The Death of Tabloid Objectivity
I am sitting here attempting in vain to find something to disagree with in
your brilliant last posting, my darling, but cannot. OK, allow me this one
quibble: As you know, I'm of the school that says politicians are only good for
one thing: Entertainment value. The good citizens of Minnesota figured that out
before the rest of the country, and we're just now catching up. (Unless we
count Ronald Reagan.) And by that measure, Giuliani would be the better
candidate. Still, I'm Pro Elephant Dung. And I vote. Sometimes.
However, I'd like to squander my space here with something I find far more
riveting, and infinitely more disturbing: I'm referring, of course, to the
announcement today that American Media Inc.--the company that owns the
National Enquirer , the Weekly World News , and the Star --is
buying the publisher of the Globe , the Sun and the National
Examiner for $105 million. You probably remember that American Media was
purchased in May for $300 million by a New York investment firm headed by
former Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman, so maybe you aren't surprised by
this hubris. According to David Pecker, chairman of American Media, the
combined company will be "one of the largest publishers of celebrity-driven
content in the world." The Time Warner of tabloid? I hope not.
I couldn't believe this when I read it. I'd be terrified if I thought that
Congress will let this one get by without its usual far-sighted scrutiny. I
mean really: How could any champion of the First Amendment let such a deal go
through? I don't know about you, but I look to my tabloids for unbiased, even-handed
reporting of alien abductions, miracle pet rescues, and celebrity drunks and
their sudden-onset obesity. But imagine, if you will, a world in which all
tabloid media is consolidated under one owner. Where will we go for the truth?
TV? If the Weekly World News asserts that the earth is going to blow up
on such and such a day, will the Enquirer ever dispute it? Even if it
knows that the WWN is out to lunch on this one? The fact that
readers would even have to ask such questions should put the stamp of death on
this deal at once. Man, if only Giuliani were a senator already ...
