Replies

WOW! This is breaking news on this family. Thanks, Enq Mind. I thought they all looked too perfect to be true. So, all three brothers are into kinky sex? No wonder they all appear so nervous and GUILTY-looking. Where did the orgies take place? On the racquetball court that is part of the house?

I don't think the Enquirer would print this stuff if it weren't true, for fear of being set upon by a horde of Mormon lawyers.

The National Enquirer and similar publications are highly skilled and experienced in the art of avoiding successful suits over what they publish.

The primary method is to emphasize repeatedly in the article that what they are reporting is just someone else's account. Then everything they printed is technically true: Joe Schmoe really DID say he knew those things about the Smarts. And when Joe Schmoe is tracked down, he of course has no assets to speak of, and it would cost more to sue him than the plaintiff could ever hope to collect.

Usually there is also at least a speck of proveable truth to Joe Schmoe's story, which makes the plaintiff reluctant to sue, because the plaintiff would have to own up to the small speck during the course of the trial. Most plaintiffs would prefer to just make a public denial of the whole story, including the part that was true, and hope the public gives them the benefit of the doubt on account of the newspaper's reputation as an unreliable gossip rag.

They get nailed once every few years, but considering the amount of wildly speculative, unflattering stuff they print about a wide range of public figures, their techniques are pretty effective.