Hell hath no fury like a tabloid scorned

Even without phones, internet service, and television converter boxes, most people in Cincinnati's low-income and crime-ridden neighborhood of Over-the-Rhine knew Michael Jackson had died on Thursday evening only moments after The New York Times confirmed the story. That is, except for the people who knew months before.

On Friday morning, while rounding on my home visits in this neighborhood, patients and their families shared how most first heard the news on Thursday afternoon: on 100.9 FM, "The Wiz", a station with a playlist designed for the "urban" demographic. The DJ first reported coma, then reported death, but one patient's grandmother recalled one "Wiz" 's am deejay reporting the death in January. January?

"The deejay said that The National Enquirer said he only had six months to live and that was in the beginning of January. Six months ago," she says.

While prophecy is no substitute for investigative journalism, prescient though it might be, the same day The National Enquirer published a piece on John Edward's 90 minute interview to The Washington Post as more evidence of it's ability over more respected outlets to once again deliver the scoop.

With snarky vindication they write: "Leave it to The Washington Post, our 4th estate brothers in investigative journalism, to get to the crux of the matter." The title of the piece? "John Edwards speaks for 90 minutes, says nothing."