TIM RUTTEN: “When John Edwards admitted Friday that he lied about his affair with filmmaker Rielle Hunter, a former employee of his campaign, he may have ended his public life but he certainly ratified an end to the era in which traditional media set the agenda for national political journalism. . . . With that admission, the illusion that traditional print and broadcast news organizations can establish the limits of acceptable political journalism joined the passenger pigeon on the roster of extinct Americana.”

Read the whole thing. I like his characterization of “the cone of silence the nation’s major newspapers — including The Times — and the cable and broadcast networks dropped over this story.” But Ed Driscoll notes that Rutten is a bit late to the story.

UPDATE: Somewhat related item here.