The story, for those of you who must know, involves John Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina, recent presidential candidate and oft-mentioned potential member of Sen. Barack Obama’s short list for vice president. The National Enquirer claims to have ambushed Edwards while he was cavorting with his alleged mistress — who, the paper also claims, has a son with the former senator. All this has been going on while his wife is in the midst of a battle with cancer. The Enquirer further alleges it had a photographer at the scene.

Really, though, the story isn’t about Edwards, at least for me. Despite what others may think, I tend to believe that an affair — as duplicitous as it may be — does not actually affect a person’s ability to run a nation.

Look at John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Both have been subject to numerous rumors of affairs and both are still regarded by many as some of the greatest leaders our nation has had.

The true story in all this is the way the so-called “mainstream” media has avoided any mention of the news. The story broke last Tuesday in the Enquirer. It wasn’t until Sunday that a major newspaper — The London Times — ran a piece about the scandal.

Some may say that the media was ignoring it simply because of the source of the allegations. But Enquirer breaks major stories more than one would think.

In its history, the Enquirer has revealed a love child of Jesse Jackson and several elements of the Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton affair, as well as uncovering proof that, despite O.J. Simpson’s statements under oath in a court, the ex-football player did own a pair of Bruno Magli shoes.

In a blog, The Dallas Morning News even wrote that “the Enquirer, as sleazy as its tactics strike many people, has a better reputation on stories like this than you might think.” Rod Dreher, the author of the blog, goes on to state that he believes the story.

Slate.com reported the Los Angeles Times has banned all its bloggers from even mentioning the story, even if all the author wished to do was express incredulity at the news. Considering that blogs are often thought of as being less staid, more open and more conversational, this seems to be an extraordinary step. It begs the question: What is it that the L.A. Times is afraid of?

There may be a good answer to that question, but the first thing in my mind — the mind of a proud liberal — is that the Times is betraying a bias. For years there have been cries that the media is biased towards the left, despite repeated denials by the press. It doesn’t help that this whole thing is breaking in the midst of criticism about the press’s coverage of Obama’s overseas trip.

No matter what the real reasons the press has for not covering the story, it seems to be a situation where there’s plenty of smoke and just a faint whiff of fire. Even if the papers are ignoring the story to protect the left, their efforts will probably only backfire on them.

The smartest thing the left could do would be to lead the charge on this issue. The story may be completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, but by ignoring it the press is simply giving it more legs. It becomes less about what the story is about and more about why they don’t seem to want to let the public know about it.

If they dug into it and there was nothing there, it would fade within a news cycle or two. If there was something big in it, better for a friend to find it first and prepare for the oncoming storm rather than be blindsided by an enemy.

The media needs to wake up and realize that with the proliferation of information on the Internet, their ability to dictate what is and isn’t a story is fading. It’s time for them to face the facts and at least acknowledge that this news is out, even if it’s only in a blog post. The longer it takes them to realize this, the more they’ll lose what credibility they have left. Don’t be surprised to see this whole imbroglio brought up in the future every time conservatives find themselves covered unfavorably. What the press really doesn’t want to acknowledge is that they’ll have a point.

James Harrison is a State News columnist. Reach him at harri310@msu.edu.