# How Truthful is "The National Inquirer"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 27, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-truthful-is-the-national-inquirer/645283 "2012-12-27T14:37:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-truthful-is-the-national-inquirer/645283/21 "2012-12-30T00:17:33Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > More truthful than the late, lamented _Weekly World News_, less truthful than, say, the _New York Times_. How can any paper be less truthful than one who lets Jayson Blair make up stories so they can justify their racist hiring practic es? > **[Jayson Blair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayson_Blair)** > > Jayson Thomas Blair (born March 23, 1976) is a former American journalist who worked for The New York Times. In May 2003, he resigned from the newspaper following the revelation of fabrication and plagiarism within his articles. > In 2004, he published a memoir entitled Burning Down My Masters' House reflecting on his career, discussing his diagnosis of bipolar disorder following his resignation from the New York Times, and offering his perspective on race relations at the newspaper; he subsequ... Or still brag about the Pulitzer Prize that Walter Duranty won in the 1930s for making up stories about the “Worker’s paradise of Joe Stalin” and deliberately ignoring the fact he murdered millions of people? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-truthful-is-the-national-inquirer/645283/22 "2012-12-30T02:08:25Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > How can any paper be less truthful… I’m betting I could find thousands. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-truthful-is-the-national-inquirer/645283/23 "2012-12-30T03:46:26Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > How can any paper be less truthful than one who lets Jayson Blair make up stories so they can justify their racist hiring practic es According to your own cite, the New York Times received a complaint about Blair’s work on April 28, 2003. Blair resigned and on May 11, 2003, the Times printed a 7,239 word, front-page story headlined “Times Reporter Who Resigned Leaves Long Trail of Deception.” Show me how the Times “let” Blair make up stories. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-truthful-is-the-national-inquirer/645283/24 "2012-12-30T04:33:07Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > How can any paper be less truthful Here’s an easy comparison: The National Enquirer runs more bullshit than that on a regular basis, there’s no scandal over it, and nobody gets fired. They’ve done some real reporting, but it’s always mixed in with junk and people accept that for what it is. The Times makes an effort to be factual instead of running gossip with plausible deniability. Blair resigned once the Times found out he was making up stories, and the executive editor and managing editor were also forced to resign. The Times wasn’t the first or last paper to find out that a reporter had been making stuff up. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-truthful-is-the-national-inquirer/645283/25 "2012-12-30T05:04:39Z")
One thing I’ve always wondered is how much of the celebrity content, even one that casts the star in a negative light, was actually planted by stars and agents. Anyone have any backing for this idea? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-truthful-is-the-national-inquirer/645283/26 "2012-12-30T06:15:58Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > I can’t even find any evidence that a publication called “The National Inquirer” actually exists. You’re spelling it wrong. It’s “Nationel”. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-truthful-is-the-national-inquirer/645283/27 "2013-01-01T15:25:30Z")
Truth is more ironic than fiction. [Hillary Clinton Brain Cancer Drama!](http://www.nationalenquirer.com/celebrity/latest-hillary-clinton-confirms-brain-crisis). Now updated with the news that - oops - it was a blood clot instead. But that’s OK, it’s “confirming The NATIONAL ENQUIRER’s special reports on her condition.” As long as you define “confirming” as “a brand new special meaning of cancer”. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-truthful-is-the-national-inquirer/645283/28 "2013-01-01T15:53:08Z")
And _The New York Times_ doesn’t brag about Walter Duranty either: > **[Walter Duranty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Duranty)** > > Walter Duranty (25 May 1884 – 3 October 1957) was an Anglo-American journalist who served as Moscow bureau chief of The New York Times for fourteen years (1922–1936) following the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War (1917–1923). > In 1932, Duranty received a Pulitzer Prize for a series of reports about the Soviet Union, eleven of which were published in June 1931. He was later criticized for his subsequent denial of the widespread famine (1930–1933) in the USSR, most particularly the Holo... Jim’s Son, what was the point of your post? If you had merely said that there were occasions when _The New York Times_ didn’t check out the facts in some news stories, that wouldn’t even be controversial. But to claim that after the mistakes and lies were exposed the paper did nothing is clearly wrong. Are you interested in the truth, or are you merely interested in slanting facts yourself? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-truthful-is-the-national-inquirer/645283/29 "2013-01-01T15:55:35Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Now updated with the news that - oops - it was a blood clot instead. But that’s OK, it’s “confirming The NATIONAL ENQUIRER’s special reports on her condition.” As long as you define “confirming” as “a brand new special meaning of cancer”. Right. By “confirming,” they mean that several days after they said she had brain cancer, she turned out to have an unrelated medical problem. And before anyone says the Enquirer was just reporting that she was seeing doctors about problems that turned out to be related to the blood clot - which would be plausible - here’s the kicker from the article: > [@](#): > > "This has been covered up for months, but details of Hillary’s cancer situation are beginning to leak out, and it’s the real reason she’s giving up her position as Secretary of State.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-truthful-is-the-national-inquirer/645283.md?page=1)