Thread by @asymmetricinfo

A apropos of nothing in particular, I offer this observation from the incredible Bill James book, Popular Crime:

amazon.com/Popular-Crime-…

In the teens and twenties there were in most larger cities “scandal sheets,” which were in truth little more than fronts for blackmail operations.

A scandal sheet might have two reporters on staff, one of whom would hang around the police station and pay a cop to tip them off about a local politician arrested naked in the back seat of a Packard with a sixteen-year-old girl, for example ...

or a leading clergyman whose wife made a habit of falling down the stairs. These rags had an audience—there is always an audience for that sort of thing—but they really made their money from the stories they agreed not to print.

print. “Councilman Johnson, we have this story. You buy some advertising from us, we don’t print the story.” They would also agree to print stories for money.

When Councilman Johnson was being opposed for re-election, he might come up with $200, in return for which a story would run accusing his opponent of cohabiting with a woman with a drug habit, or being a silent partner in a gin room, or what have you.

Just thought that was interesting. Also, you should buy the book because @billjamesonline delivers one of the funniest, most entertaining reads ever. I still tend to pick it up when I'm feeling blue, though I've now reread it several times and can quote favorite lines by heart.