Even before former President Donald J. Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a sex scandal, a verdict was being delivered on The National Enquirer.
The no-holds-barred supermarket tabloid was once famous for publishing salacious stories about celebrities and politicians. Now it may be better known for suppressing them.
“It’s just a tragedy for the paper,” said Barry Levine, the publication’s former executive editor, sitting in the living room of his one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan on a recent morning.
Was he being overly dramatic? Perhaps.
Even among those who consider it a guilty pleasure, The Enquirer can hardly be described as a national treasure. But try telling that to Mr. Levine, a swashbuckling journalist who worked there from 1999 until 2016 and whose professional and personal identity was shaped by it.
“I grew up with the romantic vision of ‘The Front Page,’ the press cards and hats, the larger than life personalities of Fleet Street reporters who did whatever they had to do to get the story,” Mr. Levine said. “I was in love with that type of journalism — and I found it at The National Enquirer.”