Is the National Enquirer’s Scoop on Edwards Pulitzer-Worthy?

Posted on Jan 21, 2010

AP / Matthew Putney

Before the fall: John Edwards, above on the campaign trail in 2007, is the subject of the National Enquirer’s 2009 Pulitzer Prize submission.

To answer our own headline question: It remains to be seen whether this year’s Pulitzer Prize committee members think so, but the editors at the National Enquirer apparently believe that their tabloid’s coverage of John Edwards’ extramarital affair has a shot at journalistic glory. They’ve thrown their reports on the former Democratic presidential candidate’s liaison in for official consideration among the submissions for 2009.  —KA

The Washington Post:

“It’s clear we should be a contender for this,” Barry Levine said by phone Thursday, hours after the former presidential candidate admitted what the newspaper had been reporting all along: that he is the father of Rielle Hunter’s baby. “The National Enquirer, a supermarket tabloid, was able to publish this reporting.”

[...] Although the Enquirer stories may or may not be prize-winning material—the tabloid’s most significant disclosures came in 2007 and 2008, and this year’s Pulitzers will honor material published in 2009—there is no question that the paper scooped the rest of the media world. 

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