As American democracy teeters, declining investigative journalism is a critical concern. Authoritarians abhor honest, deep reporting.
Russian politician and internet sensation Alexei Navalny documented Vladimir Putin’s kleptocracy. He was sent to a prison above the Arctic Circle and then murdered.
Putin’s pal, Mohammed bin Salman, brutally bone-sawed the Washington Post’s Jamal Khashoggi for exposing Saudi authoritarianism.
When word leaked that President Donald Trump fled to a White House bunker during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest, Trump wanted the source of the true story executed.
The Colorado Sun’s Sandra Fish is respected for her data-driven investigative journalism. As retribution for her accurate reporting on Colorado Republican Party finances and GOP chairman Dave Williams, Fish was forced to leave a Colorado GOP assembly by a burly, tattooed lawman on orders from party leaders.
Uncovering publishable truths demands courage, ample time, financial investment and the commitment of skilled journalists.
Colorado Sun co-founder and Editor Larry Ryckman explains: “We dig, we research, we investigate, we explain. We produce investigative, watchdog, explanatory, and long-form narrative journalism.”
Barry Levine grew up wanting to be like Woodward and Bernstein. After working for the Associated Press and newspapers, Levine was lured to LA by the Rupert Murdoch–owned Star. Next, Levine became the longtime producer of the TV show “A Current Affair,” primarily covering show business.
The National Enquirer loved covering celebrities, too. Its picture of Elvis Presley in his coffin made the Enquirer’s sales soar.
The Enquirer too often abused its money and media power and was content to titillate in the grocery store checkout lines, rather than portray itself as a First Amendment crusader. Some articles in every edition were dubious, based on thin facts, gossip and insinuation. The tabloid regularly crossed the line from news to salaciousness and sensationalism. Information gathering was weaponized. Innocent people got hurt.
But Levine watched as his competitor began expanding into legitimate political coverage.
Most Coloradans remember the Enquirer’s revelations about our U.S. senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart’s Monkey Business with Donna Rice.
The late OJ Simpson was acquitted in Judge Lance Ito’s criminal courtroom, but proved conclusively guilty when the National Enquirer found and published a photo of Simpson wearing his telltale size 12 Bruno Magli killing shoes.
After JonBenet Ramsey was murdered in late 1996, the National Enquirer and its sister tabloids took up lengthy full-time residence in Boulder. Daily scoops and sensationalism — some of it dubious — emerged.
When the April 20, 1999, Columbine massacre happened, the National Enquirer broke legitimate stories about behind-the-scenes Colorado details. The problem was that other stories in the same tabloid were often sensationalized and misleading. As American Media Inc.’s CEO David Pecker has made clear while testifying in the Trump trial, credibility was not always his or the Enquirer’s highest priority.
In 1999, Pecker hired Levine. For the next 17 years, Levine led teams that produced hard-hitting investigative reports exposing famous figures as hypocrites and fraudsters.
Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards experienced the public revelation of the hidden mother of his secret child courtesy of Levine and the National Enquirer. Edwards’ criminal prosecution followed.
Levine’s National Enquirer team proved former presidential candidate Jesse Jackson had a secret second family. Non-profit business fraud to support Jackson’s extra family was also exposed.
Tiger Woods had his prolific sexual adventures made public by Levine’s investigation. As had so many others, the subject of Levine’s story confessed some sins and tried to move on. For its important political reporting, sometimes-grudging praise accumulated for Levine, Pecker and the Enquirer. At its peak, the National Enquirer was one of America’s most purchased and influential publications.
When New York Magazine profiled Levine in 2010, he confessed, “I spend nights thinking that if I wasn’t doing this, nobody else would. If I were in Russia, I’d be taken out by a hail of bullets, because that’s what happens to investigative journalists there.” Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal has endured the nightmare of being imprisoned for simply doing his job during this past year.
Whereas Levine wanted legitimate investigative journalism at the Enquirer, Trump saw opportunities to exploit the sensationalist, seedier side of the tabloid. Trump was friends with Pecker.
By 2016, Levine saw the National Enquirer’s bad direction and departed. That was two months before Team Trump hatched its “catch-and-kill” plan with Pecker to squelch the story of his ex-lover, Karen McDougal.
Since exiting the Enquirer, Levine has written well-researched takedowns of the awful sexual and social proclivities of Jeffrey Epstein and his Palm Beach pal, Trump. “The Spider: Inside the Criminal Web of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell” is Levine’s deeply reported expose of the rich, now-deceased pedophile’s outrageous crimes and associations with significant politicians and celebrities.
“All the President’s Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator” was Levine’s 2019 book chronicling the several dozen women sexually victimized by America’s 45th president.
Following last week’s testimony by star witness Pecker, Levine is ashamed of what the National Enquirer became under Trump’s influence.
“It’s amazing how some individuals will just lose all sight of what’s right in the world with their unhinged loyalty to a political candidate,” Levine told me.
Due to budgetary constraints and short attention spans, professional investigative journalism is currently in short supply. As The Sun and other reputable outlets do their utmost, the Enquirer’s fall is a cautionary tale about the dangers of sacrificing truth for something else.
My podcasting colleagues do what they can online; and occasionally, the New York Times drills deep. The future of our democracy depends on journalists shining a solid, steady light on the misdeeds of the powerful.
May the courage and persistence of investigative journalists, including those at the Colorado Sun, help light the way.
Craig Silverman is a former Denver chief deputy DA. Craig is columnist at large for The Colorado Sun and an active Colorado trial lawyer with Craig Silverman Law, LLC.
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