TV Newsers Who Fawned Over Foley Sex Scandal Ignore Mahoney

On Monday, NewsBusters wondered how much coverage the sex scandal involving Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fl.) -- the Democrat Congressman who in 2006 won the seat previously held by the disgraced Mark Foley -- would get.

Early indications suggest that as far as the television news outlets are concerned, the answer is "not much."

In fact, 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."

At this rate, this story could be over by the time the stock market closes on Tuesday, which could make it one of the shortest Washington, D.C., sex scandals on record.

Liberal media bias? What liberal media bias?