Enquirer Scoops



March 3, 2001



BROOK GLADSTONE: These are glorious days for the tabloids. The hottest publication in America right now is The National Enquirer, observed the Washington Post this week, and no one in the establishment press is snickering. Two big scoops in six weeks -- first about Jesse Jackson's love child and second uncovering through investigative reporting - also a little checkbook journalism - that Hillary Rodham Clinton's brother had been paid for securing a presidential pardon for a crook. Steven Plahmen is the assistant executive editor of The National Enquirer. Mr. Plahmen, do you think the Enquirer is moving into the mainstream or is the mainstream moving into tabloid territory.

STEVEN PLAHMEN: I think it's mostly the mainstream moving into tabloid country. I remember when I joined the Enquirer fourteen years ago, it would be the Enquirer, People Magazine, maybe the British tabloids vying for the same stories. You know, whatever it was, the world's oldest mother or a show business story; a royal story. Today we're competing against NBC News, the mainstream daily newspapers -- it, it's really a different ball game.

BROOK GLADSTONE: But we're not talking about the world's oldest mother here.

STEVEN PLAHMEN:No, we're not, and there's no doubt the Enquirer is doing more politics, but you have to remember we're not new to this game. In 1987 we were the paper that ran the picture of Gary Hart with Donna Rice on his lap, so we've been doing this for a while. But I think the change that has come for us is that politicians market themselves more like celebrities today, and our readers are more interested in them in the same sense they're interested in Tom Cruise or Liz Taylor. It started with Ronald Reagan. He was from Hollywood, and Bill Clinton -- he was just like a Hollywood star as, as far as our readers were concerned, and we, we covered him the same way.

BROOK GLADSTONE: I believe some reporters say that, that Bill Clinton was pretty much God's gift to the National Enquirer.

STEVEN PLAHMEN:He was great. We loved him. We're sorry to see him go. George W. is boring in comparison. You had, you know a, a philandering husband; you had the-- the wife who was kind of stern and cold, and-- you had a daughter who, who people felt sorry for - there were all the elements of, you know, great tabloid stories and-- we loved Bill, and he's still providing us with great stories even after he's, he's out of office.

BROOK GLADSTONE:And as you say, if the mainstream press is moving into tabloid territory, they're also citing the National Enquirer on the front page of the New York Times and the Washington Post -- an Enquirer Exclusive.

STEVEN PLAHMEN: They didn't used to do that. But on these last couple of stories -- the Jesse Jackson mistress story which we broke a few weeks ago and then this-- this pardon payoff scandal that we broke, they - the mainstream media gave the Enquirer credit where credit is due, so that's terrific as far as we're concerned.

BROOK GLADSTONE: So do you think the stigma then is being lifted from the National Enquirer?

STEVEN PLAHMEN:Well, you know the Enquirer name is-- it's, it's notorious, it's a household name -- I don't know if we're ever going to get away from what we are, which is a loud, brash tabloid. When I went to journalism school and I don't, I don't know about you but I remember the professor talking about having to balance what the public wants to know with what the public needs to know. In other words you give them a few fun stories that they would enjoy, you know, sports stories or comics or lifestyle section stories, and then you give them the tax stories and the boring stories about the sewers and so forth that they need to read to make decisions in their life -- lives. Well The Enquirer is all about what you want to know, and you know the need to know stories - those can go to Time and Newsweek and AP and so forth, but the best journalism for The Enquirer or for anybody else for that matter is the stories that combine both those things, and that's what we try to do -- those are our best stories -- those are our blockbusters.

BROOK GLADSTONE:Well speaking of blockbusters you, you mentioned that you ran the picture of Gary Hart back in the mid-80s and it was around the mid-80s when The National Enquirer lost about half its circulation between 1986 and 1999. Earlier this month a report came out that the circulation is continuing to drop. All of this respectability -- do you think it's just a coincidence or it is-- killing your paper?

STEVEN PLAHMEN: I don't know! [LAUGHS] That's a very good question. I'm not sure of the dynamics at work here. I, I think the fact that the mainstream media does do what we used to do alone certainly has cut into our circulation. Television -- if you watch 20/20-- or Dateline, rather, it almost is like they took the format of The Enquirer and, and designed it for television. It's very, very close. It's-- human interest stories that are kind of sensational mixed with some celebrity reporting.

BROOK GLADSTONE: Do you have a strategy for getting the circulation back up?

STEVEN PLAHMEN:Well our strategy is for getting these great blockbuster stories. When the New York Times says that, you know, we're the paper of record in the O.J. Simpson murder case, I think that really helps us and we're hoping some people will give us a second look.

BROOK GLADSTONE: Well thank you very much!

STEVEN PLAHMEN: You're welcome!

BROOK GLADSTONE: Steven Plahmen is the assistant executive editor of The National Enquirer.