Producer Burt Kearns 
Of course, it's not just Kearns produced shows that work this ways, but the whole media industry. Case in point, the infamous fake "child porn" story of the National Enquirer in 2016.
A lot of times I see people refer to it and when I tell them it's a tabloid story they pull an article from, say The Independent or The Guardian, supposedly "reputable" publications to show how it's not.
They probably don't notice that all these "reputable" sources cite the NE article on this, thus their article isn't any more reputable than the National Enquirer. But the fact it's now in a supposedly "reputable" paper gives the story legitimacy in people's eyes.
That's how the barrier between tabloids and supposedly "reputable" media is blurred. In fact, "reputable" media is often not any more reliable when it comes to MJ than tabloids.
But as long as they can cite a "source" - in this case, the NE - they themselves are covered from any liability if the story is not true.
And don't think they don't know that the NE, or other tabloids aren't reliable source. Yet, they still run their stories, at least about MJ, thus giving those stories "legitimacy" in people's eyes.
And how do the tabloids themselves cover themselves from liability? The old trick of referring to unnamed "sources". Since media is protected by the Shield Law they can't be forced to reveal who the unnamed source is (often not even by Court).
This gives them the possibility to just make up such "unnamed sources". Or to use sources that they know are not reliable.
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