Update (18:18 EDT): BBC has updated their article to note the Democratic party affiliation in the 3rd graf (link). Our tipster DB informs us that the BBC's North America editor Justin Webb replied to his e-mail with a promise to "try to get it changed."
The BBC initially noted Gov. Eliot Spitzer is a Democrat, in an early draft of an online news article. The mention was in the 6th paragraph. But that stuck for all of 37 minutes as NewsBusters reader DB informs us (screengrabs shown below page break):
The BBC's first draft mentioned that Spitzer was a Democrat in the 6th
para:
https://cdn.newsbusters.org/images/
The second draft removed all mention:
https://cdn.newsbusters.org/images/
DB also noted that the BBC has placed Republican Party affiliation in the lede paragraph in political scandal stories where the offenders (Sens. Vitter and Craig) are members of the GOP.:
Compare with BBC coverage of Republican scandals - first paragraph each
time:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6287488.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6969703.stm
