National Enquirer Pays Fine Over Hush Money. Now Do CNN, et al.

The sordid tale of the National Enquirer’s role in killing a story about former Donald Trump lover Karen McDougal is not unique. In fact, it represents a practice that happens every day in mainstream media as corporate publishers buy the rights to various stories with the sole intention of keeping them buried from the public eye.

Noted practitioners of this tactic include CNN, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. These and other media giants pay the equivalent of “hush money” to those with scandalous information about political figures and entities. Of course, if those scandals pertain to parties on the right, the stories are published and widely disseminated. When it’s leftists involved, the stories are often dropped in the vault where they’re only pulled back out if the media entities need something from a particular Democrat.

According to Politico, the National Enquirer’s role in keeping the McDougal story off the radar cost them a hefty sum:

The firm that owns the National Enquirer has agreed to pay $187,500 to the Federal Election Commission to settle complaints that it unlawfully aided Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 by suppressing the story of an actress who said she had a sexual relationship with Trump.

The FEC concluded that American Media Inc., now known as A360 Media LLC, made an illegal corporate contribution to Trump’s campaign by paying Karen McDougal $150,000 to give up the rights to her story about Trump.

AMI and its former chief, David Pecker, initially argued through attorneys that they acted as journalists in making the deal with McDougal. However, in 2018 the firm and Pecker entered into a non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in New York, stipulating that the arrangement was intended to influence the 2016 presidential election.

The FEC concluded that contradicted the earlier claims that the Enquirer was simply acting as a news outlet.

“The available information supports the conclusion that AMI’s payment constituted an in-kind contribution to Trump and the Trump Committee,” an FEC legal analysis concluded. “AMI and Pecker appear to have violated the Act by making and consenting to making a corporate contribution in the form of a payment from AMI to McDougal. As explained below, the record indicates that there is reason to believe that this violation was knowing and willful.”

The ironic line from that snippet is that the FEC concluded the Enquirer was not acting as a news outlet. Have the read the NY Times lately? Do they watch CNN? These are not news outlets and pretty much nothing they do as it pertains to politics can be considered unbiased. They are political organizations acting as the propaganda wing of the Democratic Party as well as other leftists.

Whether through political pressure or promise of more access to prominent people, media companies often spike stories to gain favor or prevent blowback. One of the most famous examples in recent years is the ABC News coverup of Jeffrey Epstein’s story. They had a blockbuster and they spiked it inexplicably. Many have speculated that there was pressure from “The Crown” since Prince Andrew was implicated. Others said it was the Clintons. Some even say Epstein himself bribed his way out of the bombshells coming out. Regardless of where the pressure came from, it successfully kept Epstein’s accusers hidden for an additional four years.

If the FEC is going to target news outlets that supported President Trump, they need to have an even hand with all they choose to target. So many in mainstream media are simply getting away with their corruption.

‘The Purge’ by Big Tech targets conservatives, including us

Just when we thought the Covid-19 lockdowns were ending and our ability to stay afloat was improving, censorship reared its ugly head.

For the last few months, NOQ Report, Conservative Playbook, and the American Conservative Movement have appealed to our readers for assistance in staying afloat through Covid-19 lockdowns. The downturn in the economy has limited our ability to generate proper ad revenue just as our traffic was skyrocketing. We had our first sustained stretch of three months with over a million visitors in November, December, and January, but February saw a dip.

It wasn’t just the shortened month. We expected that. We also expected the continuation of dropping traffic from “woke” Big Tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, but it has actually been much worse than anticipated. Our Twitter account was banned. Both of our YouTube accounts were banned. Facebook “fact-checks” everything we post. Spotify canceled us. Medium canceled us. Apple canceled us. Why? Because we believe in the truth prevailing, and that means we will continue to discuss “taboo” topics.

The 2020 presidential election was stolen. You can’t say that on Big Tech platforms without risking cancellation, but we’d rather get cancelled for telling the truth rather than staying around to repeat mainstream media’s lies. They have been covering it up since before the election and they’ve convinced the vast majority of conservative news outlets that they will be harmed if they continue to discuss voter fraud. We refuse to back down. The truth is the truth.

The lies associated with Covid-19 are only slightly more prevalent than the suppression of valid scientific information that runs counter to the prescribed narrative. We should be allowed to ask questions about the vaccines, for example, as there is ample evidence for concern. One does not have to be an “anti-vaxxer” in order to want answers about vaccines that are still considered experimental and that have a track record in a short period of time of having side-effects, including death. One of our stories about the Johnson & Johnson “vaccine” causing blood clots was “fact-checked” and removed one day before the government hit the brakes on it. These questions and news items are not allowed on Big Tech which is just another reason we are getting canceled.

There are more topics that they refuse to allow. In turn, we refuse to stop discussing them. This is why we desperately need your help. The best way NOQ, CP, and ACM readers can help is to donate. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well. We are pacing to be short by about $3700 per month in order to maintain operations.

The second way to help is to become a partner. We’ve strongly considered seeking angel investors in the past but because we were paying the bills, it didn’t seem necessary. Now, we’re struggling to pay the bills. We had 5,657,724 sessions on our website from November, 2020, through February, 2021. Our intention is to elevate that to higher levels this year by focusing on a strategy that relies on free speech rather than being beholden to progressive Big Tech companies.

During that four-month stretch, Twitter and Facebook accounted for about 20% of our traffic. We are actively working on operating as if that traffic is zero, replacing it with platforms that operate more freely such as Gab, Parler, and others. While we were never as dependent on Big Tech as most conservative sites, we’d like to be completely free from them. That doesn’t mean we will block them, but we refuse to be beholden to companies that absolutely despise us simply because of our political ideology.

We’re heading in the right direction and we believe we’re ready talk to patriotic investors who want to not only “get in on the action” but more importantly who want to help America hear the truth. Interested investors should contact me directly with the contact button above.

As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report going.

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