The media coverage of the news that the mayor of Los Angeles and co-chair of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has been sleeping with a reporter is almost as disgraceful as Anthony Villaraigosa's behavior itself.
Note that, as usual when it is bad news, Mr. Villaraigosa's political affiliation is no where mentioned in the article.
Also note that the Washington Post sought to bury this in its back pages on a Friday during a holiday weekend.
Note too that the Post is treating the whole thing as a joke, giving it to an (obviously campy gay) gossip writer.
Lastly, notice that there is no mention of Mr. Villaraigosa being the national co-chairman of Hillary Clinton's campaign.
If it were a Republican presidential candidate who was famous for having a wandering spouse - that would be the front page headline above the fold.
I also note that we have a reporter sleeping with someone she covers, and nobody at the WaPo seems to think there's anything at all unusual or wrong with it. One can only conclude that Washington Post editors have no problem at all with their reporters sleeping with the subjects of their coverage.
Of course, if the philanderer were a Republican, entirely different rules would apply. Conduct a thought experiment:
One of the many very lovely info-babes at Fox News is found to have been sleeping with a prominent Republican she has been covering for quite some time. Do you think that it would be trivialized as "dish" by the Washington Post? Do you think that the Los Angeles Times would chortle over a "summer of love"?
The question answers itself.
Share