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The result is a breathless blend of thrills ("Murder by Cancer—A Bizarre Plot That Killed 2 and Doomed 3 Others"), chills ("CHiPs Star Erik Estrada: I Left My Body After My Motorcycle Crash") and practical, if occasionally farfetched, advice ("Secret of Lifelong Youth Discovered, Claims Scientist"). Most celebrities get good-guy treatment—young actors on the rise and show-biz legends like Bob Hope are particular favorites —but the paper is always on the lookout for a sharp edge. Burnett, whose lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial next month, disputes an article that had her arguing loudly with Henry Kissinger in a Washington restaurant, then giggling when she knocked a glass of wine over another diner. Says her attorney, Barry Langsberg: "She was in the restaurant and so was Kissinger, and they were introduced by a mutual friend. But somebody just made up the rest of the story."
Reporters at the Enquirer are generously paid: some start at $35,000, and the paper's 5,000 part-time correspondents receive up to $500 for a cover tip and $1,000 for a cover photo. In return, they are expected to bring in stories that other journalists cannot or will not touch. Says Sue Reilly, a PEOPLE magazine reporter in Los Angeles who worked four months at the Enquirer: "When I told them I wouldn't stake out Ali MacGraw's kid's school for a story, an editor told me, 'We bought you, so shut up.'"
The pressure to produce has led some Enquirer staffers to misrepresent themselves or their publication to gain access to people or places. One reporter tried to pass herself off as a tourist with a broken-down car when she went to see Warren Beatty in late 1978, hoping to find out if he planned to marry Diane Keaton. (He was not fooled and refused to answer her questions.) More invidious are the payoffs that have long been a part of gossip journalism. Typically, a bartender or maitre d' will be paid $25 to $50 for a story tip, and a publicity agent or someone else in the know will get a couple of hundred dollars for confirmation. Says Paul Corkery, a former Enquirer reporter and now an editor at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner: "One thing I liked is that it is the last refuge of scoundrels. You do anything to get the story."
The Enquirer's checkers attempt to be especially careful about medical and technical subjects, but even in these areas there is a temptation not to research a choice tale to death. Last month the paper reported: "A young woman was apparently made pregnant by a flying bullet —which tore off the testicle of a Civil War soldier and then passed through her abdomen!" Many celebrity stories are also difficult to verify. Admits Chief of Research Ruth Annan: "Gossip is gossip." Critics argue that at the Enquirer, getting sources is just a matter of finding some informant to say what the paper wants to hear. "It's worth a lawsuit just to find out who the insider is," says Lynde, who is suing the paper for reporting last fall that excessive drinking had caused him to collapse and that he was forced off the television show Hollywood Squares (Lynde says he quit to pursue other options).