Book Description

“An original American story of a tough, embattled media player with uncanny gifts for giving the public what they want.” —Publishers Weekly In The Godfather of Tabloid, Jack Vitek explores the life and remarkable career of Generoso Pope Jr. and the founding of the most famous tabloid of all—the National Enquirer. Upon graduating from MIT, Pope worked briefly for the CIA until he purchased the New York Enquirer with dubious financial help from mob boss Frank Costello. Working tirelessly and cultivating a mix of American journalists (some of whom, surprisingly, were Pulitzer Prize winners) and buccaneering Brits from Fleet Street who would do anything to get a story, Pope changed the name, format, and content of the modest weekly newspaper until it resembled nothing America had ever seen before. Pope was a man of contradictions: he would fire someone for merely disagreeing with him in a meeting (once firing an editor in the middle of his birthday party), and yet he spent upwards of a million dollars a year to bring the world’s tallest Christmas tree to the Enquirer offices in Lantana, Florida, for the enjoyment of the local citizens. Driven, tyrannical, and ruthless in his pursuit of creating an empire, Pope changed the look and content of supermarket tabloid media, and the industry still bears his stamp. Grounded in interviews with many of Pope’s supporters, detractors, and associates, The Godfather of Tabloid is the first comprehensive biography of the man who created a genre and changed the world of publishing forever. “An engaging saga of one man’s obsessive devotion to creating an entertaining alternative universe.” —The Wall Street Journal