They avoided the story because there was no proof and John Edwards is the most successful trial lawyer in American history. A legitimate newspaper would have been insane to print it. The Enquirer only did because it is on the verge of folding: if they were wrong, Edwards wouldn’t have the chance to sue, but if they were right they might be able to increase circulation to the point that they can keep going.

And to my mind, most media outlets are ultra-conservative in one very sensible way: they only print what won’t get them sued into oblivion.

I do find it interesting that when Democrats cheat they’re amoral atheist scum, but when conservatives cheat it’s because they’ve been sadly led astray. People of every political stripe cheat.

Some are an attempt to create dialogue among readers about the content of articles. On the New York Times’s Bitten blog readers can discuss Mark Bittman’s columns and videos, debate food ethics, and provide information to their fellow readers about how well recipes work.

Some are an attempt to go behind the scenes in almost a “Making Of” sense. The Washington Posts’s “Post Mortem” goes into how obituary subjects are chosen, the differences in fact verification and tone between American and British newspaper obituaries (the British generally consider eyewitness testimony of what someone said as reliable, whereas the Americans want corroboration).

Some will tell stories from a different, more personal angle than in the straight news section. Dan Lett has been covering a public inquiry about police corruption in Winnipeg. His stories cover the facts of the inquiry, but his blogs have gone into the smaller details that don’t fit into the articles, as well as the writer’s own opinion of the entire fiasco. (He’s just been pulled off the story, though.)

I kid you not.

The same gang of fools said the same things about Elliot Spitzer, John McCain, and Bill Clinton.

I can think of 2 explanations for news organizations with news blogs:
1. “We need to be cool and with-it. Someone write a blob.”
2. They can publish a large number of stories quickly without the time and expense needed to bring them up to publishable quality and standards.