By PATRICIA SANTANA<\/p>\n
Popular celebrity magazine The National Enquirer <\/em>is being accused of buying and burying stories that portray President Trump in an unfavorable light. This practice is known as \u201ccatch and kill.\u201d It\u2019s thought that David Pecker, publisher of the Enquirer <\/em>and longtime friend of Trump, has been doing this as a favor to the president.<\/p>\n All the purchased stories relate to allegations of Trump having affairs.<\/p>\n According to the Washington Post<\/em>, the source allegedly paid off by the National Enquirer <\/em>is a former Trump Tower doorman, Dino Sajudin, who told the Enquirer<\/em> that Trump had a child outside of wedlock and that top executives of the Trump Organization were aware. Sajudin claims to have been paid $30,000 for the exclusive rights to the story but the Enquirer <\/em>never published it.<\/p>\n As reported by CNN<\/em>, another source coming forward is Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model. McDougal was paid $150,000 for her account of an affair with Trump that lasted nine months. Allegedly, the deal included an agreement that McDougal would publish regular columns on aging and fitness in the Enquirer<\/em>. McDougal\u2019s story was never run, and only a small portion of the agreed-to columns were published. American Media Inc. claims that McDougal did not write the columns.<\/p>\n Trump has denied all allegations of cheating.<\/p>\n Of all the news outlets that I read from to learn more about this story, I found the one with the most comprehensive coverage of this story was CNN. CNN<\/em>\u2019s homepage had more stories on this scandal than the Miami Herald<\/em>, The Washington Post<\/em> and The New York Times. <\/em>On the Herald<\/em>\u2019s homepage, there was not a single story on the scandal to be found today. I found this surprising because it\u2019s a story of national relevance. In the case of the Times<\/em>, I had to scroll to find a link to the story.<\/p>\n I think this speaks to how desensitized news outlets are becoming to the latest Trump scandals and also how difficult it is to report on a Trump scandal when there are so many happening all the time.<\/p>\n The CNN coverage took many angles. There was an article reporting on the \u201ccatch and kill\u201d practice<\/a> and on Pecker and another article reporting on the different sources paid off by the Enquirer<\/em><\/a>. CNN also published a poll<\/a> on what Americans think of the Enquirer<\/em>\u2019s coverage of Trump. The website also had a video<\/a> uploaded with reporters discussing the story. I found this to be very comprehensive coverage, and I feel that I learned the most from CNN.<\/p>\n The coverage by the\u00a0New York Times<\/em><\/a> focused more on the investigation into the\u00a0Enquirer<\/em> and its possible ties to the Trump campaign. The investigation is sparking a First Amendment debate and it is looking into whether any campaign laws were violated.<\/p>\n If it\u2019s true that the Enquirer<\/em> is engaging in this \u201ccatch and kill\u201d practice as a favor to Trump, I think that\u2019s a very troubling ethical issue. Journalism is supposed to speak truth to power, not facilitate its lies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By PATRICIA SANTANA Popular celebrity magazine The National Enquirer is being accused of buying and burying stories that portray President Trump in an unfavorable light. This practice is known as \u201ccatch and kill.\u201d It\u2019s thought that David Pecker, publisher of … Continue reading