ABC, as of Tuesday morning, has skipped any coverage of embattled Democratic Congressman David Wu, accused of what The Oregonian called "an unwanted sexual encounter with the 18-year-old daughter of a childhood friend."
On Tuesday, Wu announced he would be resigning. Will ABC finally cover this story? CBS and NBC have both noted the story in news briefs, but ignored other Wu scandals.
ABC last mentioned Wu back on February 22, when Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos interviewed the politician for other bizarre, but unrelated, antics. At that time, Wu was dealing with the fallout of wearing a Tiger costume and staff members who wanted him to seek psychiatric treatment.
Regarding the now well circulated Halloween photo of Wu, Stephanopoulos wondered, "But [the pictures] were on your personal congressional account. And they included that photo of you in a tiger outfit. Did you send those emails to your staff?"
In a question that previewed Wu's future problems, the anchor queried, "I think the big question for your constituents and the taxpayers is, can you handle the job of being a congressman right now? Can you assure them that you won't crack under the pressure again?"
Apparently, ABC wasn't interested in following up on new allegations.
CBS has covered the current allegations three times, noting with news briefs on the Saturday and Sunday Evening News.
Russ Mitchell explained on July 23, "A young California woman reportedly is accusing Oregon Representative David Wu of a quote, "unwanted sexual encounter" last fall. The Oregonian newspaper reports the young woman appears to have been at least 18 years old at the time."
Monday's Early Show also featured co-host Chris Wragge discussing Wu with Ann coulter.
For more on this, see a blog by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth.
However, both CBS and NBC have ignored Wu's previous erratic behavior, including the picture of him wearing a tiger costume.
UPDATE: 2011-07-27
After not covering Wu for five months, ABC's World News on Tuesday and Good Morning America on Wednesday did report the Congressman's resignation. Here's the GMA news brief from July 27th:
7:14
JOSH ELLIOTT: Meanwhile, here at home, Congressman David Wu now says that he will resign in the wake of a sex scandal. The seven-time Oregon Democrat is accused of an unwanted sexual encounter with the 18-year-old daughter of a campaign donor.
The other network's nightly newscasts on Tuesday also coevered Wu and mentioned he was a Democrat.
