30 votes

Jeff Bezos accuses National Enquirer of extortion and blackmail

4 comments

  1. Luna
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    Some people have compared this to Hulk Hogan and Gawker. Are there enough victims of the Enquirer that Bezos could bankroll to really make a dent in Pecker's pockets? Personally, I want Bezos to...

    Some people have compared this to Hulk Hogan and Gawker. Are there enough victims of the Enquirer that Bezos could bankroll to really make a dent in Pecker's pockets?

    Personally, I want Bezos to go full Hamilton and write all about his affair, and sap any potential inside scoop Pecker has.

    9 votes
  2. [2]
    Neverland
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    I may be very confused, but how is this not extortion? Is it just because no victims came forward out of fear and shame? To me it seems just like the mugshot site owners who were just prosecuted...

    Trump has a long relationship with the National Enquirer and its CEO, David Pecker. The company long engaged in “catch and kill” agreements on behalf of Trump, paying for negative stories in order not to run them.

    I may be very confused, but how is this not extortion? Is it just because no victims came forward out of fear and shame? To me it seems just like the mugshot site owners who were just prosecuted for extortion.

    4 votes
    1. Deimos
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      "Catch and kill" isn't extortion, it's actually kind of opposite in some ways. The Wikipedia page has a bit of info, but they go to someone that has damaging information, pay them for the story...

      "Catch and kill" isn't extortion, it's actually kind of opposite in some ways. The Wikipedia page has a bit of info, but they go to someone that has damaging information, pay them for the story and get them to sign an exclusivity agreement so that they're not allowed to talk to anyone else about it, and then... just never publish the story that they have exclusive rights to.

      Ronan Farrow wrote a story about this in the New Yorker last year, and as @dubteedub said in another comment, seems to have been investigated/threatened over it as well.

      4 votes
  3. Deimos
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    Some interesting thoughts about this on the Atlantic, not about the actual content, but that the writing of the post itself is a bit sloppy and obviously hasn't gone through a long editing process...

    Some interesting thoughts about this on the Atlantic, not about the actual content, but that the writing of the post itself is a bit sloppy and obviously hasn't gone through a long editing process or a bunch of PR people: Jeff Bezos Wrote a Blog Post

    2 votes
  4. Comment removed by site admin
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