According to the HuffPo, the The National Enquirer officially has permission to compete for the Pulitzer Prize. And according to us, Barry Levine officially has the right to scream “Suck it, Sulzberger!”
The National Enquirer entered the “Investigative Reporting” and “National News Reporting” categories for its coverage of the John Edwards baby-daddy scandal, an exclusive scoop they broke nearly a year before other publications even mentioned it. Once the public finally caught on, it effectively destroyed Edwards’ political career; last time I checked, this is a prime example of investigative journalism.
Nevertheless, when the Enquirer originally announced its intentions to run, several traditional media figures, including the Pulitzer’s administrator Sig Gissler, poo-pooed the tabloid’s bid for journalism’s pristine prize.
“The Enquirer is a magazine, not a newspaper!”they cried.
“This reporting took place in 2007 and 2008; it’s not eligible for a 2009 prize!”
“These people pay their sources and sometimes they STILL have Bigfoot on the cover!”
They hassled the Enquirer with a barrage of technical reasons they should not win (Gawker’s John Cook wrote a great piece dissecting the reasons), but eventually, the Pulitzer Prize board came around.
“We apply entry criteria and if an entrant meets them, the entrant is allowed to participate,” Gissler told Gawker this morning. And good for them. The Enquirer did terrific work on this story and should be justly recognized. 12-toed aliens or not.
