CNN and The Washington Post had institutional memory lapses today. On CNN Saturday Morning News, this was the lead story from anchors Betty Nguyen and T.J. Holmes:
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. We do want to thank you for starting with us. It is the 21st of February, and we do want to begin with some breaking news.
HOLMES: Yes, and kind of a -- a shocker that went through the -- the newsroom this morning.
Yes, you remember that name and you remember that face in all likelihood. That is Chandra Levy, the 24-year-old who went missing some nine years ago now -- eight years ago, more specifically. An arrest, we're being told now, is imminent in this case. This is coming to us from our CNN affiliate out in the Bay Area, KGO. This is one of the most infamous D.C. cold cases out there. Again, some eight years old.
Just a little background on this case. You remember this young lady went missing in D.C. Got a lot of attention for one reason because of her relationship that it came out that she had with Congressman Gary Condit, who is no longer a congressman now. But a relationship that came out.
He was never -- there he is there -- never officially a suspect in the case.
NGUYEN: No.
HOLMES: But that was a reason this case got so much attention. And now, Betty, as we're hearing, an arrest...
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: ...is imminent in this case.
NGUYEN: The case not only ended Condit's career, but we are learning this morning that there is a suspect, a man who is indeed behind bars at this hour.
The Washington Post's Web site this morning featured the story "Arrest in Chandra Levy Case 'Imminent.'" The article ended with:
Levy, a 24-year-old intern for the federal Bureau of Prisons, was having an affair with Gary Condit, a married congressman from California, when she vanished. Police focused on Condit rather than Guandique as the case endured a firestorm of world-wide media coverage.
Condit was never charged and lost a reelection bid in 2002. He has long maintained that he had nothing to do with Levy's disappearance and was the victim of overzealous investigators and a media pack.
Neither CNN nor The Washington Post identified Condit as a Democratic congressman. Had he been a Republican, that affiliation would no doubt have been mentioned.
As we've seen again and again, when members of the GOP get in trouble, the spin is that it's a Republican scandal. When it's a Democrat who's involved, then the story line is that the scandal involved a politician who just happened to be a Democrat.
The double standard continues to thrive among the mainstream media.
