From the Media Research Center:

Over a period of just three and a half days, NBC, CBS and ABC have developed an insatiable hunger for the Herman Cain sexual harassment story, devoting an incredible 50 stories to the allegations since Monday morning. In contrast, over a similar period these networks mostly ignored far more substantial and serious scandals relating to Bill Clinton.

This pattern continued on Wednesday night and into Thursday as the evening newscasts and morning shows highlighted the story 19 times. On Good Morning America, Brian Ross offered innuendo and slung gossip, recounting, “But behind the scenes, several of the campaigns are still urging reporters to continue to dig, George, saying, there’s more to be found in the private life of Herman Cain.” [MP3 audio here.]

Without offering facts, Ross described Cain’s time as head of the National Restaurant Association: “It fits with the kind of culture we were told that existed there, with young women who had been, sort of, lobbyists for the restaurant association, working with various states. They were the new ones, the young ones. And they say that’s where Cain often socialized.” (more…)

The stage is being set for another round of media examinations of “military culture” thanks to the ever weirder and more sordid saga of former Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY).   For the uninitiated or those awakening from a deep coma, Massa is the recently resigned congressman who is coming under microscopic media scrutiny for alleged acts of inappropriate behavior, some of it allegedly constituting sexual harassment. In recent days, the media have been drilling down into his 24-year career as a naval officer and in the process, some pretty disturbing tales have been percolating to the surface.

During Lawrence O’Donnell’s March 10 guest hosting gig on MSNBC’s Countdown show, he wondered aloud, “Who has done more damage to the image of the Navy, Congressman Massa or the Village People?” a reference to the disco group and its 1979 hit In the Navy.

The blog at The Economist goes even farther, stating that Massa’s tales of high jinks on the high seas  is entirely plausible:

Eric Massa, who is resigning from Congress over the possibility of a male staffer raising allegations of sexual harassment, has been explaining a series of jokes and misunderstandings over the years involving gay sex. Mr. Massa, who served in the Navy, says he’s a “salty old sailor.” I find this explanation entirely convincing. (more…)

Remember when Florida Congressman Mark Foley was outed for sexual misconduct with male pages in the House of Representatives in 2006? You’ll recall that the Democrats and the Old Media and the left were in some high dudgeon over the claim that Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert knew all about it before the scandal erupted and played the story endlessly for months on end.

Well, with Congressman Eric Massa from New York we have a Democrat also accused of sexual misconduct with a male staffer and we similarly find out that the Democratic leadership knew all about it. Will the Old Media make as much about Dem. Majority Leader Stenny Hoyer’s knowledge of Massa’s sexual misconduct as it did about the Republican leadership’s supposed knowledge of Foley’s?

Here is a small sampling of the treatment of the story by the New York Times as an example: (more…)