understanding his political accomplishments. Political journalist John Seigenthaler said he observed that the press was moving more and more into accepting unchecked and unsubstantiated hearsay about sexual allegations against public figures. While Molly Ivins, a syndicated columnist, said that "anyone with a pecuniary or political motive for destroying someone else’s reputation was suspect, especially "charges made by sources with an ax to grind." And as another editorial stated, "One other reason the mainline media jumped into the adultery story with no evidence beyond the tales of a paid-for informant is that 'sex sells.' And it is an easy sell." It adds: Dick Morris Star tabloid published a story about Dick Morris, who was Bill Clinton's campaign manager, that he had been involved with a prostitute. The story seriously affected the final session of the Democratic National Convention in 1996. It led to his discontinuing work on that campaign just two months before the election. Morris resigned after the story was subsequently also published by the New York Post. He called the published allegations "sadistic vitriol" and "yellow journalism." Some Democrats accused the Post of engaging in a political ploy, which the paper denied. In any case, the story "exploded in a town full of reporters who haven’t had anything to write for three weeks," said CNN reporter Bruce Morton, "so we pounced on it." Speculations soon followed that the timing of the release of that story was "no accident," but was carefully planned by the Star to have "maximum effect." It was learned that the woman had been trying to sell the story of her ongoing affair to the Star for over a month before it was published, and the Star helped her plan a trap to get photos of them on a hotel balcony. She received $50,000 for the story. The Star'''s editor, Phil Bunton, acknowledged that they paid the prostitute for her information and cooperation. He later said that "if it was just ‘Dick Morris slept with a hooker,' I don’t think it would have gone anywhere. It would have been a non-story." It was apparent that the tabloid wanted the story out before the convention ended. ABC-TV’s Brit Hume called the story a "body blow to the president." In 1992, the Star also broke the story about Clinton's alleged affair with nightclub singer Gennifer Flowers, and had reportedly paid her $150,000 for that story. Al Gore Former