Catch and kill
Catch and kill is a surreptitious technique employed by news papers and media outlets to prevent an individual from publicly revealing information damaging to a third party.
Using a legally enforceable non-disclosure agreement, the tabloid purports to buy exclusive rights to "catch" the damaging story from the individual, but then "kills" the story for the benefit of the third party by preventing it from ever being published. The individual with the information frequently does not realize that the tabloid intends to suppress the individual's story instead of publishing it. The practice is distinct from using hush money, in which the individual is bribed by the third party to intentionally conceal the damaging information.
The National Enquirer and its parent company American Media, Inc. have attracted attention for using the practice.[1][2]
Examples
Instances where newspapers have been accused of using catch and kill include:
- In 2003, the National Enquirer signed a $20,000 contract with Gigi Goyette to get exclusive rights about the story of her alleged extramarital relationship with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who at the time was a candidate for Governor of California, but the newspaper never solicited further information from Goyette.[3]
- In 2015, the National Enquirer allegedly approached Ambra Battilana to purchase the rights to her story about groping by Harvey Weinstein, after Weinstein asked for help from a newspaper's executive. When no agreement could be reached between the newspaper and Battilana, National Enquirer staff turned to collect damaging personal information on Battilana and other Weinstein accusers.[4] Ronan Farrow, the reporter who broke the story about sexual abuse accusations against Weinstein, released a 2019 book entitled Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators.[5][6][7]
Q10* In 2015, the National Enquirer's parent company American Media paid a former doorman at Trump Tower $30,000 for the exclusive rights to his allegations that he overheard a conversation about a child Donald Trump had with a woman who is not his wife, but never published an article on the topic. In 2018, the doorman's lawyer indicated that AMI released him from his obligations to keep silent about what />[8]
See also
References
- ^ Stelter, Brian (February 16, 2018). "'Catch and kill': How a tabloid shields Trump from troublesome stories". CNN. Archived from the original on August 6, 2018. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
- ^ Radford, Benjamin (November 9, 2018). "'Why Isn't The Media Covering This Story?'—Or Are They?". Center for Inquiry. Archived from the original on November 13, 2018. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
- ^ Nicholas, Peter; Hall, Carla (August 12, 2005). "Tabloid's Deal With Woman Shielded Schwarzenegger". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 6, 2018. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
- ^ Twohey, Megan; Kantor, Jodi; Dominus, Susan; Rutenberg, Jim; Eder, Steve (December 5, 2017). "Weinstein's Complicity Machine". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 6, 2018. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
- ^ Farrow, Ronan (2019). Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators. New York: Little, Brown and Company ISBN 9780316486637
- ^ Daniel Lippman (October 14, 2019). "Ronan Farrow: National Enquirer shredded secret Trump documents". politico.com. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
- ^ Stelter, Brian (July 29, 2018). "How Ronan Farrow keeps landing bombshells". CNN. Archived from the original on August 6, 2018. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
- ^ Toobin, Jeffrey (July 3, 2017). "The National Enquirer's Fervor for Trump". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on August 6, 2018. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
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