Today on the Huffington Post, David Perel, former Editor-in-Chief for the National Enquirer, talks about how the paper finally forced John Edwards to confess to cheating on his wife with Rielle Hunter.

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.

Although the company is steadily climbing out of debt, not everything is sunshine and roses at American Media Inc. WWD’s Zeke Turner writes that AMI’s National Enquirer and Star magazine have made cutbacks to their West coast teams and now both titles’ employees will work together under the guidance of New York-based editors.  Among the four total layoffs were three reporters – Star’s Debbie Emery and Sandra Clark and the Enquirer’s Phil Kim.  These reporters will now be able to serve as freelancers.

The two mags will now work together in what Star editor-in-chief Candace Trunzo has dubbed an “AMI news bureau.”  National Enquirer editor-in-chief Tony Frost provided his rationale for the job cuts:

It’s a case of us working smarter and cutting out duplication.

An AMI spokesperson denied that the layoffs had any connection to the publisher’s bankruptcy filings from last November or declining circulation numbers.  No further cutbacks are expected.

• 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.

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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Playboy Enterprises has promoted Playboy magazine’s editorial director Jimmy Jellinek to the newly created position of chief content officer.

In his new position, the former editor-in-chief of Maxim and Stuff will now oversee the content on all of Playboy Enterprises’ media platforms. This move expands Jellinek’s reach from oversight of Playboy‘s print and online content to all print, online, mobile, TV, film and radio content coming from the minds of Hugh Hefner and company.

Jellinek’s promotion comes less than a week after news broke about Playboy’s deal with American Media Inc., handing over certain aspects of the back-end of the business to the National Enquirer publisher.

Full release after the jump

Previously: Playboy Strikes Deal With AMI

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Two weeks ago, news leaked that Playboy Enterprises was in talks to sell their holdings to London Fog owner Iconix Brand Group Inc. Hugh Hefner‘s publishing empire’s stock has fallen drastically in the last five years, and the recent economic downturn dealt a major blow to the magazine industry, and drew speculation that Playboy was no longer a sustainable enterprise. (In September alone, Playboy‘s ad pages fell 35 percent.) Turns out, the rumors were only half right.

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This week, we learned of two top magazine staffers, one publisher and one editor-in-chief, leaving their posts after just a few months on the job.

First came word that Susan Reed is leaving her spot as editor-in-chief at O, The Oprah Magazine after less than a year at the helm of the Hearst pub. Before joining O, Reed served as the editor-in-chief at Golf for Women for more than six years. She will be replaced by Time Inc.‘s Susan Casey.

Also this week, the New York Post reported that Francis Farrell will be leaving the publisher slot at Men’s Journal after less than six months. Farrell formerly worked as publisher National Geographic Traveler and joined the men’s magazine in October 2008. Farrell will be replaced by Matt Mastrangelo, the Post said.

The Post also reported that American Media, which publishes Star and National Enquirer has lost its CFO Dean Durbin after only a year and a half — not quite as short a stint as the others but a quick turnaround nonetheless.

One has to wonder at the logic of a magazine distribution standoff in the midst of a financial crisis that’s threatening to sink the industry. Nonetheless (as threatened) Time Inc., American Media, and Bauer have pulled their magazines from Wal-Mart, the single biggest magazine retailer in the country, over a dispute with wholesalers Anderson News and Source Interlink Cos, who (as threatened) have imposed a seven cent surcharge on every copy delivered.

This means until the dispute is settled Wal-Mart will be without copies of People, Sports Illustrated, Time, In Touch, Life & Style, Star, and National Enquirer. Time Inc. says they have pulled together their own network of wholesalers, which is great but doesn’t solve the problem of Wal-Mart who says it is standing behind Source Interlink and Anderson.

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Looks like the layoff wave has rolled into NPR. Despite reaching “near-record audience levels on-air and online,” NPR has announced that due to the current economy and a shortfall in corporate underwriting they are laying off 7% of their workforce and cutting expenses: “A total of 64 filled positions have been eliminated against NPR’s current staff of 889, 21 open positions will not be filled and travel and discretionary expenses have been cut across the organization. The press release (in full after the jump) says that a significant number of the cuts will come from the cancellation of NPR produced programs — Day to Day and News & Notes. UPDATE: FBDC has the staff memo.

Meanwhile AMI, the company that publishes Star magazine and the National Enquirer is on the verge of filing for bankruptcy. The NYP is reporting that the company missed a Dec. 1 final deadline to make a $21.2 million interest payment and is “feverishly negotiating with bondholders of $1.1 billion of its debt.”

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Next time they should send the National Enquirer! Turns out that story Page Six ran last week (it’s since been removed) about Michelle Obama ordering caviar and lobster to her Waldorf Astoria room wasn’t true at all! Says Page Six‘s retraction in today’s paper:

The source who told us last week about Michelle Obama getting lobster and caviar delivered to her room at the Waldorf-Astoria must have been under the influence of a mind-altering drug. She was not even staying at the Waldorf. We regret the mistake, and our former source is going to regret it, too. Bread and water would be too good for such disinformation.

Fair enough. How Rush Limbaugh will counter his charges of “hypocrisy” is another story. Also, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that some astute blogger felt that the non-existent lobster and caviar order was further proof of Obama consorting with (non-existent) terrorists.