‘Checkbook Journalism — Not a Thing!’ MSNBC Panel Disses Trump Trial Witness for Trying to ‘Normalize’ Paying for Stories
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow hosted a lively panel Monday night about Trump trial witness David Pecker’s use of the term, “checkbook journalism.”
Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer and other supermarket tabloids, was the first witness to take the stand in Trump’s business fraud trial. Prosecutors allege that Trump covered up a $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels to keep their affair a secret so he wouldn’t look bad before the 2016 presidential election.
Prosecutors also allege that Trump and Pecker conspired to “catch-and-kill” negative stories about the GOP nominee — that is, Pecker paid sources large sums of money for exclusive rights to salacious stories, then buried the information so it wouldn’t hurt Trump in the election.
While on the stand Monday, Pecker explained:
On the celebrity side of the magazine industry, at least on the tabloid side, we used “checkbook journalism,” and we paid for stories. So I give a number to the editors, that they could not spend more than $10,000 to investigate or produce, or publish a story. So anything over $10,000 that they would spend on a story, that would have to be vetted and brought up to me if they were going to spend more for approval.
MSNBC’s Alex Wagner jumped on Pecker’s term for paying sources for stories.
“None of this is normal. No aspect of what we’re witnessing is normal. Number one, for all journalism students out there, checkbook journalism — not a thing! It is not a thing!”
According to the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics, “checkbook journalism” is “unethical” and “threatens to undermine journalism and damage democracy.”
The prosecutor in the Trump case explained in court that Pecker paid $30,000 to a Manhattan doorman — way above his usual $10,000 limit — to buy exclusive rights to information about a “Trump love child,” then kept the story from getting out, thus influencing the 2016 election.
Rachel Maddow said, “What the prosecutor laid out today and what the witness helped them prove today, is that the practices described here in this alleged criminal conspiracy were not at all normal, not even for tabloid checkbook journalism that pays for stories.”
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all 34 felony charges against him.
