How do you control people in a democracy? A handful of thinkers developed…
Sex, Lies and Tabloids!
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
They're lurid, obnoxious, disdainful and explicit. And we love them - and love to hate them.
SEX, LIES AND TABLOIDS! charts the rise and fall of tabloid papers in the UK and US, including the New York Post, The Sun, and notorious supermarket tabloids like the National Enquirer and The Star.
In the beginning, they were upstarts. Papers that shamelessly pandered with stories about sex scandals, and celebrities - often skirting ethical lines, and sometimes outright making things up ('Run it through the typewriter again,' was one editor's mantra.) But by the 1980s and '90s they had become the media heavyweights. Left behind by the tabloids' coverage of Bill Clinton's sex life, Princess Diana and the OJ Simpson trial, the mainstream media started to adopt their techniques.
SEX, LIES AND TABLOIDS! features extensive interviews with key tabloid players such as notorious editor Kelvin MacKenzie ('If you have no news... you get a picture of Diana and make it as big as possible'), journalist Paul McMullan ('People need to understand that privacy is an evil, bad concept'), and the late Vincent Musetto (famed for the headline 'Headless body in topless bar'). The film provides an insider's account of the no-holds-barred mentality driving tabloid journalism while also using fun and campy footage mimicking the style of the tabloids themselves.
Eventually, the tabs would go too far. Briefly chastened by the death of Diana and shunned after the British phone hacking scandal, the papers would go into a downward spiral, with The News of the World even shutting down. But culture they spawned is stronger than ever. Sites like TMZ and The Smoking Gun and an omni-present gotcha culture have brought the spirit of the tabloids to the Internet. At the same time, the ubiquity of sharing means photos that would once have been prized by paparazzi (hello Kim Kardashian in a bikini) are posted by celebrities and would-be-celebs themselves. The tabloids may be gone, but the tabloid spirit is everywhere.
Citation
Main credits
Péretié, Jean-Baptiste (screenwriter)
Péretié, Jean-Baptiste (film director)
Other credits
Editor, Alex Cardon; cinematography, Blaise Harrison, Charles Lehmann.
Distributor subjects
Advertising and Marketing; American Studies; Business Ethics; Communications; Cultural Studies; Ethics; Journalism; Media StudiesKeywords
WEBVTT
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.750
Are we still rolling?
00:00:00.750 --> 00:00:01.625
Yes.
00:00:01.625 --> 00:00:02.834
Rolling.
00:00:02.834 --> 00:00:05.375
Jose, take four.
00:00:10.208 --> 00:00:11.500
Three, two, one.
00:00:11.500 --> 00:00:14.917
Tabloid is about guts,
tabloid is about instinct,
00:00:14.917 --> 00:00:16.500
it\'s about emotions.
00:00:16.500 --> 00:00:18.250
It\'s really not about
00:00:18.250 --> 00:00:23.458
telling you what the news
of the day is.
00:00:23.458 --> 00:00:25.000
A tabloid wants
to make you mad,
00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:28.750
wants to make you sad,
wants to make you happy.
00:00:28.750 --> 00:00:31.333
It wants you to feel
something.
00:00:31.333 --> 00:00:37.458
Artifical!
00:00:39.959 --> 00:00:50.041
♪
00:00:50.041 --> 00:00:51.333
Gotcha.
00:00:51.333 --> 00:01:04.750
♪
00:01:04.750 --> 00:01:08.917
♪ (indistinct lyrics) ♪
00:01:08.917 --> 00:01:21.250
♪
00:01:21.250 --> 00:01:24.625
This is the story
of sex, blood, and money.
00:01:24.625 --> 00:01:27.208
Of bogus groups
and exclusive news.
00:01:27.208 --> 00:01:29.709
Of reporters sifting
through trash cans,
00:01:29.709 --> 00:01:31.041
of hunters
and their prey.
00:01:31.041 --> 00:01:36.667
Of 15 minutes of fame
and skimpily clad starlets.
00:01:36.667 --> 00:01:37.667
It\'s a reflection of us,
00:01:37.667 --> 00:01:40.291
it\'s our pleasure
and our disgust.
00:01:40.291 --> 00:01:41.999
This is the story
of tabloids,
00:01:41.999 --> 00:01:43.333
the British and
American newspapers
00:01:43.333 --> 00:01:47.208
that invented and dominated
sensationalist news.
00:01:47.208 --> 00:01:49.875
This is how they became
heralds of a global culture
00:01:49.875 --> 00:01:52.166
obsessed with celebrities
and their secrets
00:01:52.166 --> 00:01:54.542
and how they were
imitated, recycled,
00:01:54.542 --> 00:01:56.834
and sometimes even rivaled
in Europe
00:01:56.834 --> 00:01:58.417
and the rest
of the world.
00:01:58.417 --> 00:02:01.166
This is the story of
the rise of tabloids
00:02:01.166 --> 00:02:02.000
followed by their fall,
00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:05.542
and their resurrection
in a different form.
00:02:05.542 --> 00:02:08.208
♪
00:02:08.208 --> 00:02:11.333
It\'s a story that
doesn\'t end well.
00:02:11.333 --> 00:02:21.083
♪
00:02:21.083 --> 00:02:25.041
Our tale begins in the late
1960s in Australia
00:02:25.041 --> 00:02:26.959
where a cowboy
laid down the law
00:02:26.959 --> 00:02:30.000
on the local press.
00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:32.792
Rupert Murdoch already
owned several newspapers
00:02:32.792 --> 00:02:34.625
and was flying high.
00:02:34.625 --> 00:02:39.542
♪
00:02:39.542 --> 00:02:42.834
But his ambition
was limitless.
00:02:42.834 --> 00:02:57.875
♪
00:02:57.875 --> 00:03:00.041
He arrived in London
in good old Britain
00:03:00.041 --> 00:03:05.709
where popular journalism
was a decades old tradition.
00:03:05.709 --> 00:03:09.667
Within a few years Murdoch
would overturn the status quo
00:03:09.667 --> 00:03:12.458
and impose a new
tabloid model.
00:03:12.458 --> 00:03:18.417
♪
00:03:18.417 --> 00:03:20.875
He began by buying
the Sunday newspaper,
00:03:20.875 --> 00:03:21.999
\"News of the World\"
00:03:21.999 --> 00:03:24.542
and a modest daily,
\"The Sun\".
00:03:24.542 --> 00:03:29.792
♪
00:03:29.792 --> 00:03:31.375
I was one of those
journalists
00:03:31.375 --> 00:03:34.333
who was hired in the early
days of \"The Sun\"
00:03:34.333 --> 00:03:37.208
when Rupert Murdoch
founded it.
00:03:37.208 --> 00:03:39.625
And uh,
they were great days,
00:03:39.625 --> 00:03:41.041
they were,
this was the Wild West.
00:03:41.041 --> 00:03:43.417
No staff on tap
at the time it started
00:03:43.417 --> 00:03:46.041
and executives wandered
Fleet Street bars
00:03:46.041 --> 00:03:47.500
and restaurants and pubs
00:03:47.500 --> 00:03:51.500
hiring staff
in a great roundup.
00:03:51.500 --> 00:03:53.208
News never sleeps.
00:03:53.208 --> 00:03:53.875
On Fleet Street,
00:03:53.875 --> 00:03:56.750
the mecca of tabloids and
other London newspapers,
00:03:56.750 --> 00:03:58.458
reporters spent their
days and nights
00:03:58.458 --> 00:04:01.250
in the numerous pubs
that lined the street.
00:04:01.250 --> 00:04:03.999
In between drinks they chased
their latest scoops,
00:04:03.999 --> 00:04:07.875
desperately trying
to beat the competition.
00:04:07.875 --> 00:04:09.166
We, on \"The Sun\"
were the underdog.
00:04:09.166 --> 00:04:12.208
There was another rival
newspaper, \"The Daily Mirror\"
00:04:12.208 --> 00:04:13.583
which was predominant.
00:04:13.583 --> 00:04:16.291
I think five million copies
a day were sold.
00:04:16.291 --> 00:04:17.291
We were selling
next to none.
00:04:17.291 --> 00:04:19.999
There was a fearsome
completion in those days,
00:04:19.999 --> 00:04:20.959
that\'s what made it fun.
00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:23.959
Murdoch\'s plans for \"The Sun\"
are still uncertain.
00:04:23.959 --> 00:04:26.583
It seems that it\'ll be
a spicier version
00:04:26.583 --> 00:04:28.000
of \"The Daily Mirror\".
00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:30.083
The guardians of
public morals,
00:04:30.083 --> 00:04:30.959
though not the public,
00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:34.000
are saying they\'re worried
he\'ll sell it on sex.
00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:35.792
Depends what you call
by spice and sex
00:04:35.792 --> 00:04:40.125
and salaciousness
and nut cracking and so on.
00:04:40.125 --> 00:04:41.083
So uh, no, I mean,
00:04:41.083 --> 00:04:45.041
we\'re obviously not gonna
avoid the subject.
00:04:45.041 --> 00:04:49.125
♪
00:04:49.125 --> 00:04:50.166
To outdo its rivals
00:04:50.166 --> 00:04:52.667
\"The Sun\" exploited
the sexual liberation
00:04:52.667 --> 00:04:55.625
for a few pennies a day.
00:04:55.625 --> 00:05:01.375
In 1970 it introduced its
topless Page 3 girls.
00:05:01.375 --> 00:05:02.917
What he\'s been looking for
in a Page 3 girl
00:05:02.917 --> 00:05:07.125
is someone who looked like
the girl next door.
00:05:07.125 --> 00:05:08.875
Obviously she had
to be beautiful,
00:05:08.875 --> 00:05:11.333
she had to be shapely
and she had to be sexy,
00:05:11.333 --> 00:05:16.208
but beyond that she had to have
an air of innocence.
00:05:16.208 --> 00:05:19.208
♪
00:05:19.208 --> 00:05:21.625
Her breasts could not
be too big.
00:05:21.625 --> 00:05:24.375
She could not be looking
too sexy um,
00:05:24.375 --> 00:05:29.875
and so it was a very careful,
intuitive calculation
00:05:29.875 --> 00:05:32.917
about what was acceptable
and what wasn\'t.
00:05:32.917 --> 00:05:36.000
The photographers used to
get us to sit in such a way
00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:40.208
that we would be, you know,
the legs had to be correct.
00:05:40.208 --> 00:05:42.500
The shoulder had to cover the,
the nipple
00:05:42.500 --> 00:05:44.500
so it wasn\'t
exactly shown.
00:05:44.500 --> 00:05:46.750
One arm would be here.
00:05:46.750 --> 00:05:49.667
You would have to pout
and use your eyes
00:05:49.667 --> 00:05:50.792
and play with the camera.
00:05:50.792 --> 00:05:52.792
But everything had to
be pulled in
00:05:52.792 --> 00:05:56.125
and we\'d have to sit there
for hours like that
00:05:56.125 --> 00:05:58.959
until we felt like
we were going to faint.
00:05:58.959 --> 00:06:10.959
♪
00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:13.500
How they got \'round
the regulation on Page 3
00:06:13.500 --> 00:06:18.542
was by writing caption to say
no, this isn\'t just gratuitous,
00:06:18.542 --> 00:06:20.041
it\'s not just a nude woman.
00:06:20.041 --> 00:06:21.875
They, they\'d write some
news story about her
00:06:21.875 --> 00:06:23.875
like she\'s the first
woman astronaut
00:06:23.875 --> 00:06:27.208
or she wants to be the world\'s,
the first woman astronaut
00:06:27.208 --> 00:06:31.458
or she cooked 25 pancakes
in an hour or something
00:06:31.458 --> 00:06:32.417
and it\'s a new record.
00:06:32.417 --> 00:06:35.917
So they would have some
completely fabricated news story
00:06:35.917 --> 00:06:39.709
that was used to,
to say that Page 3
00:06:39.709 --> 00:06:40.500
was not pornography.
00:06:40.500 --> 00:06:44.417
And so you had to perhaps
think of a topical news event
00:06:44.417 --> 00:06:50.166
or a current thing on TV
or a film or something
00:06:50.166 --> 00:06:52.041
and just be utterly inventive.
00:06:52.041 --> 00:06:56.542
Busty Debbie from Darby
has had a really good Easter.
00:06:56.542 --> 00:07:01.083
She was out with the bunnies
early in the morning and um,
00:07:01.083 --> 00:07:03.333
she just enjoyed it so much,
00:07:03.333 --> 00:07:05.375
cavorting on the ground
with them,
00:07:05.375 --> 00:07:06.250
and look at her now.
00:07:06.250 --> 00:07:08.041
She came back from
her adventure
00:07:08.041 --> 00:07:11.041
and here she is taking
her clothes off for you.
00:07:11.041 --> 00:07:11.792
Happy Debbie.
00:07:11.792 --> 00:07:15.125
To have a woman topless
just for being topless,
00:07:15.125 --> 00:07:17.709
whether people considered it
scandalous or not
00:07:17.709 --> 00:07:20.417
was crossing a legal re-,
regulatory line
00:07:20.417 --> 00:07:23.000
and that brought
the official establishment
00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:23.792
down on them.
00:07:23.792 --> 00:07:28.000
But they used it brilliantly
to take a stance of,
00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:31.291
on the side of the young people,
the permissive people,
00:07:31.291 --> 00:07:34.375
against these stuffy,
worthy, boring people
00:07:34.375 --> 00:07:37.542
who didn\'t like sex,
who didn\'t like pretty girls,
00:07:37.542 --> 00:07:38.375
et cetera, et cetera.
00:07:38.375 --> 00:07:40.999
And ever since then it\'s one
of \"The Sun\'s\"
00:07:40.999 --> 00:07:42.250
most effective techniques,
00:07:42.250 --> 00:07:45.750
is to pose as the friend of
the ordinary person
00:07:45.750 --> 00:07:47.417
who\'s not particularly
high minded
00:07:47.417 --> 00:07:48.667
and just want to have
a nice life,
00:07:48.667 --> 00:07:51.999
they do like attractive women,
they do like sex,
00:07:51.999 --> 00:07:53.875
and it\'s all these
fuddy duddies,
00:07:53.875 --> 00:07:56.542
these religious people,
these official people,
00:07:56.542 --> 00:07:59.375
schoolteachers,
the establishment,
00:07:59.375 --> 00:08:00.041
intellectuals.
00:08:00.041 --> 00:08:02.375
They are the people
who are stopping you
00:08:02.375 --> 00:08:03.250
having your fun.
00:08:03.250 --> 00:08:05.000
How about the other half?
00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:05.500
Eh?
00:08:05.500 --> 00:08:06.917
Another one of those.
00:08:06.917 --> 00:08:07.834
Oh, ta.
00:08:07.834 --> 00:08:09.000
Have you got a large one?
00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:11.750
I\'ve had no complaints so far.
00:08:11.750 --> 00:08:12.625
Seeing is believing.
00:08:12.625 --> 00:08:14.999
You won\'t need
a magnifying glass.
00:08:14.999 --> 00:08:17.625
Life is a hard old go
for most people.
00:08:17.625 --> 00:08:20.834
What they mainly want to do
is literally have a laugh.
00:08:20.834 --> 00:08:22.166
And, of course, what
we get in the paper
00:08:22.166 --> 00:08:26.709
is all death and disaster
and pedophiles and,
00:08:26.709 --> 00:08:29.250
and this and that
and the other.
00:08:29.250 --> 00:08:30.750
But where\'s the fun?
00:08:30.750 --> 00:08:31.875
Where is the fun?
00:08:31.875 --> 00:08:38.000
I guarantee to you
that you have a fun front page
00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:39.083
it may not sell more,
00:08:39.083 --> 00:08:41.166
but it guarantees
that that reader
00:08:41.166 --> 00:08:42.166
comes back tomorrow.
00:08:42.166 --> 00:08:44.041
Because they are looking
for something
00:08:44.041 --> 00:08:45.834
to lift them out
of the gloom, right?
00:08:45.834 --> 00:08:47.375
And they\'re certainly not
gonna get it at work
00:08:47.375 --> 00:08:50.375
and I doubt whether they\'re
gonna get it at home, either.
00:08:50.375 --> 00:08:53.625
So bit of a laugh
and that\'s it.
00:08:53.625 --> 00:08:58.542
♪
00:08:58.542 --> 00:08:59.750
In just a few years
00:08:59.750 --> 00:09:01.000
\"The Sun\" had perfected
the formula
00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:04.375
for winning over
millions of readers.
00:09:04.375 --> 00:09:06.250
Dublonton, sexy news,
00:09:06.250 --> 00:09:09.000
made up urban myths,
TV schedules,
00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:13.709
stories about TV stars,
and sports results.
00:09:13.709 --> 00:09:15.542
The same menu,
sweet and greasy,
00:09:15.542 --> 00:09:19.333
was recycled every day,
Monday through Saturday,
00:09:19.333 --> 00:09:22.375
week after week.
00:09:22.375 --> 00:09:23.333
The formula was
finely honed
00:09:23.333 --> 00:09:27.208
and Murdoch was now ready
to expand to a new territory,
00:09:27.208 --> 00:09:29.625
the United States where,
in 1976,
00:09:29.625 --> 00:09:34.208
he bought the \"New York Post\",
an old liberal paper.
00:09:34.208 --> 00:09:36.709
So he got hold of this paper
and refashioned it
00:09:36.709 --> 00:09:39.208
into an utterly,
utterly brutal tabloid.
00:09:39.208 --> 00:09:43.125
I mean, it leaves \"The Sun\"
in the shade occasionally and,
00:09:43.125 --> 00:09:46.375
and it\'s the sharpness of
its headline writing,
00:09:46.375 --> 00:09:48.458
it wasn\'t quite as sexual
as \"The Sun\",
00:09:48.458 --> 00:09:50.709
it was more political
from day one.
00:09:50.709 --> 00:09:53.041
It was like if you were
a politician
00:09:53.041 --> 00:09:54.792
and the \"New York Post\"
went against you,
00:09:54.792 --> 00:09:57.583
it\'s like being set upon
with a baseball bat.
00:09:57.583 --> 00:10:01.291
Also, Murdoch would move
his most capable uh,
00:10:01.291 --> 00:10:03.875
tabloid news journalists
to New York
00:10:03.875 --> 00:10:05.959
partly to strengthen
the \"New York Post\",
00:10:05.959 --> 00:10:08.542
but also to blood them
in the trenches of the,
00:10:08.542 --> 00:10:12.000
of the New York uh,
kind of political system.
00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:15.792
Actually from my background
I was all, you know,
00:10:15.792 --> 00:10:18.125
sensation and shock and horror,
00:10:18.125 --> 00:10:21.625
shock and amaze on every page
kind of stuff.
00:10:21.625 --> 00:10:27.667
And uh, I was
allowed to bring
00:10:27.667 --> 00:10:29.333
some of that to,
to New York.
00:10:29.333 --> 00:10:31.417
However, Rupert Murdoch
did say to me uh,
00:10:31.417 --> 00:10:35.959
after a couple of years that
we had to tone down the paper.
00:10:35.959 --> 00:10:37.083
Although it was selling
like fury,
00:10:37.083 --> 00:10:38.500
had to tone it down,
I said, \"Why is that?\"
00:10:38.500 --> 00:10:44.542
He said, \"I can\'t live
in the same city as this paper.\"
00:10:45.041 --> 00:10:48.417
The occasion was that
everywhere we went
00:10:48.417 --> 00:10:50.083
people were saying \"Disgusting\".
00:10:50.083 --> 00:10:52.583
So I think one of the things
that appealed to people here
00:10:52.583 --> 00:10:55.750
was that we had this total
lack of ethics and would,
00:10:55.750 --> 00:10:56.667
would do anything.
00:10:56.667 --> 00:10:57.917
I mean, I think
there were things
00:10:57.917 --> 00:11:01.625
that we were accustomed
to doing that were not typical,
00:11:01.625 --> 00:11:05.208
say, in American journalism
at that time.
00:11:05.208 --> 00:11:07.542
Most Americans seem
to be crusaders
00:11:07.542 --> 00:11:08.834
out to change the world
or something.
00:11:08.834 --> 00:11:10.333
We\'re not interested
in changing the world,
00:11:10.333 --> 00:11:14.458
we\'re interested in giving
readers a good story.
00:11:14.458 --> 00:11:17.583
♪
00:11:17.583 --> 00:11:20.041
A good tabloid story.
00:11:20.041 --> 00:11:21.291
Is there a foolproof recipe
00:11:21.291 --> 00:11:23.458
that always uses
the same ingredients?
00:11:23.458 --> 00:11:28.709
Like with a romance novel
or a B horror movie?
00:11:28.709 --> 00:11:32.333
Aaahh, aaah!
00:11:32.333 --> 00:11:33.333
There were no
rules laid down
00:11:33.333 --> 00:11:36.333
for what\'s a good tabloid story
and what\'s not.
00:11:36.333 --> 00:11:41.458
Um, but I guess
you know it\'s a good tale
00:11:41.458 --> 00:11:45.208
when you\'re sure that
whoever is reading it
00:11:45.208 --> 00:11:47.875
is gonna pass it on
to their workmate,
00:11:47.875 --> 00:11:52.041
to her girlfriend
or to your auntie
00:11:52.041 --> 00:11:52.709
or your granny.
00:11:52.709 --> 00:11:53.792
So it doesn\'t
have to be rude,
00:11:53.792 --> 00:11:57.750
just has to be a \"Cor,
blimey, look at that, Mabel,\"
00:11:57.750 --> 00:11:58.333
story.
00:11:58.333 --> 00:12:00.959
Well, the essence of
a good tabloid story
00:12:00.959 --> 00:12:04.500
is um, like we used,
we used to say back then
00:12:04.500 --> 00:12:07.458
was kids, dogs,
mammary glands,
00:12:07.458 --> 00:12:08.291
Kennedys dead or alive.
00:12:08.291 --> 00:12:11.291
You get one of those in
and you\'re gonna get a story,
00:12:11.291 --> 00:12:13.208
you get two of them in you\'re
gonna get a story up front,
00:12:13.208 --> 00:12:15.709
you get three in there you\'re
probably on the front page.
00:12:15.709 --> 00:12:18.875
There\'s one story
that always works.
00:12:18.875 --> 00:12:19.709
Sex scandals.
00:12:19.709 --> 00:12:24.041
Any kind of sex scandal
involving anybody famous,
00:12:24.041 --> 00:12:24.834
through the roof.
00:12:24.834 --> 00:12:29.458
So actually the more scandals
you could find, the better.
00:12:29.458 --> 00:12:30.625
And all you were doing,
00:12:30.625 --> 00:12:32.834
and it was like a drug,
you know?
00:12:32.834 --> 00:12:36.166
People ha-, they have to have
a good ol\' sex scandal,
00:12:36.166 --> 00:12:38.333
they love a bit of,
there\'s nothing wrong with it.
00:12:38.333 --> 00:12:40.625
I remember Rupert saying
to me once, he said,
00:12:40.625 --> 00:12:43.667
\"Isn\'t there anything
going on in your country
00:12:43.667 --> 00:12:45.250
above the waist?\"
00:12:45.250 --> 00:12:48.583
I said, \"Rupert,\" I said,
\"They can\'t get enough of it.
00:12:48.583 --> 00:12:52.959
They are walking 30 miles
across broken glass
00:12:52.959 --> 00:12:57.000
to buy \"The Sun\"
because of this stuff\".
00:12:57.000 --> 00:12:59.083
\"Scared to Death\".
00:12:59.083 --> 00:13:01.417
\"Guilty\".
00:13:01.417 --> 00:13:04.250
\"Sex Verdict\".
00:13:04.250 --> 00:13:08.583
\"Kill My Wife\".
00:13:08.583 --> 00:13:10.417
\"The Magnificent Bitch\".
00:13:10.417 --> 00:13:15.792
Nothing like a racy headline
to catch the reader\'s eye.
00:13:15.792 --> 00:13:18.166
In the tabloids you have
people who do that
00:13:18.166 --> 00:13:19.041
and they\'re good at it,
00:13:19.041 --> 00:13:20.667
they recognize
they\'re good at it,
00:13:20.667 --> 00:13:23.999
especially in the um,
in the British tabloids.
00:13:23.999 --> 00:13:26.417
They, they really, those,
they\'re the bosses.
00:13:26.417 --> 00:13:28.583
I mean, some people tell me
that the guy\'s got
00:13:28.583 --> 00:13:31.250
the headline in his head when
he sends you out the door
00:13:31.250 --> 00:13:32.917
so you better come back
with the story
00:13:32.917 --> 00:13:36.583
that matches the headline.
00:13:36.583 --> 00:13:39.959
\"Headless Body
in Topless Bar\".
00:13:39.959 --> 00:13:40.750
We knew that there,
00:13:40.750 --> 00:13:44.834
someone had been beheaded
in a bar in Queens.
00:13:44.834 --> 00:13:48.166
But we weren\'t sure if
it was a topless bar.
00:13:48.166 --> 00:13:51.834
So we sent a woman reporter
out to Queens
00:13:51.834 --> 00:13:57.125
to find out if it
really was a topless bar
00:13:57.125 --> 00:13:57.792
and it was.
00:13:57.792 --> 00:13:59.417
I remember I told
the city editor,
00:13:59.417 --> 00:14:03.625
I said, \"If it\'s not
a topless bar tell Marilyn,\"
00:14:03.625 --> 00:14:04.458
she was the reporter,
00:14:04.458 --> 00:14:07.458
\"to take off her top and
it will be a topless bar.\"
00:14:07.458 --> 00:14:10.208
But she didn\'t
have to do it.
00:14:10.208 --> 00:14:12.917
♪
00:14:12.917 --> 00:14:16.333
In the US Murdoch\'s press
had a competitor,
00:14:16.333 --> 00:14:17.667
the \"National Enquirer\".
00:14:17.667 --> 00:14:19.041
A specialist in car crash photos
00:14:19.041 --> 00:14:21.750
with an unparalleled sales
pitch.
00:14:21.750 --> 00:14:23.000
Since human beings are voyeurs
00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:25.250
who slow down to catch
a glimpse on the highway
00:14:25.250 --> 00:14:26.375
when there are accidents,
00:14:26.375 --> 00:14:27.834
they\'ll be more
than happy to see
00:14:27.834 --> 00:14:30.000
bloody photos
in a newspaper.
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:37.792
♪
00:14:37.792 --> 00:14:40.375
But the \"Enquirer\" wanted
to be sold in supermarkets
00:14:40.375 --> 00:14:42.875
and in order to
attract housewives
00:14:42.875 --> 00:14:45.875
it needed to report
on less gory stories.
00:14:45.875 --> 00:14:50.667
Stories that were unbelievable,
but true.
00:14:50.667 --> 00:14:55.041
What developed was a sort of
\"Enquirer\" template
00:14:55.041 --> 00:14:58.542
with about 60%
non celebrity stories,
00:14:58.542 --> 00:15:00.500
40% celebrity stories,
00:15:00.500 --> 00:15:05.583
but the non celebrity stories
were really to create
00:15:05.583 --> 00:15:08.999
dreams and emotion.
00:15:08.999 --> 00:15:09.875
I went out to Colorado,
00:15:09.875 --> 00:15:13.792
do a story that had appeared in
a local weekly paper there
00:15:13.792 --> 00:15:14.583
about Rose Marie Holman.
00:15:14.583 --> 00:15:18.709
She was born with a condition
called sacral agenesis
00:15:18.709 --> 00:15:22.250
which means no uh, organs,
00:15:22.250 --> 00:15:25.375
or no muscles be-,
below the waist,
00:15:25.375 --> 00:15:29.083
but she got herself \'round
on a skateboard
00:15:29.083 --> 00:15:30.792
and she walked on her hands.
00:15:30.792 --> 00:15:35.458
And she was one of the most
incredible women
00:15:35.458 --> 00:15:36.542
I\'ve ever met.
00:15:36.542 --> 00:15:37.583
Her mother was blind,
00:15:37.583 --> 00:15:39.999
her father was
mentally retarded,
00:15:39.999 --> 00:15:43.667
and she had a younger brother,
eight,
00:15:43.667 --> 00:15:45.041
and she did all the cooking,
00:15:45.041 --> 00:15:47.917
all the housework
for the family uh,
00:15:47.917 --> 00:15:50.542
she would haul herself
on the cooker
00:15:50.542 --> 00:15:53.834
and cook bacon and eggs
and everything else.
00:15:53.834 --> 00:15:56.083
I must have done a dozen
stories on her
00:15:56.083 --> 00:15:58.166
following her through
her life uh,
00:15:58.166 --> 00:16:02.709
including when she uh,
got married and,
00:16:02.709 --> 00:16:05.500
eventually, when she
had a miracle baby
00:16:05.500 --> 00:16:08.625
that everyone said she
couldn\'t possibly have.
00:16:08.625 --> 00:16:10.917
So there were some wonderful
stories like that
00:16:10.917 --> 00:16:13.375
that the \"Enquirer\"
used to cover then.
00:16:13.375 --> 00:16:16.667
The \"National Enquirer\"
had sources throughout Hollywood
00:16:16.667 --> 00:16:18.250
and not just a few sources,
00:16:18.250 --> 00:16:22.333
hundreds, thousands
of sources
00:16:22.333 --> 00:16:23.875
around the celebrity community
00:16:23.875 --> 00:16:25.959
and around individual
celebrities.
00:16:25.959 --> 00:16:29.834
It could be anyone
from a sister,
00:16:29.834 --> 00:16:30.542
the pool guy.
00:16:30.542 --> 00:16:32.375
Someone in your
doctor\'s office.
00:16:32.375 --> 00:16:34.041
The lawn maintenance guy.
00:16:34.041 --> 00:16:35.583
The limo drivers.
00:16:35.583 --> 00:16:38.709
The uh, nanny.
00:16:38.709 --> 00:16:39.709
The florist.
00:16:39.709 --> 00:16:41.834
The brother in law.
00:16:41.834 --> 00:16:43.875
The guy who uh,
is the bell boy
00:16:43.875 --> 00:16:46.792
or the concierge
at the fancy hotel.
00:16:46.792 --> 00:16:49.458
Maybe your mother would
be working for,
00:16:49.458 --> 00:16:50.166
I\'m not kidding.
00:16:50.166 --> 00:16:54.667
We had the husband of
a very famous TV woman,
00:16:54.667 --> 00:16:55.458
sitcom star.
00:16:55.458 --> 00:16:58.667
Her husband would call us
every time she did something.
00:16:58.667 --> 00:17:01.917
\"Hey, she\'s done this,
she\'s gone there,
00:17:01.917 --> 00:17:02.875
you can get pictures of her
00:17:02.875 --> 00:17:05.125
because she\'s going
to get a massage.
00:17:05.125 --> 00:17:06.750
If you go and place
so and so
00:17:06.750 --> 00:17:10.208
you can get a picture
of her back, maybe her ass.\"
00:17:10.208 --> 00:17:13.875
So okay, he was
getting money, too.
00:17:13.875 --> 00:17:16.542
What did he do with his money?
00:17:16.542 --> 00:17:18.083
He bought cocaine.
00:17:18.083 --> 00:17:20.125
Because he didn\'t want
the wife to know
00:17:20.125 --> 00:17:22.166
that he was using money
to buy coke,
00:17:22.166 --> 00:17:22.999
which is expensive,
00:17:22.999 --> 00:17:26.125
so he would give us stuff,
he would get paid,
00:17:26.125 --> 00:17:28.250
and he\'d go blow it on blow.
00:17:28.250 --> 00:17:29.291
So the wife wouldn\'t know.
00:17:29.291 --> 00:17:34.083
I mean, the irony of a lot
of this stuff is just crazy,
00:17:34.083 --> 00:17:35.500
and when celebrities complain,
00:17:35.500 --> 00:17:38.792
or they claim, \"Oh, you guys
are making it up,
00:17:38.792 --> 00:17:40.083
it\'s not true.\"
00:17:40.083 --> 00:17:44.375
Very often it\'s from the
person they sit next to.
00:17:44.375 --> 00:17:51.083
♪
00:17:51.083 --> 00:17:53.542
In 1977 when Elvis died
00:17:53.542 --> 00:17:55.667
the \"National Enquirer\"
had all the best sources
00:17:55.667 --> 00:17:58.291
to get the picture
everyone wanted to see.
00:17:58.291 --> 00:18:01.999
That of the King laid out
in his coffin.
00:18:01.999 --> 00:18:04.333
But tabloid readers
know only too well
00:18:04.333 --> 00:18:10.000
that Elvis isn\'t really dead.
00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:11.875
According to our sources,
00:18:11.875 --> 00:18:13.542
he now lives in the suburbs
00:18:13.542 --> 00:18:15.834
in a house with a pool
and a barbecue,
00:18:15.834 --> 00:18:18.041
finally living
the manufactured dream
00:18:18.041 --> 00:18:20.875
of the American middle class.
00:18:20.875 --> 00:18:26.208
♪ Well, I\'m not trying
to be just like Elvis ♪
00:18:26.208 --> 00:18:27.999
♪
00:18:27.999 --> 00:18:29.875
♪ I\'m doing my best ♪
00:18:29.875 --> 00:18:34.583
♪ To make it on my own ♪
00:18:34.583 --> 00:18:38.500
♪ \'Cause he didn\'t
have to pick a side ♪
00:18:38.500 --> 00:18:41.667
♪ Just to make it to the top ♪
00:18:41.667 --> 00:18:45.583
♪ He just kept his
faith in Jesus ♪
00:18:45.583 --> 00:18:49.999
♪ And became king on his own ♪
00:18:49.999 --> 00:18:50.792
Dive into \"The Sun\"
00:18:50.792 --> 00:18:53.667
and swim to new fitness
in the sea or the pool.
00:18:53.667 --> 00:18:54.583
Look at the way you sleep.
00:18:54.583 --> 00:18:55.709
There are so many positions.
00:18:55.709 --> 00:18:56.542
What do they all mean?
00:18:56.542 --> 00:18:57.999
Plus, help your lover
live longer.
00:18:57.999 --> 00:19:00.792
Follow the his and hers
living guide in \"The Sun\".
00:19:00.792 --> 00:19:02.792
Lose seven pounds on
the Sun Fun Diet
00:19:02.792 --> 00:19:04.667
ane slip into this super
body trip play suit
00:19:04.667 --> 00:19:05.375
in \"The Sun\".
00:19:05.375 --> 00:19:08.125
It\'s all in your bigger bounty
bright and breezy,
00:19:08.125 --> 00:19:12.333
number one \"Sun\" this week.
00:19:12.333 --> 00:19:14.458
In the early 1980s \"The Sun\"
was ahead
00:19:14.458 --> 00:19:16.208
of its old rival,
the \"Daily Mirror\"
00:19:16.208 --> 00:19:20.166
and became the number one daily
in the United Kingdom.
00:19:20.166 --> 00:19:23.542
A new editor took over,
Kelvin MacKenzie.
00:19:23.542 --> 00:19:26.750
Kelvin MacKenzie was a genius
tabloid journalist.
00:19:26.750 --> 00:19:30.917
One of the most effective uh,
that we\'ve ever seen.
00:19:30.917 --> 00:19:33.959
He lead \"The Sun\" like
a military operation, really,
00:19:33.959 --> 00:19:38.917
every single day was an attack
on his rivals.
00:19:38.917 --> 00:19:42.667
He was rude, aggressive,
demanding,
00:19:42.667 --> 00:19:45.709
constantly changing
his mind um,
00:19:45.709 --> 00:19:50.792
and he was almost
a kind of archetypical
00:19:50.792 --> 00:19:52.667
tabloid figure.
00:19:52.667 --> 00:19:58.834
These papers, these are
one man or one woman
00:19:58.834 --> 00:20:00.667
ego exhibitions.
00:20:00.667 --> 00:20:02.083
It\'s not regulated.
00:20:02.083 --> 00:20:06.917
And therefore your personality
just drives through the paper.
00:20:06.917 --> 00:20:12.000
Kelvin had his mind\'s eye
about what the story should be.
00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:13.000
And sometimes, of course,
00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:15.709
the facts didn\'t quite match
his imagination.
00:20:15.709 --> 00:20:20.792
But he would get a reporter
to push it to that level
00:20:20.792 --> 00:20:23.125
just to stretch it
that bit further
00:20:23.125 --> 00:20:25.625
in order to give him
the headline he wanted.
00:20:25.625 --> 00:20:26.667
And he even had
a phrase for it,
00:20:26.667 --> 00:20:29.709
he would say \"run it through
the typewriter again\" or,
00:20:29.709 --> 00:20:33.083
as he called it,
the \"scamulator\".
00:20:33.083 --> 00:20:36.291
♪
00:20:36.291 --> 00:20:38.333
Got a situation here
where the only thing
00:20:38.333 --> 00:20:42.917
to survive a house fire
somewhere in the north
00:20:42.917 --> 00:20:45.583
was the picture
of a crying boy.
00:20:45.583 --> 00:20:50.333
Now the crying boy
was quite a well known
00:20:50.333 --> 00:20:51.208
piece of art.
00:20:51.208 --> 00:20:54.917
So we have a picture of
the house all burned down,
00:20:54.917 --> 00:20:56.834
I mean, I\'m laughing,
I mean it wasn\'t funny,
00:20:56.834 --> 00:20:58.417
the whole house
went up in flames,
00:20:58.417 --> 00:21:02.041
and they also had a picture
of the owner with the,
00:21:02.041 --> 00:21:04.000
with the picture
of the crying boy.
00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:07.999
And we then said \"the curse
of the crying boy\".
00:21:07.999 --> 00:21:11.000
He realized, A, that many
\"Sun\" readers
00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:13.917
would have this painting
in their house.
00:21:13.917 --> 00:21:17.041
B, they\'re pretty superstitious
people anyway
00:21:17.041 --> 00:21:19.792
who believe in luck and gambling
and all the rest of it.
00:21:19.792 --> 00:21:22.333
So again, once again,
the whole thing
00:21:22.333 --> 00:21:23.083
worked perfectly.
00:21:23.083 --> 00:21:27.250
\"The Sun\" and then finally
it has the final bit
00:21:27.250 --> 00:21:28.999
of the MacKenzie approach,
00:21:28.999 --> 00:21:29.999
it goes on a crusade,
00:21:29.999 --> 00:21:34.959
it goes on a crusade against
the crying boy picture.
00:21:34.959 --> 00:21:38.458
\"The Sun\" will protect you
against this evil,
00:21:38.458 --> 00:21:39.125
cursed object.
00:21:39.125 --> 00:21:40.417
There were people
ringing up saying,
00:21:40.417 --> 00:21:41.333
\"Well, what should we do?
00:21:41.333 --> 00:21:46.542
We\'ve got a crying boy hanging
up in our front room.
00:21:46.542 --> 00:21:47.458
What should we do?\"
00:21:47.458 --> 00:21:49.041
Said, \"Send it to us
00:21:49.041 --> 00:21:51.917
and we will burn
all the crying boys
00:21:51.917 --> 00:21:53.667
so that this curse
can be killed.\"
00:21:53.667 --> 00:21:56.500
Anyway, couple of days later
there\'s literally
00:21:56.500 --> 00:22:01.417
about 900 crying boy pictures
being delivered
00:22:01.417 --> 00:22:03.875
by the post office now.
00:22:03.875 --> 00:22:06.375
And we then set light to them
00:22:06.375 --> 00:22:08.208
and it all goes up in flames.
00:22:08.208 --> 00:22:09.458
They had a huge
bonfire
00:22:09.458 --> 00:22:11.792
like a kind of exorcism
of the thing,
00:22:11.792 --> 00:22:15.417
and the entire thing was
built out of ignorance,
00:22:15.417 --> 00:22:19.000
superstition, and the final
bit of cheek, you know,
00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:21.875
\"The Sun\" kind of cheek
is that they labeled the man
00:22:21.875 --> 00:22:25.583
who set fire to them
their \"fine art correspondent\"
00:22:25.583 --> 00:22:28.583
when he\'s setting fire
to the pictures.
00:22:28.583 --> 00:22:33.041
♪
00:22:33.041 --> 00:22:36.542
(speaking French)
00:22:47.333 --> 00:22:48.125
Uh, Jacques Delors,
00:22:48.125 --> 00:22:52.291
so the chief executive or
the leader of the Europe EU
00:22:52.291 --> 00:22:53.208
at the time uh,
00:22:53.208 --> 00:22:56.583
he was trying to push through
some new treaty,
00:22:56.583 --> 00:22:58.333
which eventually got
pushed through,
00:22:58.333 --> 00:23:01.041
unbelievably, and um,
00:23:01.041 --> 00:23:02.667
we decided this wasn\'t
a good idea
00:23:02.667 --> 00:23:04.333
so we designed a campaign
against it.
00:23:04.333 --> 00:23:07.500
So we had a headline which
said, \"Up Yours Delors\".
00:23:07.500 --> 00:23:11.000
Then we encouraged
everybody, right,
00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:15.166
to, to leave their
place of work
00:23:15.166 --> 00:23:17.999
or their school
or their university,
00:23:17.999 --> 00:23:20.709
stand on the corner
at midday
00:23:20.709 --> 00:23:24.709
and shout out,
\"Up Yours Delors\".
00:23:24.709 --> 00:23:27.250
And you had to aim
towards France,
00:23:27.250 --> 00:23:28.000
wherever you were.
00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:31.250
So the idea, anyway,
all over the country
00:23:31.250 --> 00:23:33.583
people were coming out
their factories
00:23:33.583 --> 00:23:38.000
and they were all shout out,
\"Up yours Delors\".
00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:41.125
Up yours, Delors!
00:23:41.125 --> 00:23:43.709
(speaking French)
00:23:47.917 --> 00:23:49.333
For the French viewers of this,
00:23:49.333 --> 00:23:52.291
this is not hostility
towards France,
00:23:52.291 --> 00:23:55.291
it\'s hostility towards
anybody foreign.
00:23:55.291 --> 00:23:57.166
The Spanish would be uh,
00:23:57.166 --> 00:23:59.250
characterized as
incredibly lazy,
00:23:59.250 --> 00:24:01.750
the source of syphilis, uh,
00:24:01.750 --> 00:24:04.000
the Italians also cowardly,
00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:06.750
the Germans uh, brutal
and uh,
00:24:06.750 --> 00:24:09.625
still, essentially,
fighting World War II.
00:24:09.625 --> 00:24:11.875
I remember her stor-,
a story he ran
00:24:11.875 --> 00:24:14.625
about a German tourist
coach in London
00:24:14.625 --> 00:24:16.834
was involved in
a traffic accident
00:24:16.834 --> 00:24:20.500
and it killed an old person
crossing the road
00:24:20.500 --> 00:24:22.500
and the headline was
\"They Got Him in the End\"
00:24:22.500 --> 00:24:25.458
as though the Germans
were still fighting uh,
00:24:25.458 --> 00:24:26.417
World War II.
00:24:26.417 --> 00:24:29.458
It\'s all, again ga-,
cartoonish
00:24:29.458 --> 00:24:30.500
and comic bookish,
00:24:30.500 --> 00:24:33.500
some of it\'s quite funny
and witty in a way um,
00:24:33.500 --> 00:24:37.709
not all of it is vicious,
cold blooded racism.
00:24:37.709 --> 00:24:38.959
Uh, but um, you know,
00:24:38.959 --> 00:24:40.834
it\'s a kind of outlook on,
on the world
00:24:40.834 --> 00:24:42.041
that the British
are the best
00:24:42.041 --> 00:24:43.291
and there\'s no question
about that
00:24:43.291 --> 00:24:46.083
and all these foreigners are,
at best, suspicious
00:24:46.083 --> 00:24:52.000
and in many cases, you know,
worthy of contempt.
00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:53.999
Nationalism or xenophobia,
even,
00:24:53.999 --> 00:24:56.125
some British tabloids
have never bought
00:24:56.125 --> 00:24:59.208
displaying their
political leanings.
00:24:59.208 --> 00:25:04.333
♪
00:25:04.333 --> 00:25:06.125
But it was in early \'90s America
00:25:06.125 --> 00:25:07.834
that the tabloid press
would set out
00:25:07.834 --> 00:25:10.250
to bring down a young
and ambitious politician
00:25:10.250 --> 00:25:14.208
as his presidential campaign
was in full swing.
00:25:14.208 --> 00:25:16.625
♪
00:25:16.625 --> 00:25:19.250
There\'d been a couple of
very vague hints
00:25:19.250 --> 00:25:22.917
that Bill Clinton
was a player.
00:25:22.917 --> 00:25:26.959
We found some smoking guns
and we did a story,
00:25:26.959 --> 00:25:28.834
but then we would,
00:25:28.834 --> 00:25:31.250
had heard about someone
who was more than that
00:25:31.250 --> 00:25:34.000
and you know, had been
a more regular girlfriend
00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:36.166
and that she might be willing
to talk to us
00:25:36.166 --> 00:25:40.166
and so began the negotiation
with Gennifer Flowers.
00:25:40.166 --> 00:25:43.667
I wanted compensation
for my story.
00:25:43.667 --> 00:25:46.625
They were willing to pay so
it was a matter of negotiation
00:25:46.625 --> 00:25:47.250
for how much.
00:25:47.250 --> 00:25:50.208
You want the story,
they know you want the story,
00:25:50.208 --> 00:25:52.625
but at the same time
you don\'t want to pay the,
00:25:52.625 --> 00:25:54.291
the amount of money
that they\'re saying.
00:25:54.291 --> 00:25:57.083
So you know,
but the clock is ticking.
00:25:57.083 --> 00:26:00.750
It, the, the \"Star\" paid me
a decent amount of money.
00:26:00.750 --> 00:26:02.250
I signed a
confidentiality agreement
00:26:02.250 --> 00:26:05.500
that I would never disclose
that amount as did they.
00:26:05.500 --> 00:26:08.458
So I really can\'t say
what it was.
00:26:08.458 --> 00:26:12.583
It was $100,000.
00:26:12.583 --> 00:26:13.041
I think.
00:26:13.041 --> 00:26:15.875
I mean, I could double check
that but I think it was 100,000
00:26:15.875 --> 00:26:16.750
or thereabouts.
00:26:16.750 --> 00:26:18.375
It was a six figure contract.
00:26:18.375 --> 00:26:20.959
It\'s been quite a week for
Arkansas governor,
00:26:20.959 --> 00:26:21.625
Bill Clinton.
00:26:21.625 --> 00:26:24.500
On Monday his picture was on
the cover of \"Time\" magazine,
00:26:24.500 --> 00:26:26.875
anointed by the press
as the frontrunner
00:26:26.875 --> 00:26:28.792
for the Democratic
presidential nomination.
00:26:28.792 --> 00:26:33.000
Six days later he\'s trying
to salvage his campaign.
00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:33.709
His problem?
00:26:33.709 --> 00:26:36.291
Long rumored allegations
of marital infidelity
00:26:36.291 --> 00:26:38.999
finally surfaced in
a supermarket tabloid.
00:26:38.999 --> 00:26:40.875
Gennifer Flowers in
a tabloid interview
00:26:40.875 --> 00:26:43.583
for which she was paid
says she carried on
00:26:43.583 --> 00:26:45.709
a long term affair
with Governor Clinton
00:26:45.709 --> 00:26:49.542
from the late 1970s
through the end of 1989.
00:26:49.542 --> 00:26:52.999
Bill and Hillary went on
to \"60 Minutes\" which was,
00:26:52.999 --> 00:26:55.458
you know, is a very
prestigious show
00:26:55.458 --> 00:26:59.709
in the United States,
it was a news program on CBS,
00:26:59.709 --> 00:27:00.625
sat down with Steve Kroft
00:27:00.625 --> 00:27:03.583
who\'s one of the senior
correspondents
00:27:03.583 --> 00:27:06.792
and looked in the cameras
and dismissed this
00:27:06.792 --> 00:27:08.041
as a tabloid fiction.
00:27:08.041 --> 00:27:08.875
There was no follow up.
00:27:08.875 --> 00:27:11.875
He didn\'t question
their denial.
00:27:11.875 --> 00:27:15.542
She\'s alleging and has
described in some detail
00:27:15.542 --> 00:27:18.291
in a supermarket tabloid
what she calls
00:27:18.291 --> 00:27:21.166
a 12 year affair with you.
00:27:21.166 --> 00:27:26.375
It, that allegation is false.
00:27:26.375 --> 00:27:28.750
Sit down, amateurs!
00:27:28.750 --> 00:27:31.208
As a result of that
\"60 Minutes\" show
00:27:31.208 --> 00:27:32.625
with Bill and Hillary
00:27:32.625 --> 00:27:34.959
the \"Star\" folks came to me
and said,
00:27:34.959 --> 00:27:36.667
\"We wanna hold a
press conference,
00:27:36.667 --> 00:27:37.959
you need to get out there,
00:27:37.959 --> 00:27:39.917
let people get to know you.
00:27:39.917 --> 00:27:41.458
Hear your side of the story.
00:27:41.458 --> 00:27:44.000
Realize that you\'re
telling the truth
00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:45.291
and that they\'re not.\"
00:27:45.291 --> 00:27:48.709
Animals, they\'re all animals.
00:27:48.709 --> 00:27:51.458
Did Governor Clinton
use a condom?
00:27:51.458 --> 00:27:52.417
Jesus.
00:27:52.417 --> 00:27:55.458
Right here.
00:27:56.792 --> 00:27:57.417
Right here.
00:27:57.417 --> 00:28:01.834
My, my life changed completely
after the \"Star\"
00:28:01.834 --> 00:28:03.083
broke the story.
00:28:03.083 --> 00:28:05.417
What I realized was that I
was not gonna be able
00:28:05.417 --> 00:28:10.041
to pursue the avenues
and venues for performance
00:28:10.041 --> 00:28:11.834
that I had previously.
00:28:11.834 --> 00:28:13.999
Because the reporters
would have been
00:28:13.999 --> 00:28:14.750
all over me there.
00:28:14.750 --> 00:28:18.000
And it wasn\'t real likely that
I was gonna be hired.
00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:23.959
So I was approached by
other media sources and uh,
00:28:23.959 --> 00:28:26.417
I did cooperate
with some of those
00:28:26.417 --> 00:28:28.000
in reference to my story.
00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:30.417
Um, I went on to do \"Penthouse\".
00:28:30.417 --> 00:28:48.125
♪
00:28:48.125 --> 00:28:52.500
One character told the truth
in a tabloid and ended up naked,
00:28:52.500 --> 00:28:55.250
the other lied on
a serious TV show
00:28:55.250 --> 00:28:59.041
and was elected president.
00:28:59.041 --> 00:29:00.291
The moral of the tale?
00:29:00.291 --> 00:29:01.834
The tabloids were
once again seen
00:29:01.834 --> 00:29:04.333
as the distant,
contemptible cousins
00:29:04.333 --> 00:29:06.375
of the mainstream press.
00:29:06.375 --> 00:29:09.166
But it was another scandal
that would change relations
00:29:09.166 --> 00:29:12.000
between the two
types of press.
00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:13.583
One day in June 1994
00:29:13.583 --> 00:29:16.458
a beautiful blonde was found
in a pool of blood.
00:29:16.458 --> 00:29:18.875
Her husband, American
football player and actor,
00:29:18.875 --> 00:29:23.166
OJ Simpson, was immediately
the prime suspect.
00:29:23.166 --> 00:29:33.667
♪
00:29:33.667 --> 00:29:34.375
Oh, my God.
00:29:34.375 --> 00:29:38.709
The OJ Simpson story was
such a huge story to America
00:29:38.709 --> 00:29:42.125
and to the tabloids because
it had everything.
00:29:42.125 --> 00:29:44.291
It had a beautiful blonde.
00:29:44.291 --> 00:29:45.542
It had celebrities.
00:29:45.542 --> 00:29:49.125
It had giant piles
of money.
00:29:49.125 --> 00:29:51.041
All star black athlete.
00:29:51.041 --> 00:29:52.667
Drugs, alcohol.
00:29:52.667 --> 00:29:55.333
It had sex, it had drugs.
00:29:55.333 --> 00:29:58.166
Beautiful neighborhoods,
beautiful people.
00:29:58.166 --> 00:29:59.250
And it had murder.
00:29:59.250 --> 00:30:03.375
This was like a perfect storm
of tabloid stuff.
00:30:03.375 --> 00:30:06.417
And people just, people
were skipping work
00:30:06.417 --> 00:30:07.417
so they could watch this.
00:30:07.417 --> 00:30:08.999
It was like the World Cup.
00:30:08.999 --> 00:30:11.709
It was the World Cup of
tabloids.
00:30:11.709 --> 00:30:20.999
♪
00:30:20.999 --> 00:30:26.250
During the OJ Simpson trial
you had the tabloids and,
00:30:26.250 --> 00:30:27.792
in particular, the
\"National Enquirer\"
00:30:27.792 --> 00:30:32.500
competing directly against
mainstream media, com-,
00:30:32.500 --> 00:30:37.792
competing directly
against NBC, ABC,
00:30:37.792 --> 00:30:41.583
CNN, CBS, \"New York Times\",
00:30:41.583 --> 00:30:44.458
\"Washington Post\",
\"Los Angeles Times\".
00:30:44.458 --> 00:30:49.458
And much to the chagrin
of the mainstream media
00:30:49.458 --> 00:30:52.125
they found out how good
the tabloids were,
00:30:52.125 --> 00:30:53.333
they found out how good
00:30:53.333 --> 00:30:55.250
the \"National Enquirer\"
reporting was.
00:30:55.250 --> 00:30:59.250
So that got us the respect
of the mainstream media.
00:30:59.250 --> 00:31:02.166
Never before that
would they have done
00:31:02.166 --> 00:31:03.750
a celebrity on the front page,
00:31:03.750 --> 00:31:05.625
but OJ ended up being on
the front page
00:31:05.625 --> 00:31:09.250
of the newspapers for weeks,
for weeks.
00:31:09.250 --> 00:31:11.166
When, when the verdict
came down
00:31:11.166 --> 00:31:13.542
and the verdict
was not guilty um,
00:31:13.542 --> 00:31:18.291
there was probably three pages
of all OJ in the newspapers.
00:31:18.291 --> 00:31:21.542
And that was also unprecedented,
but now, all of a sudden,
00:31:21.542 --> 00:31:25.333
it was okay to do celebrity news
in regular newspapers.
00:31:25.333 --> 00:31:30.208
Our thrust from day one was
does this story sell,
00:31:30.208 --> 00:31:32.166
does this story sell.
00:31:32.166 --> 00:31:34.000
Can you market the story?
00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:36.625
Does the story have a headline?
00:31:36.625 --> 00:31:37.917
And we were doing great,
we were,
00:31:37.917 --> 00:31:40.458
we were hitting home runs
all the time.
00:31:40.458 --> 00:31:41.250
So the mainstream media
00:31:41.250 --> 00:31:42.834
started getting into
that formula.
00:31:42.834 --> 00:31:46.000
They started going
with stronger headlines,
00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:49.458
looking to present stories
00:31:49.458 --> 00:31:51.999
that would sell more
to the audience
00:31:51.999 --> 00:31:56.959
rather than be the information
or the real news of the day.
00:31:56.959 --> 00:32:00.333
So they were taking a page out
of the tabloid book
00:32:00.333 --> 00:32:02.291
and saying hey, we\'re gonna
start covering
00:32:02.291 --> 00:32:05.834
the same material that
the tabloids cover.
00:32:05.834 --> 00:32:09.750
♪
00:32:09.750 --> 00:32:11.834
With the mainstream press
sometimes hunting
00:32:11.834 --> 00:32:13.542
on the turf of
the tabloids,
00:32:13.542 --> 00:32:15.083
they were even more tempted
to stretch
00:32:15.083 --> 00:32:17.083
their own boundaries
of decency,
00:32:17.083 --> 00:32:21.333
notably in chasing
celebrities.
00:32:21.333 --> 00:32:24.875
None of them would be more
tracked than Lady Diana.
00:32:24.875 --> 00:32:27.041
The emancipated princess
and global icon
00:32:27.041 --> 00:32:30.709
was stalked by the telephoto
lens of the paparazzi,
00:32:30.709 --> 00:32:31.709
sometimes playing with them,
00:32:31.709 --> 00:32:36.458
producing a story that was
served over and over again.
00:32:36.458 --> 00:32:37.750
♪
00:32:37.750 --> 00:32:41.999
If you have nothing to put on
the page one of your paper,
00:32:41.999 --> 00:32:44.083
literally there is no news
of any interest,
00:32:44.083 --> 00:32:47.583
you can\'t think of any stunt
or clever idea,
00:32:47.583 --> 00:32:51.333
then what you do is you simply
get the pic-,
00:32:51.333 --> 00:32:54.125
yesterday\'s picture
of Diana
00:32:54.125 --> 00:32:55.667
and make it as big
as possible.
00:32:55.667 --> 00:32:58.709
One of my first jobs on
a tabloid newspaper
00:32:58.709 --> 00:33:00.917
was transcribing
the squidgy tape.
00:33:00.917 --> 00:33:03.375
So I was giving a tape and
the squidgy tape
00:33:03.375 --> 00:33:05.959
is a tape recording of
Princess Diana
00:33:05.959 --> 00:33:07.291
talking to her lover uh,
00:33:07.291 --> 00:33:10.041
saying, \"Oh, darling, you make
me go all squidgy\".
00:33:10.041 --> 00:33:12.250
And uh, it\'s a long
conversation,
00:33:12.250 --> 00:33:14.000
it took me a long time to
type it all out,
00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:15.625
and not only did we
type it all out,
00:33:15.625 --> 00:33:19.750
we put it on a telephone message
that you had to pay for
00:33:19.750 --> 00:33:20.417
to listen to.
00:33:20.417 --> 00:33:21.709
So all your readers
could read it
00:33:21.709 --> 00:33:24.750
and then ring up and pay
one pound fifty a minute
00:33:24.750 --> 00:33:25.375
to listen to it.
00:33:25.375 --> 00:33:26.166
She was everything,
00:33:26.166 --> 00:33:28.166
she was a one woman
industry.
00:33:28.166 --> 00:33:30.208
I was very lucky, I had this
friend of mine
00:33:30.208 --> 00:33:31.709
who was an Italian gentleman,
00:33:31.709 --> 00:33:35.834
a count in Antigua,
a Roman aristocrat
00:33:35.834 --> 00:33:38.999
who worked, he run a hotel
in Antigua,
00:33:38.999 --> 00:33:41.667
was very well connected
with all this
00:33:41.667 --> 00:33:44.834
and he was my source
for Princess Diana.
00:33:44.834 --> 00:33:47.999
Every time she used to
come to Bermuda
00:33:47.999 --> 00:33:49.875
he used to tell me a day
or two in advance
00:33:49.875 --> 00:33:50.750
that she was arriving.
00:33:50.750 --> 00:33:53.500
And actually I thought I was
going to do all my life with it,
00:33:53.500 --> 00:33:57.000
I never thought that she
would die so tragically.
00:33:57.000 --> 00:33:59.041
I remember my mother used
to tell me, \"Michael,
00:33:59.041 --> 00:34:01.500
what are you gonna live when
you\'re my age now, 54?\"
00:34:01.500 --> 00:34:04.542
\"Well, I have Princess Diana
who goes to Bermuda
00:34:04.542 --> 00:34:05.583
and I have it control.\"
00:34:05.583 --> 00:34:09.542
But imagine how life
turns around, no?
00:34:15.625 --> 00:34:20.333
I remember the day when uh,
Lady Diana died.
00:34:20.333 --> 00:34:22.583
Uh, it was incredible.
00:34:22.583 --> 00:34:24.583
It was like a military coup.
00:34:24.583 --> 00:34:26.667
And \"The Sun\" was blamed,
00:34:26.667 --> 00:34:28.000
I mean, now you had a mob.
00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:29.959
The kind of mob, the,
\"The Sun\", in a way,
00:34:29.959 --> 00:34:33.291
had specialized in generating
in, in its uh,
00:34:33.291 --> 00:34:36.750
in its negative coverage of uh,
ethnic minorities and whatever.
00:34:36.750 --> 00:34:41.333
Now this mob were now turning
their intention on \"The Sun\".
00:34:41.333 --> 00:34:44.208
It would appear that every
proprietor and editor
00:34:44.208 --> 00:34:45.583
of every publication
that has paid
00:34:45.583 --> 00:34:49.208
for intrusive and exploitative
photographs of her,
00:34:49.208 --> 00:34:51.208
encouraging greedy
and ruthless individuals
00:34:51.208 --> 00:34:54.625
to risk everything in pursuit
of Diana\'s image
00:34:54.625 --> 00:34:56.667
has blood on his hands today.
00:34:56.667 --> 00:34:59.333
Meanwhile,
unfortunately,
00:34:59.333 --> 00:35:03.000
Princess Di dies
on the weekend.
00:35:03.000 --> 00:35:04.875
The \"National Enquirer\"
had gone to press
00:35:04.875 --> 00:35:09.500
the previous week
with a cover story that said,
00:35:09.500 --> 00:35:13.542
\"Sex Mad Di,
I Can\'t Get Enough\".
00:35:13.542 --> 00:35:16.291
That story,
we couldn\'t stop it.
00:35:16.291 --> 00:35:20.000
That story hit
the stands the Monday
00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:21.750
after her weekend death.
00:35:21.750 --> 00:35:23.542
So we got excoriated.
00:35:23.542 --> 00:35:28.834
We had people throwing
our newspapers onto the ground,
00:35:28.834 --> 00:35:31.917
we had the retailers throwing
them out of their shops,
00:35:31.917 --> 00:35:35.999
we had the celebrities
on TV attacking us
00:35:35.999 --> 00:35:40.166
24/7, literally standing
on Princess Di\'s coffin
00:35:40.166 --> 00:35:43.834
blaming the \"National Enquirer\"
for her death.
00:35:43.834 --> 00:35:47.000
You\'re in a car,
you\'re going faster and faster
00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:48.792
to try and get away
from them.
00:35:48.792 --> 00:35:51.917
They can shoot through
darkened windows.
00:35:51.917 --> 00:35:56.458
And you end up in a corner
of the car.
00:35:56.458 --> 00:35:59.959
And she must have known
such fear.
00:35:59.959 --> 00:36:02.291
It makes me so angry.
00:36:02.291 --> 00:36:04.999
Very bad time for
the \"National Enquirer\".
00:36:04.999 --> 00:36:10.125
We lost 40% of our sales
overnight.
00:36:10.125 --> 00:36:13.583
We lost millions in
circulation overnight.
00:36:13.583 --> 00:36:15.083
A real tragedy uh,
00:36:15.083 --> 00:36:18.542
an economic tragedy for
freelance journalists.
00:36:18.542 --> 00:36:23.542
My accountant uh, said
most paparazzi on his books,
00:36:23.542 --> 00:36:28.333
their salaries before Diana died
were about 150,000 a year,
00:36:28.333 --> 00:36:30.709
after, 50.
00:36:30.709 --> 00:36:36.583
♪
00:36:36.583 --> 00:36:41.291
What would have been
a huge sale um,
00:36:41.291 --> 00:36:43.875
was very disappointing.
00:36:43.875 --> 00:36:47.500
You know, so I think
it did have some,
00:36:47.500 --> 00:36:48.166
some effect.
00:36:48.166 --> 00:36:51.542
Uh, I, I don\'t know how
lasting it was or whether,
00:36:51.542 --> 00:36:54.834
you know, whether it just
was part of something
00:36:54.834 --> 00:36:58.542
that was inevitable anyway,
that was a decline in.
00:36:58.542 --> 00:37:03.750
But...
00:37:03.750 --> 00:37:05.083
Yeah, I mean I,
I think,
00:37:05.083 --> 00:37:06.834
I don\'t know, I mean,
I think a lot of people
00:37:06.834 --> 00:37:09.417
will point to that as like
the beginning of the end
00:37:09.417 --> 00:37:10.166
for the tabloids,
00:37:10.166 --> 00:37:13.375
or the tabloids as they were.
00:37:13.375 --> 00:37:15.834
Um, after she died uh,
00:37:15.834 --> 00:37:17.834
very first day back
in the office,
00:37:17.834 --> 00:37:19.750
everything had changed.
00:37:19.750 --> 00:37:20.583
Car chases were out,
00:37:20.583 --> 00:37:22.542
all the photographers
had to wear suits
00:37:22.542 --> 00:37:23.999
so they didn\'t look like
paprazzi,
00:37:23.999 --> 00:37:26.875
and we\'re serious
professional photographers now,
00:37:26.875 --> 00:37:28.625
you\'re not papps.
00:37:28.625 --> 00:37:29.542
And it was no longer fun.
00:37:29.542 --> 00:37:33.834
And um, \"News of the World\"
became a much more serious,
00:37:33.834 --> 00:37:38.125
we almost tried to compensate
by doing serious uh,
00:37:38.125 --> 00:37:39.834
investigations in
the public interest
00:37:39.834 --> 00:37:44.500
and we went into naming
and shaming of pedophiles
00:37:44.500 --> 00:37:46.834
and areas like that that
were not fun at all,
00:37:46.834 --> 00:37:47.667
I didn\'t like it,
00:37:47.667 --> 00:37:50.625
it wasn\'t what
I wanted to do uh,
00:37:50.625 --> 00:37:54.208
I wanted to have a fun,
exciting, glamorous,
00:37:54.208 --> 00:37:55.000
international life.
00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:57.542
And following Diana
gave you that life.
00:37:57.542 --> 00:38:00.875
And then when she died
it all ended.
00:38:00.875 --> 00:38:04.166
♪
00:38:04.166 --> 00:38:07.000
The profession was no longer
what it had been
00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:08.583
and as sales
were falling,
00:38:08.583 --> 00:38:10.041
the tabloids needed
new stars
00:38:10.041 --> 00:38:11.999
to get the machine
rolling again
00:38:11.999 --> 00:38:15.000
and give readers
their daily dose.
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:16.041
♪
00:38:16.041 --> 00:38:18.750
♪ Unknown ♪
00:38:18.750 --> 00:38:23.709
♪ Talk to unknown ♪
00:38:23.709 --> 00:38:26.583
♪ Ever ♪
00:38:26.583 --> 00:38:30.166
♪ Lasts forever ♪
00:38:30.166 --> 00:38:34.208
♪ Oh, it\'s a shock, shock ♪
00:38:34.208 --> 00:38:38.000
♪ To your soft side ♪
00:38:38.000 --> 00:38:40.083
♪ Some are mean ♪
00:38:40.083 --> 00:38:41.291
But skimpily clad starlets
00:38:41.291 --> 00:38:43.250
who end up in rehab
or a courtroom
00:38:43.250 --> 00:38:49.750
cannot compare
to those who came before them.
00:38:49.750 --> 00:38:52.959
♪ In my room ♪
00:38:52.959 --> 00:38:54.542
I think true celebrities,
00:38:54.542 --> 00:38:56.000
the old Hollywood sheen,
the old,
00:38:56.000 --> 00:38:58.458
the Marilyn Monroes
and the Carey Grants,
00:38:58.458 --> 00:39:01.583
they were, they\'re held up
as being the true
00:39:01.583 --> 00:39:02.542
sort of proper celebrities.
00:39:02.542 --> 00:39:05.375
We can\'t ever have that kind
of celebrity again
00:39:05.375 --> 00:39:08.083
because now we know what
color pants they wear.
00:39:08.083 --> 00:39:12.250
Well, yeah, I mean Jackie O.
famously had a court order
00:39:12.250 --> 00:39:14.625
against Ron Galella,
the paparazzo,
00:39:14.625 --> 00:39:15.500
to stay away from her.
00:39:15.500 --> 00:39:18.250
And so you\'ve gone
from celebrities
00:39:18.250 --> 00:39:20.125
that were doing anything
they could
00:39:20.125 --> 00:39:21.083
to avoid being photographed
00:39:21.083 --> 00:39:26.041
to celebrities who have
taken it to the other extreme
00:39:26.041 --> 00:39:29.000
and they are not doing anything
without being photographed.
00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:31.542
As a show biz journalist
instead of following
00:39:31.542 --> 00:39:33.208
these rock stars
and film stars
00:39:33.208 --> 00:39:35.375
that you kind of want
to be following
00:39:35.375 --> 00:39:38.083
you end up following some
girl from Newcastle
00:39:38.083 --> 00:39:40.125
who was on a TV show
and has massive boobs
00:39:40.125 --> 00:39:42.750
and that\'s the only reason
she\'s famous.
00:39:42.750 --> 00:39:45.917
But they are so desperate
to be in the newspapers it,
00:39:45.917 --> 00:39:46.917
it changed slightly, I think.
00:39:46.917 --> 00:39:49.291
It changed the way that
show biz journalism worked
00:39:49.291 --> 00:39:50.792
because you suddenly
had people
00:39:50.792 --> 00:39:52.333
who were desperate
to talk to you
00:39:52.333 --> 00:39:54.583
and would do anything to
get themselves
00:39:54.583 --> 00:39:56.667
into the papers.
00:39:56.667 --> 00:39:57.625
Glossy magazines,
00:39:57.625 --> 00:39:59.792
an extension of
traditional tabloids,
00:39:59.792 --> 00:40:02.333
started multiplying
with page after page
00:40:02.333 --> 00:40:04.125
telling the tales
of those seeking
00:40:04.125 --> 00:40:06.542
their 15 minutes of fame.
00:40:06.542 --> 00:40:08.625
From Germany to South Africa,
00:40:08.625 --> 00:40:09.542
Denmark to Chile,
00:40:09.542 --> 00:40:10.166
Mexico to Poland
00:40:10.166 --> 00:40:15.709
the entire planet gobbles up
this new, tasteless mythology.
00:40:15.709 --> 00:40:17.999
And to hell with local
customs and morals.
00:40:17.999 --> 00:40:21.999
Whether they\'re published by
the Italian group Mondadori,
00:40:21.999 --> 00:40:23.166
the German group Bauer,
00:40:23.166 --> 00:40:24.834
the French group La Galder
00:40:24.834 --> 00:40:25.792
or by the Anglo Saxons,
00:40:25.792 --> 00:40:27.792
all these magazines
serve the same menu
00:40:27.792 --> 00:40:32.125
and use the same codes,
same colors, same motifs.
00:40:32.125 --> 00:40:34.500
♪
00:40:34.500 --> 00:40:36.417
But this paper format
is now being surpassed
00:40:36.417 --> 00:40:39.875
by a faster, cheaper,
and more direct medium
00:40:39.875 --> 00:40:43.709
which is cutting into
the tabloids\' territory.
00:40:43.709 --> 00:40:47.375
This is a huge, new,
luscious tabloid
00:40:47.375 --> 00:40:48.458
called the internet.
00:40:48.458 --> 00:40:51.417
Basically it gives you
the sort of content
00:40:51.417 --> 00:40:55.583
that you could only
once have gone from um,
00:40:55.583 --> 00:40:56.834
a tabloid newspaper.
00:40:56.834 --> 00:40:59.959
Political bias,
soft pornography,
00:40:59.959 --> 00:41:02.250
strange, funny
old world stories
00:41:02.250 --> 00:41:04.792
about two headed babies,
UFOs.
00:41:04.792 --> 00:41:06.500
I mean, you just
switch on the computer
00:41:06.500 --> 00:41:07.375
and it\'s all there,
00:41:07.375 --> 00:41:09.500
there\'s no need to
go out in the rain
00:41:09.500 --> 00:41:15.166
to go buy a copy of
a tabloid newspaper anymore.
00:41:15.166 --> 00:41:19.041
And now TMZ Presents, look,
let\'s just get to it.
00:41:19.041 --> 00:41:21.959
This chick has two vaginas!
00:41:21.959 --> 00:41:23.875
I was 18 before I found out.
00:41:23.875 --> 00:41:25.125
I love this story.
00:41:25.125 --> 00:41:25.875
I love it, too.
00:41:25.875 --> 00:41:26.709
Two vaginas!
00:41:26.709 --> 00:41:29.458
And she just got
a million dollar porn offer.
00:41:29.458 --> 00:41:32.000
Gossip sites have been
pushing the envelope
00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:34.834
a little harder than
newspapers and tabloids.
00:41:34.834 --> 00:41:39.250
While newspapers and tabloids
are scared out of their wits
00:41:39.250 --> 00:41:39.959
of being sued,
00:41:39.959 --> 00:41:42.959
and having to spend hundreds
of thousands of dollars
00:41:42.959 --> 00:41:45.583
on a lawsuit that
they might win,
00:41:45.583 --> 00:41:48.583
the web is given
more leeway right now
00:41:48.583 --> 00:41:53.999
because the internet
is so fast paced and so quick
00:41:53.999 --> 00:41:58.417
and there\'s so much competition
that the courts, so far,
00:41:58.417 --> 00:42:01.041
have given more leeway
and they take that
00:42:01.041 --> 00:42:01.875
into consideration.
00:42:01.875 --> 00:42:05.458
Whereas a newspaper you have
24 hours to make a newspaper
00:42:05.458 --> 00:42:07.291
so you should be
thinking really hard
00:42:07.291 --> 00:42:08.834
about what you\'re doing.
00:42:08.834 --> 00:42:16.959
♪
00:42:16.959 --> 00:42:18.542
As though the internet
weren\'t enough
00:42:18.542 --> 00:42:20.166
to bring down
the tabloids,
00:42:20.166 --> 00:42:22.750
a new scandal would
bring them to their knees.
00:42:22.750 --> 00:42:27.250
The explosive revelations
in 2011 of cell phone hacking
00:42:27.250 --> 00:42:32.999
which had been going on
since the early 2000s.
00:42:32.999 --> 00:42:35.250
Those directly implicated
included two
00:42:35.250 --> 00:42:37.375
of Rupert Murdoch\'s
collaborators,
00:42:37.375 --> 00:42:40.250
both former chief editors
of \"News of the World\",
00:42:40.250 --> 00:42:43.875
Rebecca Brooks
and Andy Coulson.
00:42:43.875 --> 00:42:49.917
♪
00:42:49.917 --> 00:42:53.333
Both found themselves targets
of photographers\' lenses
00:42:53.333 --> 00:42:56.792
and were given a taste
of their own medicine.
00:42:56.792 --> 00:43:14.750
♪
00:43:14.750 --> 00:43:16.750
\"The Guardian\" also revealed
that \"News of the World\"
00:43:16.750 --> 00:43:20.583
had hacked into the cell phone
of 13 year old Milly Dowler
00:43:20.583 --> 00:43:24.542
to try to find out more
on her disappearance.
00:43:24.542 --> 00:43:27.750
♪
00:43:27.750 --> 00:43:29.792
But by erasing a certain
number of messages
00:43:29.792 --> 00:43:33.583
the tabloid\'s reporters gave
the false hope to her family
00:43:33.583 --> 00:43:37.583
that she was still alive.
00:43:37.583 --> 00:43:39.500
A game change was Milly Dowler.
00:43:39.500 --> 00:43:42.417
Because that hit a nerve
of the public
00:43:42.417 --> 00:43:44.625
in the same way
as Lady Di had.
00:43:44.625 --> 00:43:46.709
So there was no way
back from that
00:43:46.709 --> 00:43:50.083
and that\'s why Murdoch made
his famous appearance,
00:43:50.083 --> 00:43:52.375
said that he was
humiliated by it,
00:43:52.375 --> 00:43:56.333
because here they had
attacked um, essentially,
00:43:56.333 --> 00:44:00.458
the morals and values of
their own core audience.
00:44:00.458 --> 00:44:03.166
These, these actions do not
live up to the standards
00:44:03.166 --> 00:44:06.792
that our company aspires to
everywhere around the world
00:44:06.792 --> 00:44:10.500
and it is our determination
to both put things right,
00:44:10.500 --> 00:44:12.999
make sure these things
don\'t happen again,
00:44:12.999 --> 00:44:15.834
and to be the company
that I know
00:44:15.834 --> 00:44:18.875
we\'ve always
aspired to be.
00:44:18.875 --> 00:44:19.625
One sentence.
00:44:19.625 --> 00:44:23.458
This is the most humble day
of my life.
00:44:23.458 --> 00:44:27.125
I think Murdoch was
completely insincere um,
00:44:27.125 --> 00:44:29.792
this was just
something he had to do.
00:44:29.792 --> 00:44:33.999
Uh, it would have been
carefully scripted, I imagine.
00:44:33.999 --> 00:44:37.667
Um, in order to get the
company off the hook.
00:44:37.667 --> 00:44:40.333
It was inevitable
that some reporters
00:44:40.333 --> 00:44:42.709
would break ranks and
eventually tell the truth and,
00:44:42.709 --> 00:44:46.208
of course, we now know others
have pleaded guilty
00:44:46.208 --> 00:44:47.667
and admitted that they did it.
00:44:47.667 --> 00:44:52.041
In 2009 uh, a \"Guardian\"
journalist,
00:44:52.041 --> 00:44:53.417
most boring paper
in the world,
00:44:53.417 --> 00:44:55.917
who\'d been ringing me up
for a year saying,
00:44:55.917 --> 00:44:59.250
\"Look, please go public
on phone hacking
00:44:59.250 --> 00:45:00.041
and going through bins,
00:45:00.041 --> 00:45:02.375
and all the semi legal
gray area
00:45:02.375 --> 00:45:06.208
and blatantly completely
illegal areas,\"
00:45:06.208 --> 00:45:08.417
um, and I said no.
00:45:08.417 --> 00:45:11.709
Uh, and then I ended up
buying a pub
00:45:11.709 --> 00:45:12.792
and it was a bit quiet,
00:45:12.792 --> 00:45:14.750
and I wanted to drum up
a bit of publicity
00:45:14.750 --> 00:45:18.333
and that particular morning
he rang me up and I said,
00:45:18.333 --> 00:45:20.500
\"Oh, bollocks,
if you put my pub
00:45:20.500 --> 00:45:22.000
on the front page
of the \"Guardian\"
00:45:22.000 --> 00:45:23.583
you can say what you like.\"
00:45:23.583 --> 00:45:24.625
And it was almost a joke.
00:45:24.625 --> 00:45:28.792
And uh, then he put it on
the front page of \"Guardian\"
00:45:28.792 --> 00:45:34.417
with uh, \"Executive Reveals
Secret Deals\" and so on,
00:45:34.417 --> 00:45:37.083
that was rife at
\"News of the World\".
00:45:37.083 --> 00:45:40.834
And that um, for me,
that started,
00:45:40.834 --> 00:45:41.750
I mean there\'s a whole,
00:45:41.750 --> 00:45:44.333
it\'s like an explosion
was waiting to go off
00:45:44.333 --> 00:45:46.583
but someone just
had to light it.
00:45:51.542 --> 00:45:53.917
On November the 29th, 2011
00:45:53.917 --> 00:45:56.750
Paul McMullan testified
at the public inquiry
00:45:56.750 --> 00:45:59.417
into press practices.
00:45:59.417 --> 00:46:02.125
Did your editors know
00:46:02.125 --> 00:46:05.625
that voicemails
were being intercepted?
00:46:05.625 --> 00:46:06.834
Yes.
00:46:06.834 --> 00:46:09.792
We did all these things
for our editors,
00:46:09.792 --> 00:46:12.917
for Rebecca Brookes
and for Andy Coulson.
00:46:12.917 --> 00:46:15.959
Phone hacking is a perfectly
acceptable tool
00:46:15.959 --> 00:46:17.542
given the sacrifices
that we make
00:46:17.542 --> 00:46:22.041
if all we are trying to do
is to get uh,
00:46:22.041 --> 00:46:22.834
get to the truth.
00:46:22.834 --> 00:46:26.999
The oddity of Paul McMullan
is not only does he admit it,
00:46:26.999 --> 00:46:29.250
but he doesn\'t think
it was wrong to do it.
00:46:29.250 --> 00:46:30.333
So he\'s a unique
whistleblower
00:46:30.333 --> 00:46:33.000
because he\'s not saying,
\"I\'m sorry\"
00:46:33.000 --> 00:46:35.333
he\'s saying, \"Look, I did it.
00:46:35.333 --> 00:46:36.083
I\'m proud\".
00:46:36.083 --> 00:46:38.041
Ninety percent
of people in Dover,
00:46:38.041 --> 00:46:39.000
which is quite a poor town,
00:46:39.000 --> 00:46:41.417
would swap their lives
with Brad Pitt
00:46:41.417 --> 00:46:43.834
and Hugh Grant in
a flash if you said,
00:46:43.834 --> 00:46:45.458
\"Oh, well,
you might be phone hacked.\"
00:46:45.458 --> 00:46:46.375
It\'s like, \"Yeah, what?
00:46:46.375 --> 00:46:50.417
They get five million quid
a movie, who cares?\"
00:46:50.417 --> 00:46:51.625
No one cares about them at all.
00:46:51.625 --> 00:46:53.875
People only cared
about Milly Dowler,
00:46:53.875 --> 00:46:56.625
the little girl who
was killed by a man
00:46:56.625 --> 00:46:58.166
who hit her on the head
with a hammer.
00:46:58.166 --> 00:47:01.999
Now, I don\'t think it was
wrong to hack her phone, either,
00:47:01.999 --> 00:47:05.125
because um, well,
technically she was dead
00:47:05.125 --> 00:47:07.375
so I don\'t think
it was a crime um,
00:47:07.375 --> 00:47:11.208
and secondly the police were
being utterly incompetent
00:47:11.208 --> 00:47:12.375
at finding her,
00:47:12.375 --> 00:47:13.999
and they had no leads,
00:47:13.999 --> 00:47:16.917
and journalists had better
leads at finding the girl
00:47:16.917 --> 00:47:19.875
when we thought she was missing
than the police did.
00:47:19.875 --> 00:47:22.500
The end of a long period.
00:47:22.500 --> 00:47:26.500
Phone hacking should be seen
not as an aberration,
00:47:26.500 --> 00:47:30.458
which is what editors sometimes
now excuse it as,
00:47:30.458 --> 00:47:34.917
but as the culmination
of whole period
00:47:34.917 --> 00:47:39.500
of intrusive behavior
into people\'s privacy.
00:47:39.500 --> 00:47:43.291
Privacy is the space
that bad people need
00:47:43.291 --> 00:47:45.333
to do bad things in.
00:47:45.333 --> 00:47:45.999
No one needs it.
00:47:45.999 --> 00:47:49.166
I mean, Jesus Christ
didn\'t need privacy,
00:47:49.166 --> 00:47:50.583
He needed publicity.
00:47:50.583 --> 00:47:52.542
Adolf Hitler,
on the other hand,
00:47:52.542 --> 00:47:53.417
needed privacy.
00:47:53.417 --> 00:47:55.041
And um, so it\'s a bad thing.
00:47:55.041 --> 00:47:57.333
People have to understand
that privacy
00:47:57.333 --> 00:48:01.834
is an evil, bad concept.
00:48:03.583 --> 00:48:08.208
♪
00:48:08.208 --> 00:48:10.500
It was with this type
of twisted argument
00:48:10.500 --> 00:48:13.792
that the tabloids dug
their own graves.
00:48:13.792 --> 00:48:18.375
In 2011, 43 years after
being bought by Rupert Murdoch,
00:48:18.375 --> 00:48:19.999
the personnel of
\"News of the World\"
00:48:19.999 --> 00:48:22.417
put out the last issue
of the newspaper
00:48:22.417 --> 00:48:25.041
before its definitive closure.
00:48:25.041 --> 00:49:00.291
♪
00:49:00.291 --> 00:49:03.583
\"The Sun\" whose sales
have steadily fallen,
00:49:03.583 --> 00:49:06.417
is living on borrowed time.
00:49:06.417 --> 00:49:09.875
Its famous Page 3,
a British institution,
00:49:09.875 --> 00:49:11.500
is now contested.
00:49:11.500 --> 00:49:15.542
Even some of the page\'s
founding fathers and mothers
00:49:15.542 --> 00:49:17.875
have turned against it.
00:49:17.875 --> 00:49:20.959
I think full on nudity
in a daily newspaper
00:49:20.959 --> 00:49:26.291
that children can see on the
coffee table in the morning
00:49:26.291 --> 00:49:29.041
is not a good image to portray,
00:49:29.041 --> 00:49:30.792
and I am against it.
00:49:30.792 --> 00:49:37.291
What we saw was revolutionary
and radical back in the 1970s
00:49:37.291 --> 00:49:39.667
looks, at this end
of the spectrum,
00:49:39.667 --> 00:49:43.291
to um, really be the wrong
thing to be doing,
00:49:43.291 --> 00:49:45.208
it objectifies women.
00:49:45.208 --> 00:49:49.542
♪
00:49:49.542 --> 00:49:50.417
On Fleet Street,
00:49:50.417 --> 00:49:52.000
once the mecca
of the tabloids,
00:49:52.000 --> 00:49:55.875
only traces remain
of its former splendor.
00:49:55.875 --> 00:49:59.417
The newspapers have moved
to the outskirts.
00:49:59.417 --> 00:50:01.709
♪
00:50:01.709 --> 00:50:04.959
Instead of the numerous pubs
that welcomed journalists
00:50:04.959 --> 00:50:06.000
day and night,
00:50:06.000 --> 00:50:09.999
there are now banks or global
fast food chain outlets.
00:50:09.999 --> 00:50:15.250
♪
00:50:15.250 --> 00:50:19.125
It\'s a bit sad to
old tabloid scribes
00:50:19.125 --> 00:50:22.625
like myself uh, to
see the end of what,
00:50:22.625 --> 00:50:24.917
I\'ve gotta say, was
a golden age.
00:50:24.917 --> 00:50:29.000
Um, now the, the press
is shackled,
00:50:29.000 --> 00:50:32.291
the tabloids are tamed,
and um,
00:50:32.291 --> 00:50:34.417
and the circulations
are plunging.
00:50:34.417 --> 00:50:36.250
And I think we\'re at the,
00:50:36.250 --> 00:50:42.333
we\'re possibly seeing the end
of the tabloid newspaper,
00:50:42.333 --> 00:50:46.041
not era, but century.
00:50:46.041 --> 00:50:56.667
♪
00:50:56.667 --> 00:50:59.999
♪ Baby, you\'re casting
your spell on me ♪
00:50:59.999 --> 00:51:01.959
Newspapers are dying.
00:51:01.959 --> 00:51:02.583
But so what?
00:51:02.583 --> 00:51:07.792
The tabloid press mentality
lives on.
00:51:07.792 --> 00:51:08.417
On every screen
00:51:08.417 --> 00:51:14.250
everyone is revealing
their own little secrets.
00:51:14.250 --> 00:51:15.625
Celebrities or not,
00:51:15.625 --> 00:51:17.166
voyeur or exhibitionists,
00:51:17.166 --> 00:51:19.208
we\'re all becoming
our own tabloids,
00:51:19.208 --> 00:51:24.291
taking selfies and posting
videos on the web.
00:51:24.291 --> 00:51:26.208
♪ It\'s all right ♪
00:51:26.208 --> 00:51:27.458
♪ You\'re out of sight ♪
00:51:27.458 --> 00:51:30.792
♪ When you wear that
cute little skirt... ♪
00:51:30.792 --> 00:51:33.709
No need to go through
the trash to find secrets,
00:51:33.709 --> 00:51:36.375
they\'re all already out there.
00:51:36.375 --> 00:51:38.750
The tabloids are dead.
00:51:38.750 --> 00:51:43.291
Long live the tabloid spirit.
00:51:43.291 --> 00:51:44.625
Two weeks ago uh,
00:51:44.625 --> 00:51:48.417
this guy in, in Miami,
just a regular guy,
00:51:48.417 --> 00:51:52.834
killed his wife,
shot her a bunch of times.
00:51:52.834 --> 00:51:55.417
That would be,
that would stop right here,
00:51:55.417 --> 00:51:57.291
but no, let\'s go further.
00:51:57.291 --> 00:51:59.583
He took pictures
of her body,
00:51:59.583 --> 00:52:02.000
he put the pictures
on Facebook,
00:52:02.000 --> 00:52:04.999
he wrote a confession
that said,
00:52:04.999 --> 00:52:08.750
\"Hi, you guys haven\'t
heard from me from a while,
00:52:08.750 --> 00:52:10.333
but I killed my wife.
00:52:10.333 --> 00:52:12.709
She was abusing me,
I\'m tired of it,
00:52:12.709 --> 00:52:16.750
I\'m probably gonna get
the death penalty for this,
00:52:16.750 --> 00:52:18.000
but here you go.
00:52:18.000 --> 00:52:20.125
Goodbye to everybody,
it was great knowing you.\"
00:52:20.125 --> 00:52:25.041
And then he walked into a
police station and surrendered.
00:52:25.041 --> 00:52:27.083
Who could make that up?
00:52:27.083 --> 00:52:29.333
You know?
00:52:29.333 --> 00:52:38.458
♪
00:52:38.458 --> 00:52:40.999
♪ And now ♪
00:52:40.999 --> 00:52:43.125
♪ The end is near ♪
00:52:43.125 --> 00:52:46.208
♪ And so I face ♪
00:52:46.208 --> 00:52:49.333
♪ The final curtain ♪
00:52:49.333 --> 00:52:51.083
♪ My friend ♪
00:52:51.083 --> 00:52:53.792
♪ I\'ll say it clear ♪
00:52:53.792 --> 00:52:56.667
♪ I\'ll state my case ♪
00:52:56.667 --> 00:52:59.542
♪ Of which I\'m certain ♪
00:52:59.542 --> 00:53:04.709
♪ I\'ve lived a life
that\'s full ♪
00:53:04.709 --> 00:53:07.625
♪ I\'ve traveled each ♪
00:53:07.625 --> 00:53:10.583
♪ And every highway ♪
00:53:10.583 --> 00:53:13.083
♪ Oh, and more ♪
00:53:13.083 --> 00:53:15.959
♪ Much more than this ♪
00:53:15.959 --> 00:53:22.083
♪ I did it my way ♪
00:53:22.083 --> 00:53:24.542
♪ Regrets ♪
00:53:24.542 --> 00:53:27.000
♪ I\'ve had a few ♪
00:53:27.000 --> 00:53:29.125
♪ But then again ♪
00:53:29.125 --> 00:53:32.667
♪ Too few to mention ♪
00:53:32.667 --> 00:53:37.417
♪ I did what I had to do ♪
00:53:37.417 --> 00:53:40.000
♪ I saw it through ♪
00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:43.417
♪ Without exemption ♪