"New story - Shapiro and Wood on tabloids"
 
August 22, 2003

Exposing the tragedies tabloids cause

Randy Wyrick

When the Globe supermarket tabloid published a
photo of who NBA player Kobe Bryant allegedly
raped, people all over the country expressed shock
and outrage.

Jeffrey Scott Shapiro was not one of them.

It also didn't surprise Shapiro when in January
1996, the Globe published stolen autopsy photos
of slain child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey. The
photos were illegally purchased by a private
investigator working for the Globe who was later
convicted for illegal information brokering.

If you think the tabloids have been rough in the
way they've covered the Kobe Bryant case so far,
Shapiro, who was in Eagle County to investigate
the case for the CBS magazine show "48 Hours,"
said you haven't seen anything yet.

Shapiro was an investigator with the Globe for
two years, digging into the JonBenet Ramsey case.
He left the tabloid world in a blaze of glory,
handing the Globe to the FBI on a silver platter. He
provided 75 hours of tape recorded conversations
with his editors that led to charges ranging from 
attempted bribery of a defense counsel expert to the
extortion of police officers.

Globe editor Tony Frost lashed out at Shapiro for 
turning over the tapes and exposing some of the
tabloid's methods. Shapiro said that in one recorded 
conversation, a livid Frost claimed his publication had
more of an interest in proving the Ramseys were guilty 
than the Boulder Police Department or the Boulder
County district attorney. Frost declined to be 
interviewed for this story, and said he wanted nothing 
to do with Shapiro.

"It seemed that no single act, regardless of how 
uncouth or classless, was beneath them," said Shapiro.

This is the same Globe that ran a cover photograph of 
the alleged victim in the Kobe Bryant rape case,
with her eyes covered by a black bar.

It's also the same Globe that published autopsy 
photographs of JonBenet Ramsey's body with the cord
that strangled her to death still wrapped around her neck.

In the Ramsey's book about the JonBenet case, 
"Death of Innocence," they said Frost discussed the
autopsy photographs without emotion or remorse. 
"The Globe is a supermarket tabloid. We deal in
checkbook journalism. We buy sensational photographs 
and stories, and we publish them," Frost is
quoted as saying.

"Frost had given the world his conditions as well 
as defining the role of the newspaper. If we didn't like
it, tough! It wasn't his daughter," wrote the Ramseys 
in their book. "The fact that the dignity of our
daughter was violated, our family's well-being assaulted, 
and an innocent child turned into a spectacle did
not make any difference to Frost. Selling tabloid 
newspapers was all that counted."


"Libel for profit'

Attorney Lin Wood, who has successfully sued the tabloids 
for libel and is preparing a libel case for
former U.S. Rep. Gary Condit of California, called 
tabloids, "Libel for profit."

"They will go where they can to make the most money, 
and will not let the truth stand in their way," said
Wood. "Tabloids are not going to let a law or two get 
in the way of a good story when they can make a
lot of money on it."

Shapiro explained that tabloids are not new. The first 
one, called "Confidential," popped in Hollywood in
the 1950s. The celebrity community at the time banded 
together to put it out of business, even making
their cause part of political campaigns.

Modern tabloids have their roots in Great Britain, 
where British tabloids feast on class warfare fueled by
working people who delight in seeing the aristocracy 
brought low.

Shapiro explained that it's really pretty simple, 
outlining what he calls "tabloid magic." Tabloid reporters
and editors take disconnected information, then pay 
"experts" to comment on it. They weave the
disconnected information together with the comment, 
and create stories.

Tabloids will also pay sources to accept attribution. 
For example, Shapiro said when Nicole Kidman and
Tom Cruise were having upheavals on movie sets, tabloids 
would pay sources to accept responsibility for
quotes and stories the tabloid's reporters had already written.

"People who thought they were friends stabbed each other 
in the back for the sake of a quick buck," said
Wood. "You can expect some of the same in Eagle.

"Hopefully what's happening to her will not interfere with 
what's happening with the legal system, which
is the pursuit of the truth."

Throwing money at potential sources is just the tip of 
the iceberg, said Shapiro.

Tabloid journalism depends on shock value and manipulating 
information and people, said Shapiro, and obtaining information 
to which they might not be legally entitled.

Shapiro said that during the JonBenet case, the Globe paid 
computer hackers to illegally pull credit card records to 
track John Ramsey's shopping habits, looking for something - 
anything - incriminating.

Chances are they'll try something like that in the Kobe 
Bryant case, as well, Shapiro said.

That information makes people easier to track.

Wood said when the public began losing interest in the 
JonBenet case, and subsequently the tabloids' revenue started 
sliding, so did their standards. They started putting out 
stories accusing Burke Ramsey, JonBenet's 9-year-old brother, 
of being involved with his sister's death.

Shapiro said tabloids don't have that much to offer because 
they aren't reputable news organizations. They don't offer 
trips to big city studios or other subtle incentives like 
mainstream major media outlets.  Network morning shows have 
flown local residents to places like New York and Los Angeles, 
put them in hotels and chauffeured them around the cities. 
Flying interview subjects to other cities gives network
news organizations control of the sources, and the story, 
for a few days.

Tabloids don't do anything that subtle, The can, however, 
offer money and do so in sometimes huge quantities.

The National Enquirer offered a local teen-ager $12,500 for 
her story about a trip she and Bryant's alleged victim took 
to Austin, Texas, to audition for the television show 
"American Idol" in the past year. The offers are likely to get richer.

Shapiro said a handwriting expert in Evergreen was offered 
$30,000 for a ransom note connected to the JonBenet case. 
Shapiro said the Globe offered to buy John Ramsey's home, 
with its $1 million price tag, for the Boulder County District 
Attorney's Office, just so they could take it apart to look 
for anything that might implicate Ramsey. Shapiro said they 
also threatened a Boulder detective, by suggesting they would
publish a story about the officer's mother who had killed herself.

Taping cell phone conversations, digging through trash - all 
standard procedure, Shapiro said. He explained that cell phone 
conversations can be overheard on police scanners. All the equipment 
you need you can buy at a neighborhood electronics store.


Setting traps

Among tabloids' favorite techniques is calling in misinformation 
to police officers, lying about a fight in some celebrity's 
residence, then skulking in the bushes until the police show up 
to check it out, Shapiro said. They jump up, snap a couple of 
pictures, then splash a huge, shrieking headline about it.

Roseanne Barr was investigated for child abuse after a tabloid 
reporter called 911 and said there was child abuse going on at 
Roseanne's house. The police showed up at Roseanne's house to 
check it out. When Roseanne was led outside to talk to police, 
the tabloid reporter jumped, fired off a few frames of photos
and ran.

The next week's headlines screamed that Roseanne was being 
investigated for child abuse.

When former President Bill Clinton was trapped by Monica Lewinsky's 
blue dress, the tabloids pounded Lewinsky, then Clinton. Shapiro 
said you can expect the same treatment of Bryant and Bryant's alleged
victim, especially as the tabloids begin paying for stories from 
other women with whom Bryant may have been intimate.

Wood said it's not uncommon for tabloid reporters to sometimes 
misrepresent themselves and who they work for. Shapiro said 
they'll lie about their identity, claiming to be from Newsweek 
or some other "legitimate" media.

When Shapiro was with the Globe, they chased the Frank and Kathy 
Lee Gifford all over Cordillera, Vail and Beaver Creek. The family 
became tabloid fodder when Frank got caught having an affair with 
a flight attendant the Globe had allegedly paid to seduce him. 
As an interesting sidelight, the Globe and the National Enquirer 
got into a spitting match when the Enquirer wrote that the Globe 
paid the woman $250,000 to seduce Gifford. The Globe shot back, 
saying that, among other things, the Enquirer was revealing trade 
secrets.

Shapiro recalled the time a photographer dressed like an on-mountain 
photographer and acted like he was snapping photos of skiers as 
they got off a lift in Beaver Creek. He shot more than a dozen 
chair loads of people before he got to the Giffords. By the way 
they were waving at the camera, the Giffords, along with everyone 
else, were apparently fooled into thinking the guy was just providing 
another guest service.


Getting out

For Shapiro, the turning point was a conversation with CU journalism 
professor Michael Tracey.

Tracey was working on an investigative piece about tabloids and the 
JonBenet Ramsey case for "48 Hours." It was finally Tracey who led 
Shapiro to turn his tape recorded conversations with his Globe
editors over to the FBI.

"He finally decided what he was doing was wrong," said Tracey. 
"He became very upset when he thought about it. He actually came 
to tears."

Shapiro was 23 years old when the Globe offered him $150 a day plus 
all expenses and sent him to Boulder to cover JonBenet. Two years 
later, he'd had enough. He said he had no idea what he would do
or where he would go, but he knew he was through with tabloid life.

"Sometimes you must jump, even if you have no parachute," he said.

Shapiro embarked on an anti-tabloid crusade that still energizes him.

Since then, those tapes that were the foundation of the FBI's case 
have been made available online through Editor & Publisher, 
a newspaper industry trade publication, as well as other Internet 
outlets.

"They're bullies, and like any other bully on the playground, 
they'll back down if you stand up to them," said Shapiro.

Finally, as part of cutting his ties completely, Shapiro called 
John Ramsey to apologize for the connection to the tabloids, and 
for what the tabs had done to the murder victim's father.


The tabloid effect

Shapiro said the tabloids are slipping in popularity, not 
because they're doing anything different, but because so much 
of the mainstream media has become so much like them.

These days, Shapiro is a second year law student at the University 
of Florida. His goal is to launch a foundation to help people 
who have been victimized by tabloids.

"There has to be some sort of institution that stands up to them," 
he said. "They're bullies, like the bullies in the schoolyard. 
If you stand up to them, they'll back down."

Wood said the conduct of certain members of the media has been 
nothing short of outrageous.

"I stand on the presumption of innocence," said Wood. "I would 
also stand up and give this victim the presumption of privacy.

"Sadly, I'm afraid the nightmare she'll suffer at the hands of 
the media is only just beginning."

Tracey said Shapiro was the first to lay out in detail the sheer 
length to which tabloids will go to get stories.

"Many people had always suspected it, and he gave them the facts," 
said Tracey. "In Boulder with the JonBenet case, they destroyed 
lives, destroyed careers. Very nasty."

Tracey said Eagle and Eagle County can expect no less.

"They'll drown it in personnel. They'll throw money around. 
They'll threaten," said Tracey. "What's happening there is what 
happened in Boulder. No one there is prepared for this inundation 
of the media."


Fighting back

Wood pointed out that the alleged victim in the Kobe case is 
not accused of any crime.

"I'm sure she thinks she is doing what's right by not doing anything 
about this,' said Wood. "She doesn't want to appear that she's 
only after money."

But, said Wood, she should defend and protect herself.

"She has a right to go into a court and seek compensation and 
should be encouraged to do so," he said. "There are ways to go 
after those who are doing this to her, and the most effective way 
is to hit them where it hurts them - in the pocketbook."

Wood said a lot of money will be changing hands out there in 
Eagle, a lot of it buying quotes and information about the alleged 
victim.

"You have a young person, a 19-year-old child, and for members 
of the media to be speculating and attacking her based on 
speculation, leaked information or information from questionable 
sources is damnable," Wood said. "They really have no dignity, 
and clearly no sense of professionalism, in my opinion.

"Somebody needs to stand up for her, and the tone of the 
conversation would change immediately."

Tracey said the media's fascination with this story is a bit disturbing.

"The Kobe story is not an important story," he said. "It's a 
big story, but it's not an important story. The JonBenet story 
is also a big story, a tragic story, the death of that little girl. 
But it's not an important story, either.

It isn't just the tabloids now. It's everyone. It's an army that 
follows these rather banal stories. It's amazing. It's very telling 
about news values these days."


GLANCE BOX

Tabloid tricks


Among the tricks former tabloid investigator Jeff Shapiro says 
Eagle County can expect from tabloids:

- Pay sources to accept attribution for quotes and information 
the tabloids contrive.

- Paying computer hackers to illegally obtain credit card 
records to track people's spending habits.

- Outright paying for people's stories.

- Misrepresenting who they are and who they work for, claiming 
to be from some legitimate media outlet.

- Taping and listening to cell phone conversations, which can 
be done on police scanners you can buy at a local electronics store.

- Calling in misinformation to police, then grabbing incriminating 
photos when authorities show up to investigate.


Enquiring minds want to pay


The National Enquirer's Michelle Caruso made four trips to 
Lindsey McKinney's house on a Sunday in July, each trip increasing 
an offer by the tabloid to buy exclusive rights to any information 
McKinney had about overdoses by the 19-year-old woman accusing 
Kobe Bryant of sexual assault.

In those four trips, Caruso had increased the Enquirer's offer 
for information from $200 to $10,000. By the time the National 
Enquirer's representative rang the doorbell the fourth time, 
around after 7 p.m., the offer was upped to $12,500.

Here's a transcript of that Sunday night conversation:

- NE: "Jerry upped the offer to $12,500, but the interview has 
to be tonight or tomorrow. For that we need exclusivity. You can't 
talk to anyone else in the media."

We'll want a picture, preferably a picture with the victim."

- Dad: "What is it you're looking for?"

- NE: "We want the whole truth, and what she knows to the best of 
her knowledge. But we must move tonight. We think the story has 
about a 24 hour shelf life."

- Dad: "Haven't you talked to any other kids?"

- NE: "We've talked to several other kids, but none with her 
level of knowledge."

- Dad: "We'll need to talk about this, but I don't believe we're 
interested."

- NE: "Call me before you go to bed tonight. Does that amount of 
money make a dent to you at all?"

- Dad: "No, not really."

- NE: "It's more than I've ever seen them pay for anything. 
Stories on Julie Roberts only pay five grand. Are lawyers from 
the case calling you?

- Dad: "No."


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