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The National Enquirer Earns Some Respect (for exposing John Edwards)
New York Times ^ | March 7, 2010 | Stephanie Clifford

Posted on 03/07/2010 5:16:56 PM PST by reaganaut1

...

By being the first and, largely, the only publication pursuing the Edwards story through his denials of the affair and of fathering a child out of wedlock, The Enquirer is under consideration for a Pulitzer Prize, and it has strong support for its bid from other journalists. The success has Mr. Levine considering opening a Washington bureau to look for more dirt among politicians.

It’s a curious time for The Enquirer to be soaring. Its parent company, American Media, nearly went bankrupt last year.

A former editor claims the company pressured Tiger Woods into appearing on the cover of the sister publication Men’s Fitness in 2007 in exchange for spiking an Enquirer article on his infidelity. (David Pecker, American Media’s chief, declined to comment on that, but says he does not trade favors for coverage).

On The Enquirer’s home turf, the competition has never been more intense, with organizations like TMZ as well as traditional papers pecking away at personal lives of celebrities.

But The Enquirer stays ahead by doing what other papers won’t. It threw reporters at the Edwards story, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on expenses, conducted stakeouts, paid informants and ran pieces based entirely on anonymous sources.

Those tactics have set off a debate about whether The Enquirer should even be eligible for a Pulitzer, the most prestigious journalism award. “When you pay people for information, the information itself often becomes distorted,” said Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute, though she said she supported its Pulitzer entry.

Leonard Downie Jr., the former executive editor of The Washington Post, said he was fine with it as long as The Enquirer did not pay sources on the articles in the award entries.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: edwards; johnedwards; leonarddownie; nationalenquirer

1 posted on 03/07/2010 5:16:57 PM PST by reaganaut1
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To: reaganaut1

And of course about Jesse Jackson.


2 posted on 03/07/2010 5:18:59 PM PST by Niuhuru (The Internet is the digital AIDS; adapting and successfully destroying the MSM host.)
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To: reaganaut1
It would have been child's play for CNNABCNBCCBSMSNBC to expose the Edward scandal.

They just didn't want to.


3 posted on 03/07/2010 5:24:11 PM PST by SkyPilot
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To: reaganaut1

I’m not a fan of the N.E. as a general rule. Still, they deserve credit for pursuing a legitimate news story that more mainstream publications either chose not to investigate, or actively buried (NY Times).

Plus, if they won a Pulitzer, I would get to revel in seeing the heads of a lot of pompous MSM types explode.


4 posted on 03/07/2010 5:30:23 PM PST by DemforBush (Somebody wake me when sanity has returned to the nation.)
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To: SkyPilot

It would have been child’s play for CNNABCNBCCBSMSNBC to expose the Edward scandal.

They just didn’t want to.


Exactly! If it had been a conservative, they would have been the 1st to report it and all over it.


5 posted on 03/07/2010 5:31:23 PM PST by boycott (CAL)
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To: reaganaut1

It’s sad that it now takes the National Enquirer to report the news.


6 posted on 03/07/2010 5:31:26 PM PST by Brilliant
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To: Brilliant

The National Enquirer was the only publication that had the seeds to write about the Lewinsky scandal.

Shortly thereafter, the National Enquirer was sold to a group of Clintonistas.

The National Enquirer now took out Edwards from ever running for office again, as in 2012 when Hillary Clinton wants to run.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist but.................


7 posted on 03/07/2010 5:38:55 PM PST by shelterguy
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To: SkyPilot

What an unattractive couple


8 posted on 03/07/2010 5:53:37 PM PST by A_Former_Democrat
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To: SkyPilot

I see scary people.


9 posted on 03/07/2010 5:56:58 PM PST by pepperdog (As Israel goes, so goes America!)
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To: reaganaut1

Kudos to the N. E.

Now move on to that birth certificate thing.

Maybe even Larry Sinclair.

The public wants to know.


10 posted on 03/07/2010 5:59:46 PM PST by CriticalJ
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To: DemforBush
My sentiments exactly. By golly if that fraud Algore can win such a prize, why not the National Enquirer. After all the NE got the story right!
11 posted on 03/07/2010 6:11:58 PM PST by Sunshine Sister
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To: reaganaut1

How special, a story about a sleezy Dummie.


12 posted on 03/07/2010 6:16:37 PM PST by Marty62 (former Marty60)
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To: CriticalJ
"Kudos to the N. E. Now move on to that birth certificate thing. "

Amen...that would be their "story of the century".
13 posted on 03/07/2010 6:23:47 PM PST by FrankR (Those of us who love AMERICA far outnumber those who love obama - your choice.)
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To: reaganaut1

Too bad they didn’t do an expose on Obummer. Then we wouldn’t be in this mess with this POS Marxist lightweight in the Whitehouse.


14 posted on 03/07/2010 6:28:36 PM PST by alice_in_bubbaland (Markets and Marxists Don't Mix! Audit the FED NOW!)
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To: reaganaut1

Now they need to go after what a fraud Barry Hussein Sotero is.


15 posted on 03/07/2010 6:36:31 PM PST by rambo316
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To: DemforBush

This seemed to be one of those satire posts at first. With David Pecker reporting on Tiger Woods sexual exploits all of the earmarks were there. Then the bigfeet media whores brought it back to reality. We are still screwed.


16 posted on 03/07/2010 6:41:33 PM PST by billhilly
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To: AdmSmith; Berosus; bigheadfred; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Fred Nerks; ...
By being the first and, largely, the only publication pursuing the Edwards story through his denials of the affair and of fathering a child out of wedlock, The Enquirer is under consideration for a Pulitzer Prize...
...why not? The Nobel Peace Prize a-holes awarded Gore, Carter, Arafat, etc... Thanks reaganaut1.
17 posted on 03/07/2010 7:03:55 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Freedom is Priceless.)
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To: reaganaut1

Oh, NE, puhleeze, PLEASE open up a Washington bureau! I have been sure for a long time now that there’s some juicy personal dirt on Obama, or maybe Rahm Emanuel. And NE is just the organization to uncover it!


18 posted on 03/07/2010 10:31:18 PM PST by Hetty_Fauxvert (PETRAEUS IN 2012 ..... PETRAEUS IN 2012 ..... PETRAEUS IN 2012!)
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To: reaganaut1
“When you pay people for information, the information itself often becomes distorted,” said Kelly McBride,

Well, this certainly explains why Krugman doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. They're paying him.

19 posted on 03/08/2010 4:39:03 PM PST by VeniVidiVici (Democrats and Pelosi. The party of thieves, liars and tax cheats)
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