Margolick, “A Peek Under the Tent of the Palm Beach Media Circus,” New York Times; David Shaw, “Obsessed with Flash and Trash,” Los Angeles Times; James Brady, “Now Stand By, America: Here Comes Steve Dunleavy,” Grain’s New York Business.
16 The Gatekeepers
17 P.R. Muscle
This chapter was based on my own reporting on the Michael Jackson story as well as interviews with a number of people who have dealt with Jackson or Anthony Pellicano, including Diane Dimond, John Connolly, and Maureen Orth. Hundreds of articles were consulted for this section. Among the most useful were Orth, “The Jackson Jive” and “Nightmare in Neverland,” Vanity Fair, and Connolly’s “The Pellicano Brief,” Los Angeles magazine. See also Ian Katz, “Hollywood’s Star Gumshoe,” Washington Post; Larry Katz, “King of P.R.: Jacko’s Not Wacko, He’s Just Crazy Like a Fox,” Boston Herald; Peter Wilkinson, “The Big Sleazy,” GQ; Steve Oney, “Anthony Pellicano: The Private Eye Who Doggeed the DeLorean and Belushi Cases Talks About the Tools of his Trade: Guts, Guns and Gizmos,” Playboy; David Ferrell and Chuck Philips, “Gloves Come Off in Damage Control by Jackson Camp,” Los Angeles Times; Gordon Smith, “Jackson’s Investigator a Vanishing Breed,” San Diego Union-Tribune; Shawn Hubler and James Bates, “Streetwise Gumshoe to the Stars,” L.A. Times; and Claudia Eller, “Company Town: A Partnership on the Rocks?,” L.A. Times.
18 A Struggle for Respectability
Saturation coverage of O. J. Simpson makes it difficult to narrow down the hundreds of articles consulted for this chapter, but some of the most important include David Shaw, “The Simpson Legacy: Is the Media Overfeeding a Starving Public?,” Los Angeles Times; David Margolick, “The Enquirer: Required Reading in Simpson Case,” New York Times; John Lyttle, “Exposed! America’s Biggest Scandal Sheet,” The Independent; M. L. Stein, “Supermarket Tabloids Set O.J. Case Pace,” Editor and Publisher, Gordon Edes, “Simpson Crowned New King of Tabloids,” Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel; Mark Washburn, “Checkout-Line Tabloid Approaches Respectability on O.J. Case,” Charleston Gazette; David Lieberman, “Rivals Have Descended on Tabloids,” USA Today; Bill Boyarsky, “Tabloids Affecting Trial Coverage—And the Trial Itself,” L.A. Times; Felicia Levine, “O.J. Saga Juices Enquirer Sales,” South Florida Business Journal; Elizabeth Gleick, “Leader of the Pack,” Time; David Beard, “Tabloids Inquiring: Will There Be Life After the O.J. Trial?,” Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel; Jane Sutton, “Simpson Outsells Babies from Mars!,” Reuters; and Katy Buder, “The Accidental Feminist,” L.A. Times Magazine.
See also Diane Cyr, “Acquiring Minds,” Inside Media; Andra Sachs, “Mud and the Mainstream,” Columbia Journalism Review) David Lamb, “Into the Realm of Tabloids,” L.A. Times; Si Liberman, “Supermarket Tab King Steps Down,” Editor and Publisher, Jon Nordheimer, “Mild-Mannered Buyers Tame Wild Tabloids!,” N.Y. Times., Marguerite M. Plunkett, “Enquirer Editor Calder Steps Down,” Palm Beach Post; M. G. Lord, “The Enquirer in Bed with the Star!,” Newsday; Howard Kurtz, “Checkbook Journalism: The Globe & Cosby’s Alleged Extortionist,” Washington Post; and Lyle Slack, “Alien Brainchild Lands in Supermarket, Libels Oprah, Dies,” Saturday Night.
19 The Tabloid Princess
Princess Diana’s death resulted in massive media coverage, but PBS’s unedited, sometimes unbroadcast interviews from the superb “The Princess and the Press” were especially useful. Also, Peter Stothard, “A Perrier with the Princess,” Times of London; Richard Attenborough’s “A Shy Start Soon Gave Way to a Wicked Sense of Humour,” Times of London.
Also, Larry King Live shows “Guests Discuss How Tabloid Photographers Effect Stars’ Lives” and “The Impact of Tabloids in America.”
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