Terry Gross on Fresh Air had an interview with a former editor of one of the tabloids recently. Journalist Bill Sloan http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/fa/20010315.fa.ram
From conspiracy theorist (so, fwiw), Alex Constantine http://www.feralhouse.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi , I read that the tabloids commonly serve as conduits for CIA and FBI disinformation.
And other bizarre shiite I saw in the in the Star a few months ago, like ex- LA FBI agent, Ted Gunderson claiming (citing the Cathy O'Brien book, "Trance Formation over America, and David Icke) that ex-President Bush, Dick Cheney, Bob Hope and Henry Kissenger are really shape shifting Satanic reptilians from outer space that engage in sado-masochistic and paedophilic sexual rituals in the Oval Office!
http://www.davidicke.com/icke/articles/bsecret.html
Michael "Grassy Knoll" Pugliese