Publisher Whacks Trump's Pecker

The marketing company that owns Us Weekly and other magazines announced late yesterday that it had rid the magazine industry of its biggest embarrassment.

Accelerate is merging with (that is, taking over) scandal-ridden American Media, Inc. and kicking its controversial CEO, David J. Pecker, to an "Executive Advisor" role. ("David, we've got a big wad of money for you if you can manage to stay out of trouble and keep your mouth shut.")

Pecker is infamous for guiding AMI's "catch-and-kill" hush-money payments -- to porn star Stormy Daniels among others -- to block rather than publish potentially damaging articles about his associates, most notably his long-time friend Donald Trump. He was granted immunity by the feds in exchange for cooperating with their investigation.

During most of 2016, Pecker turned the Enquirer into a pro-Trump propaganda organ full of lies about his opponents so outrageous that they would have made Joseph Goebbels blush. It was a far cry from the era when it published significant investigative journalism, including the photo that crashed the 1988 presidential campaign of former Sen. Gary Hart. 

Let's just hope that Pecker's new advisory role at A360 (the merged company's new name) doesn't include providing guidance about journalism ethics or legal matters.