Ronan Farrow said Thursday that he and “at least one other prominent journalist” who had reported on the National Enquirer and President Donald Trump received blackmail threats from the tabloid’s parent company, American Media Inc., over their work. Farrow’s allegation came just hours after Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos published a remarkable public post accusing the National Enquirer of attempting to extort and blackmail him by threatening to publish intimate photos unless he stopped investigating the publication. I and at least one other prominent journalist involved in breaking stories about the National Enquirer’s arrangement with Trump fielded similar “stop digging or we’ll ruin you” blackmail efforts from AMI. (I did not engage as I don’t cut deals with subjects of ongoing reporting.) The relationship between the National Enquirer and Trump has been repeatedly scrutinized by the media, given the president’s long friendship with AMI chief executive David Pecker.

Source: National Post February 08, 2019 13:30 UTC