Confidential Magazine

Confidential Magazine was a tabloid magazine published from 1952-1978. Some have labelled it a 'scandal' magazine.

The magazine was notable for investigative journalism about public figures in politics and Hollywood. Publisher Robert Harrison brought on former Communist Howard Rushmore to help cover and expose Communist agents in the government. In time, Harrison also found readers enjoyed reading the real-life stories of famous celebrities.

In August 1955, the Postmaster General refused to distribute the magazine on the grounds of obscenity. This caused the magazine to adapt its business model to be produced and printed with regional printshops, and then distributed directly to newsstands, bypassing the mails altogether. Even though the magazine was regularly derided for being disinformation, the magazine was scrupulous about fact-checking and having attorneys review its stories prior to publication.

The publication developed an ingenious method for preventing harassment lawfare libel lawsuits. The magazine would print a story, but purposefully tone down the story so that it would be less salacious. In this way, if the offended party were to sue, they would face the negative consequence of the full story becoming public knowledge.

Confidential was the first national outlet to report:

• Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio's marriage was ending, August 1953
• FDR Secretary of State Sumner Welles was actually fired in 1943 for soliciting male railway workers, not what was originally reported, March 1956
• Liberace was homosexual and preying on young men around him, July 1957
• Segregationist Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus had been trained at a Communist Labor school in his teens, Commonwealth College in Mena, Arkansas, February 1959

The magazine's most notorious period was from 1954-1958, when the publication was sued for criminal libel by the Los Angeles District Attorney Jerry Brown, who then ran for and became Governor of California. The trial was ultimately a mistrial, and featured testimony against Publisher Harrison by former Editor Rushmore.

Books

• Barbas, Samantha (2018). Confidential Confidential: The Inside Story of Hollywood's Notorious Scandal Magazine.
• Bernstein, Samuel (2006). Mr. Confidential: The Man, His Magazine & The Movieland Massacre That Changed Hollywood Forever. Walford Press.
• Scott, Henry E. (2010). Shocking True Story: The Rise and Fall of Confidential, "America's Most Scandalous Scandal Magazine". Pantheon