Jeff Bezos isn’t the only one claiming The National Enquirer’s parent, American Media Inc., is a blackmailer.
Hours after the Amazon founder published a post to Medium accusing AMI, of threatening to publish racy photos of him and his girlfriend if he didn’t stop investigating them, journalist Ronan Farrow claimed he and another journalist received similar threats.
Farrow wrote on Twitter late Thursday that he and “at least one other prominent journalist” were the recipients of such threats after reporting on the Enquirer’s relationship with President Donald Trump.
“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,” wrote Farrow. “(I did not engage as I don’t cut deals with subjects of ongoing reporting.)” he added.
https://twitter.com/RonanFarrow/status/1093690150448758784
Farrow has written a number of stories about AMI’s “catch and kill” practice, in which the publisher buys stories that it then buries. In many cases, such a practice was used to benefit Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
CNN reporter Brian Stelter shared a statement by AMI on Twitter Friday, detailing the publisher’s response to Bezos’ allegations. It said that “American Media believes fervently that it acted lawfully in the reporting of the story of Mr. Bezos” but will nevertheless “promptly and thoroughly investigate the claims.” AMI promised to “take whatever appropriate action is necessary” upon completion of the investigation.
