newsobserver.com projects - ABC: Enquirer offered sources $50k - Comments

Re: ABC: Enquirer offered sources $50k

SpocksBrain — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:47:02 -0400

Did he ask Andrew Young?
Young's wife?
Roxanne Druck Marshall?
Elizabeth Edwards?
Rielle?
Fred Baron?
Silky Pony's campaign staff?
Silky Pony?

I didn't think so. None of those people are money grubbers. Well, except maybe for Rielle. Oh, and maybe her sister. Of course most of the others are lawyers, so...damn. That didn't work either Wait! His staff they were only there because they wanted to ... never mind.

Boy...you really got me with that one.

Re: ABC: Enquirer offered sources $50k

meschreiner — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:47:56 -0400

Ross says that they did ask the question; but wouldn't use money to entice an answer.

Re: ABC: Enquirer offered sources $50k

SpocksBrain — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:30:56 -0400

Maybe you are at a disadvantage, Ross. But here's a clue -- for free. They ain't gonna tell you squat if you don't ask the questions.

ABC: Enquirer offered sources $50k

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:16:11 -0400

The National Enquirer is enjoying an extended victory lap since it exposed former Sen. John Edwards' affair with a campaign worker.

National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" program on Wednesday included Enquirer senior executive editor Steve Plamann in its discussion of how the media should handle rumor.

"We got a little lucky, and we’re also a little bit good," Plamann said of the Enquirer's series of stories on Edwards dating back to October.

The panel also included News & Observer political reporter Rob Christensen and Brian Ross, chief investigative correspondent for ABC News, the network that landed the interview in which Edwards admitted to an affair two years ago with Rielle Hunter.

In his segment, Ross said it wasn’t just luck that enabled the Enquirer to corner the market on key sources on the story.

"They pay people to talk to them. We're not in a position to do that," Ross said. "Again and again in trying to pursue this story, we would be asked by people who were central to it, 'What’s in it for me? They've [the Enquirer] offered me $50,000. What do you have?' We have a cup of coffee. So we're at a disadvantage there."

More after the jump.