Reviewing Mediaite’s Power Grid ranking of the top Print and Online Columnists is loke looking at the modern day Journalistic Hall of Fame. Familiar bylines – from business models old and new – peacefully coexist next to one another: Krugman and Kruathammer pleasantly reside in the same canon as Huffington and Hitchens. But one of these things is not like the other: NY Post columnist Richard Johnson, whose Page Six column not only redefined “gossip” in the new millenium, but also maybe one of the most influential and underrated media critics of our time.

It’s rare that we actually wish a tabloid story were true as much as we do this item in the National Enquirer about Barbara Walters and actor Frank Langella having a secret, torrid romance. Unfortunately, Walters doesn’t feel quite the same way, and had Enquirer‘s Executive Editor Barry Levine on The View today to give him a proper dressing down, as only Walters can.

According to the HuffPo, the The National Enquirer officially has permission to compete for the Pulitzer Prize. And according to us, Barry Levine officially has the right to scream “Suck it, Sulzberger!”

“I think the members of the mainstream media would rather see the earth explode first than to reward us with a Pulitzer Prize” The National Enquirer’s executive editor Barry Levine describing his newspaper’s chances of getting a Pulitzer nomination for their coverage of John Edwards‘ affair with Rielle Hunter.

Subbing for Geraldo Rivera last night, Kim Guilfoyle interviewed Barry Levine, Executive Editor of the National Enquirer. The notorious tabloid is now at the center of the Tiger Woods scandal for its exclusive report of the “other woman” Rachel Uchitel. Guilfoyle challenged Levine for paying for their exclusive source and Levine admitted that Uchitel’s story has changed since its first report.