“Scandalous” is the sensational true story of The National Enquirer, the infamous tabloid with a prescient grasp of its readers’ darkest curiosities.
The National Enquirer is known as the leading celebrity gossip paper of all time, but how did it gain such popularity and become known for its scandal? Gene Pope purchased the New York Enquirer, changed the name, and rebranded the paper. Constantly looking for the “it” factor to help sell the papers, he wanted something shocking that nobody else was talking about. One day he saw an accident and was the only one to get disturbing images and publish them. From then on he would cover gory death stories with graphic pictures and people would buy the paper. He went on to reporting conspiracy theories and UFO sightings, then it transitioned to the secret lives of celebrities which people quickly became obsessed with. Wanting to reach a larger suburban audience, he knew the idea was to have readers feel like they were indulging after a hards day of work. The papers were placed at the end of the checkout line at the supermarket so people were likely to grab one on their way out the store.
Wanting the paper to distract the reader from the harsh realities of the world, facts were not of importance; he would take small truths and exaggerate them. People would talk about everything they read, tell their friends and their friends would tell others, and before you know it he had gained hundreds of thousands of new readers. The reputation of the paper was not respected as the reporters had to be reckless in order to get information for their stories, and bugging phones and reading other people’s mail was not beneath them. Former reporters admit to the paper paying sources to leak information and they remember relatives and friends being the ones who always betrayed for money.
The National Enquirer was the first to get photos of Elvis Presley in his casket after paying a man to dress up like a priest and attend the funeral and take pictures. When that failed, they paid off Elvis’ cousin who ended up getting the perfect shot resulting in the paper selling over 6 million copies that very week. They went on to cover the John Belushi murder and because they got a confession, the journalist was presented with a subpoena. After the woman who gave the confession went to prison, the journalist admitted to having crossed the line. They covered the topstories including the OJ Simpson trial and the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The paper left no stone unturned, if it was happening they had information on it first.
As the culture of celebrity news grew, the question began surrounding gossip taking precedence over important news and what was real journalism. Even though The National Enquirer had become known for its outlandish stories and initially didn’t have the respect of other publications, over time they proved to be a reliable source that provided facts and proof on important events before anyone else. As time has changed and the public has become more obsessed with celebrity culture, it is common to see many papers like The National Enquirer at the supermarket checkout and anywhere you buy newspapers and magazines. Is this the future of how we get our news? Will the culture obsessed with the secret lives of celebrities die down? Who knows, but Gene was way ahead of his time being the first to change the way we look at the news. A fun and juicy documentary!
In Theaters Friday, November 15th
