John Edwards Learns (Painfully): You Can Run, But in the Age of the Internet, You CANNOT Hide
The John Edwards "scandal" illuminates new perspectives on media:
I confess that when the scandal broke in the National Enquirer, I went online and started googling the alleged participants. I learned that Bob McGovern, the man the Enquirer said drove Edwards to meet Rielle Hunter, was a psychic and "spiritual healer" in Santa Barbara, and that Rielle Hunter was seriously into New Age spirituality, and was described by novelist Jay Mcinerney when she was 20-something as "sexually voracious, cocaine-addled." Though McGovern and Hunter had obviously tried to take information about themselves off the Internet, it was still available in Google cache. I also watched Hunter's flirty videos about Edwards. All of this information, combined with Edwards' avoidance of the press, made me suspicious that the Enquirer story was at least somewhat true.
Is it possible to be 'just a friend' with a journalist? Jonathan Darman, Newsweek, sheds light on the 'other woman' in the John Edwards' story: "The first time I laid eyes on Rielle Hunter, I could tell she was a story....She was fiercely devoted to astrology and New Age spirituality...Her latest project was John Edwards...I would soon learn that there was no such thing as small talk with Rielle Hunter....It occurred to me she was saddened that she had come to think of me as a friend, but I saw her as a story." Read the whole thing.
Related:
- News and Observer's John Drescher: "Edwards Coverage Aggressive But Fair."
- NYTimes Public Editor Clark Hoyt: "Sometimes, There's News in the Gutter."
- "All of Us Are Now the Arbiters of News," by David Carr
- 'Daily Kos' Now Looks Silly in Banning Lee Stranahan Because He Posted About John Edwards.
- National Enquirer: "Bush's Booze Crisis." Is the mainstream media ignoring this "big scoop" because of conservative bias?
- Associated Press: Reporters Found Edwards Affair Tough to Prove
- Hillary Clinton Aide: if Edwards Had Been Exposed in October 2007 When the National Enquirer First Reported It, Hillary Would Have Won Iowa and Gone On to Become the Nominee. Perhaps, and if Bill Clinton's Affair With Monica Lewinsky Had Been Exposed in the Fall of 2006, Bob Dole Might Be President. Click.
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