TV News Channels Ignore Dem. Congressman's Sex Scandal

Tim Mahoney, the Democratic congressman who won Mark Foley's seat in 2006, stands accused of paying off his mistress and giving her a job to keep her quiet, but Noel Shepherd writes that TV news shows appear to find this Democratic sex scandal to be a snoozer:

though all three broadcast network evening news programs covered the Foley sex scandal when it was first revealed on September 29, 2006, not one of them felt that the man who replaced him admitting to having an affair with a former campaign staffer was at all newsworthy.

PBS's "The News Hour" also covered the Foley affair on the day it was first revealed, but passed on the Mahoney story Monday.

As for CNN, although the Mahoney affair was first reported by ABCNews.com early Monday afternoon, its first mention was during 7PM's "Lou Dobbs Tonight." By contrast, "the most trusted name in news" did seven stories about Foley on the day the scandal first broke two years ago beginning with 3PM's "Newsroom."

It's often said that TV news programs are driven by ratings, not by ideology or partisanship. If that's the case, why would they ignore a story that's so far off the hypocrisy chart?