Confidential (magazine)
Confidential was a periodical published quarterly from December 1952 to August 1953, and then bi-monthly until 1978. It was founded by Robert Harrison and is considered a pioneer in scandal, gossip, and exposé journalism. Newsweek said it featured "sin and sex with a seasoning of right wing politics".
Its journalism consisted just as much of innuendo as of exposés. For example, the magazine alleged that Bing Crosby was a wife beater and that Rock Hudson and Liberace were homosexuals ("Lavender Lads"), and made public the fact that Robert Mitchum had been charged with smoking marijuana. Apart from spreading gossip and outing homosexuals, Confidential combined its exposés with a conservative agenda especially targeted at those who sympathized with the political left and at celebrities that it claimed were engaged in inter-racial affairs.
Humphrey Bogart described its popularity: "Everybody reads it but they say the cook brought it into the house."
Read more about Confidential (magazine): Journalistic Techniques, Instant Success, Implications For Hollywood, On Trial, After The Trial, Later Legal Activity, Impact, Portrayal in Other Media