Enquirer Editor Details Edwards Stakeouts

The National Enquirer scored big this month by accusing John Edwards of an extramarital affair—but it worked hard for the news, the New Republic reports. The tabloid's reporters staked out Rielle Hunter for days and spent hours waiting for Edwards in a Los Angeles hotel. When the hopeful snuck in via a stairwell, a reporter leaped out and asked about his "love child."

Enquirer editor-in-chief David Perel takes heat for such tactics and admits to paying for tips, but "we pay for accurate information," he says. "We do it the way cops pay tipsters and informants." He also gets to slam the nation's blue chip papers. "The two papers who look ridiculous are The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, that banned people from blogging about" the Edwards story, he says. (More National Enquirer stories.)