Perel says that when the story initially broke and nothing happened, the Enquirer was demoralized. He knew that the only way people would believe the story was if Edwards confessed, so Perel didn’t give up. He decided to have a psychologist analyze Edwards to gain any advantage possible, and the information from that report proved to be vital:

The message from the professional that changed everything was that while it would be nearly impossible to make Edwards confess, he would offer a limited version of the truth if that was the only way he could maintain control of the scandal.

From there Perel says the Enquirer set up a massive sting operation using satellites, live video feeds and even a board mapping out Hunter and Edwards’ movements. This is how Edwards was eventually caught in the act, which ulitmately lead to his confession.

So basically the Enquirer used some CSI/The Wire/NCIS tactics to bring Edwards down. Perel’s account reads like a script from any one of those shows. Okay, maybe not NCIS, though if you think Perel wouldn’t have involved the Navy if he thought it was necessary, you’re sadly mistaken.

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• Olympic Gold Medal speedskater Sven Kramer get grumpy with reporters.

• Huffington Post: Who would have seen this day coming? The National Enquirer is up for a Pulitzer Prize for its breaking of the John Edwards/Rielle Hunter sex scandal. Hey, when they’re right, they’re right.

• FishbowlDC: Perhaps the Daily News will win a Pulitzer for its coverage of CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin‘s secret love child as well.

• TVWeek: No one ever said Oprah shies away from her gimmicks: On March 3rd the queen of daytime TV will have past and future Academy Award nominees interviewing each other on her show. Too bad Katherine Bigelow won’t be there so she and James Cameron could quiz each other on their former relationship.

• Mashable: Quick, everyone jump onto this class action lawsuit against Google Buzz!

• CJR: The Daily Beast‘s list of Most Influential Journalists include very few actual, uh, journalists.

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One day we’ll all look back on the David Paterson/New York Times alleged expose and laugh about how desperate we all were for a juicy story in the middle of a long, cold February. For now though, we’re just trying to piece together how a story about a New York governor’s aide having a sordid history turned into a media spectacle about Governor Paterson having an affair. Here’s what we’ve come up with.

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New York Post: Condé Nast has officially dropped “Publications” from the end of its name — to suggest the venerable magazine publisher is finally emphasizing its digital arm.

Gawker: The debate over whether The National Enquirer should win a Pulitzer for its John Edwards scandal coverage continues.

Folio: Good news: paid subscriptions are up for women’s magazines based on data from the second half of 2009.

Ad Age: Maybe cutting subscription prices wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Variety: AOL has brought on former Google exec David Eun as content chief.

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— DIANE CLEHANE

When I met Julie Menin a few weeks ago in the Michael’s dining room and made a date for lunch, I was expecting to chat about her fabulous new show, Give and Take, which airs on Sunday night on WNBC’s NY Nonstop news channel. She’s already had Mika Brzezinski, Jane Velez Mitchell, and Barbara Corcoran as guests and is planning to chat with Annie Leibovitz on an upcoming show. Turns out we had a lot more to talk about.

In the past several weeks, Julie has been making headlines rather than reporting on them since she took up the cause of moving the trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed out of Lower Manhattan. The regulatory attorney is a strong believer in public advocacy: She founded the not-for-profit Wall Street Rising in the wake of September 11 to revitalize the neighborhood and has served as the chair of Community Board 1 since 2005. After realizing that “no elected official wanted to jump into the fray,” Julie says she had “an Aha! moment” and launched into action. She penned an op-ed for The New York Times entitled “Trial By Ferry” where she proposed Governor’s Island be considered as an alternative and has been working “24/7″ to convince elected officials that a multi-year trial would paralyze the city and effectively shut down Lower Manhattan. “No one had even done a feasibility study before deciding this would happen,” says Julie. “It was foisted on Mayor Bloomberg with no analysis.”

When Bloomberg told Julie he opposed the Governor’s Island idea because he wants to build a school and recreation center there, Julie remained undaunted and came up with three other options: West Point, Otisville Prison, and Stewart Air National Guard Base. That got the attention of The White House who, Julie says, “was looking at the issue too narrowly.” Not anymore. All indications now point to an announcement of a new venue. “It’s really a testament to what a citizen can do if they speak up and insist on having their voice heard,” says Julie. As she was explaining the campaign, former Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum stopped by our table, shook Julie’s hand, and declared, “She’s our heroine!” I asked if Julie is eyeing a run for office one day, and she didn’t rule out the possibility. “I’ll just have to see where life takes me.” Stay tuned.

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

1. Don Welsh and a table full of impressive gents including Jake Hill and Harold Shain.

2. Long time no see! Producers John Hart and Fred Zollo.

3. Former William Morris honcho Wayne Kabak, who now helms WSK Management LLC, and author Jackie Leo.

4. Mitch Kanner

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Four years ago today, ABC News’ Bob Woodruff narrowly escaped death.

Reporting from Iraq, the World News Tonight co-anchor was in a convoy struck by a roadside bomb, injuring both Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt. But in the four years since, Woodruff has beaten the insurmountable odds to recover from his serious brain injury and work on camera again.

Today, our sister blog TVNewser reports, Woodruff is celebrating his ‘Alive Day’ with a father-daughter dance with his twin nine-year-old daughters, as well as a big interview with former John Edwards aide Andrew Young on 20/20 tonight. Woodruff promises some big news from his interview with Young — “revelations that you’ll hear from an aide who was witness to much of this incredible mess.”

And even bigger news for Woodruff — he has stopped going to speech and physical therapy. He told TVNewser:

“Most of my friends and family around me four years ago, would have never really thought that I would be able to do what I’m doing now. I’m very close to the way I was before.

There’s no way that you return to exactly the way you were, but there are parts of you that are better.”

Read more: Bob Woodruff’s Big Interview Just Part Of A Big Day –TVNewser

Previously: Once Seriously Injured In Iraq, Woodruff Returns

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Former presidential candidate John Edwards has been all over the news this week, due to his (not surprising) admission of paternity of his admitted mistress’s baby, possibly spurred by the best selling book Game Change debuting this week, which features in-depth descriptions of Edwards’ actions during the 2008 campaign, including his denial of the affair.

Now the publication that broke the story, supermarket tabloid The National Enquirer plans to submit its work for a Pulitzer Prize, the most prestigious award in journalism. As Game Change explains, when the paper broke the story in 2007, the mainstream media brushed it off as sensational storytelling and mainly ignored it. But executive editor Barry Levine told The Washington Post‘s media reporter Howard Kurtz that this week’s admissions have resulted in “vindication” for the tab.

“It’s clear we should be a contender for this,” Levine told Kurtz of the Pulitzer, referring to his paper’s revelations about the affair and Edwards’ paternity of Frances Quinn Hunter. “The National Enquirer, a supermarket tabloid, was able to publish this reporting.”

Although a Pulitzer for the Enquirer would set these awards on its head, we may not get to see such a thing this year; Kurtz points out that the tabloid’s best work on the Edwards story was done in 2007 and 2008, and this year’s prizes will honor work for 2009. Still, for a prize that has never even gone to an online news outlet, any shake up in the Pulitzer world would hint that the respected award recognizes the changing landscape of the media today. In reality, a nomination or award for The National Enquirer or TMZ might not be that far off, as long as they keep producing solid investigative journalism and breaking important news — assuming the Pulitzer committee can separate that work from the sensational things that are published by those sources.

John Edwards’ paternity admission vindicates National Enquirer, its editor says –The Washington Post

Previously: Game Change Authors Talk Reporting, Reaction To Their Book

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TVNewser: Dan Rather‘s appeal of a New York court’s decision to throw out his suit against his former employer, CBS, has been denied, effectively ending his legal action against the network.

MediaPost: Arbitron’s CEO Michael Skarzynski has resigned from his post over Congressional testimony from last year. He will be replaced by Meredith Corp.‘s chairman William Kerr.

AdAge: An exit interview with Fairchild’s Richard Beckman.

paidContent: Charles Pelton, who helped conceive the failed “salon dinners” for The Washington Post discussed how to make reporters into profit centers.

Politics Daily: Does The National Enquirer deserve a Pulitzer Prize for its work on the John Edwards scandal? Why not give TMZ one for its investigative work on the Tiger Woods debacle?

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The article quotes Michael Oreskes, the AP’s vice president and senior managing editor who said simply, “We don’t let other people edit our wire.”

Requests like this are pretty common now and Oprah Winfrey, Matt Lauer and Larry King all complied with Edwards’ “out of consideration” in order to score an interview with her. But what does it say about the AP that they have to write an article about why they didn’t write an article about Elizabeth Edwards? What message are they trying to send?

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Last week, we sat down to watch Edwards on “Oprah”, expecting to sob hysterically as the terminally ill cancer patient discussed her husband’s affair with campaign employee Rielle Hunter and his possible love child. Admittedly, Elizabeth’s confession that she had only asked John for one thing — loyalty — pulled at the heartstrings. But the sight of former Sen. John Edwards slinking off at the beginning of the interview, and then waiting around to be chastised by Oprah at the end of the show, was off-putting. Then, Elizabeth unfeelingly described how she had learned about John’s affair shortly after he launched his presidential campaign, how she had begged him to pull out, but then stood by him when he decided not to, in order to avoid drawing more attention to their family. There was a disconnect. It wasn’t what we had expected at all.

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An item in today’s Post says that “the troops at the Enquirer were instructed not to do any anti-Hillary Clinton stories during the campaign.” Really? One could argue there weren’t a lot of skeletons to be further flushed out of Hillary’s closet (Bill may be a different story) but the Post speculates that two Clinton chums — Clinton numbers man Roger Altman, who “poured $767 million” into NE‘s parent company AMI back in 1999, and the infamous Ron Burkle, who was tried to buy AMI last year — may have had more to do with it. Sometimes you get what you need.

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The lawyers are linked through Fred Baron, a wealthy Dallas lawyer and former finance chairman for the Edwards campaign who was a key player in the campaign’s response to the scandal…After initially saying that he did not know how the lawyers were chosen to represent Ms. Hunter and Mr. Young, Mr. Baron acknowledged that he might have played a role.

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If the political press corps were honest, they’d start every convention story with the finding that nothing important happened that day and that your attention is not needed…Instead, they satisfy themselves by being the co-producers of a bad reality-TV show about the coronation of a man who would be king.

It’s like a vacation, only no spouses! There’s free food, plenty of booze, nice hotels, lots of pals in the press and politics dishing gossip, and the assignment is easy to report. Ferguson concludes that political conventions exist only to make the second convention — the “journalists’ convention” — possible.

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I’ve got a theory about the motivations. Well, I don’t know that I could — I don’t know that I can put this one on the air…We know — we’ve been told that Elizabeth Edwards is smarter than John Edwards. That’s part of the puff pieces on them that we’ve seen. Ergo, if Elizabeth Edwards is smarter than John Edwards, is it likely that she thinks she knows better than he does what his speeches ought to contain and what kind of things he ought to be doing strategy-wise in the campaign? If she is smarter than he is, could it have been her decision to keep going with the campaign? In other words, could it be that she doesn’t shut up? Now, that’s as far as I’m going to go…It just seems to me that Edwards might be attracted to a woman whose mouth did something other than talk…my theory that I just explained to you about why — you know, what could have John Edwards‘ motivations been to have the affair with Rielle Hunter, given his wife is smarter than he is and probably nagging him a lot about doing this, and he found somebody that did something with her mouth other than talk.

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On CNN’s Reliable Sources Salon‘s Joan Walsh said it was more a matter of there not being enough sources, even anonymous ones. CNN’s Jessica Yellin concurred but also pointed out (and we think she probably makes a very good point here) that if the media had been in “hot pursuit of the story and pushing it and putting it on the airwaves at that time, we would have gotten lambasted for ignoring a war, ignoring a tanking economy, and all these issues that matters to voters.” For his part Howie Kurtz says the situation became “ludicrous” and basically turned into “a conspiracy of silence by the media.” That said, up until today the majority of the NYT print coverage was relegated to the Caucus blog, the op-ed pages and a Week in Review story about disgraced politicians and television written by Alessandra Stanley (according to public editor Clark Hoyt the Times never even made “serious effort to investigate the story”). Of course, you may have also heard that Russia is in the midst of launching a war.

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