[EL] Media exemption and National Enquirer's "catch and kill" of McDougal story

[Kogan, Vladimir]

I apologize if this question was already discussed/answered, but the following portions of the Washington Post's story<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-probe-into-trumps-lawyer-seeks-records-about-two-women-who-alleged-affairs-with-the-president/2018/04/10/624104a2-3cda-11e8-a7d1-e4efec6389f0_story.html?utm_term=.f377af248b9f&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1> caught my attention:

"Investigators are also seeking all communications about Daniels and McDougal among Cohen, David Pecker - a friend of Trump and the chief executive of American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer - and Dylan Howard, the chief content officer for American Media and a reporter there. ...  The former Playmate has said she had a 10-month relationship with Trump beginning in 2006 and then sold her story to American Media for $150,000 about three months before the 2016 election. No story about McDougal ever appeared in the National Enquirer, a tabloid practice sometimes referred to as 'catch and kill.'"

If American Media Inc. used corporate general treasury funds to pay McDougal with the express goal of helping Trump AND assuming this is treated as an in-kind contribution to the campaign (which I realize is a big assumption), would the company be entitled to the press exemption?

Thanks in advance for everyone's thoughts!

Vlad Kogan

[The Ohio State University]
Vladimir Kogan, Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
2004 Derby Hall | 154 N. Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210-1373
510/415-4074 Mobile
614/292-9498 Office
614/292-1146 Fax
http://u.osu.edu/kogan.18/
kogan.18 at osu.edu<mailto:kogan.18 at osu.edu>


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