Howard Kurtz, who hosts CNN’s Sunday show Reliable Sources, criticized CNN for “airbrushing history” in a segment earlier this month on political sex scandals.
That segment, which aired in mid-May, contextualized Arnold Schwarzenegger’s affair with other political sex scandals like the affairs of John Edwards and Newt Gingrich, MediaBistro reported. Notably, though, CNN didn’t include the very high-profile sex scandal involving its own employee, former New York governor Eliot Spitzer.
Kurtz commented on CNN’s segment sans Spitzer:
“It was supposed to be a look back at the major sex scandals involving politicians in recent years, but there was one glaring omission.”
“There was no mention of a New York governor who resigned in disgrace three years ago after patronizing prostitutes. I’m sorry, if you’re going to do this kind of story you have to include Eliot Spitzer even if he does now host a prime time CNN program. Otherwise, you are airbrushing history.”
MediaBistro reported.that the “producer/editor” of the segment gets to “use their own judgment on what to use and what not to use” and made the call to exclude Spitzer. See the video segment here.
Meanwhile, Spitzer’s own show also didn’t report on Schwarzenegger’s affair on May 18, while he did report on the allegations against Dominique Strauss-Kahn.