My first posting made the point that I don't think that the allegations were necessarily false... Gannett publishing (owners of Enquirer) merely caved in because the means of obtaining information was illegal. To me, that is a separate point - yes they are guilty of theft, but not of libel!!
The publisher of the Enquirer says this:
"We arrived at the decision to apologize to Chiquita because we feel that the end product of the series was tainted by the unethical and illegal means by which the voice mails were obtained," he added. "Breaking the law and lying to one's employer have no place at the Enquirer and therefore we were unable to stand behind the stories."