Supermarket rag bids for journalism's Pulitzer

The story of the month features a top politician who cheated on his sick wife, fathered a baby for his hidden mistress and used paid aides to help him concoct the most outrageous fibs.

The theme of the month is closely related: it features journalists despising other journalists.

That lying would-be world leader first: Senator John Edwards, who ran for Vice-President in 2004 and might have been on the Obama ticket as well - except that America's favourite "sleaze sheet", the National Enquirer, staged a long, dogged campaign to expose him.

It unearthed pictures of Edwards holding the baby he said wasn't his. It discovered a rich Edwards donor paying the mistress to keep quiet.

It propelled his aides towards red-faced confession. It bathed Elizabeth Edwards, archetypal good wife and cancer victim, in the kindliest light. And it finished the career of a man who might have been President.

Any reporting team would call that a bit of a result: one quite on a par with the New York Times team that won a Pulitzer prize last year for exposing the then Governor of New York's trips to a call girl. But there was one difference.

The New York Times is lofty, authoritative, and the Enquirer is, well, a supermarket rag, an affront to high-minded editors everywhere.

The Enquirer thinks it should get a Pulitzer when the jury sits next month, and finally won entry rights last week.

The Pulitzer people, tortuous arguments stacked end to end, struggled in vain to stave off the inevitable.

Pundits who know a good story utterly nailed when they see it - like John Cook at Gawker.com - were on the Enquirer's side. Defenders of more exalted professional faith averted eyes and curled lips in unison.

See how one chunk of the news business despises another. The posher end can't stand the grubby merchants down below.

But always remember: it's the story that counts, just as much as the sanctity of the methodology. John Edwards let everyone - including Joe Public - down. Joe should be duly grateful he was exposed.

- OBSERVER