In the beginning ET was OK by junk standards. They will merely mention what a star was doing at the time, but as the late 80s/90s rolled in it become more tacky focusing on soundbites and sensationalism, so I do not hold them to any high standards as some do.
Basically thorson claims are issues that the media and Michael so-called friends have been saying: 1) he was speaking to Michael, implying here that he had an ongoing relationship with him; 2) Michael had doctors around him; 3) Michael had plastic surgery; 4) Michael is gay; 5) Michael is a child molester; 6) Michael was a druggie. Because these claims are always the highlight of media news on Michael it is easy for any person to make up stores around these issues by looking at what the media has reported or the mysterious "sources" have told Enquirer, Sun, etc. If you look at it there is nothing new here-only Fiddes name is added. Sometimes it is Carter, sometimes Klien, sometimes the friend Cascio, etc.--they all have these stories where they are involved in 1 or more of these tabloid issues listed above.
ET should not even bring Emanuel into this because he could have said himself if there was any wrongdoing on Michael's part. I doubt they would not dare mention Macauley, because he is more vocal.