UPDATE:

THE MAYOR AND THE
TV REPORTER MISTRESS:
SALINAS IN TROUBLE

High-level officials of NBC’s Telemundo are having meetings this 4th of July (not a barbecue) to consider what to do about Mirthala Salinas. General manager Manuel Abud and News Director Al Corral are meeting with their legal department and other station officials. They believe there is now a serious question of journalistic integrity and credibility.

Sources tell ERSNews.com that on three separate occasions Telemundo management asked Salinas if she was having an affair with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and all three times she denied the relationship over the past year. Telemundo management also feels "blindsided" about Salinas’ statement released yesterday to the LA Times and CNN. Apparently she did not run the statement through Telemundo management and she released that statement without their approval or vetting. Salinas, according to sources has hired a PR firm to help her deal with the fallout of her affair with the Mayor.

Salinas was not at work yesterday and is not at work today. Late yesterday NBC Telemundo sent a news crew over to Salinas’ Studio City Condo looking for her. While Telemundo officials are worried about the embarrassment caused by the affair with the Mayor they continue to ignore ERSNews.com’s exclusive report published yesterday that before the affair with the Mayor, Salinas had a romantic relationship with the Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez while she continued to report on state politics. Inside sources again reiterated to ERSNews.com that "everyone in the newsroom knew of the relationship with Nunez including management and nothing was done about it"

According to an LA Times report published yesterday that's not exactly ethical journalism of the highest order. Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. told the Times "You can't sleep with your sources. This one sort of transcends the boundaries in any ethical newsroom." McBride is the ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. a well know journalism/media training organization.

EXCLUSIVE:
THE SUMMER OF LOVE:

LA'S POLITICAL GIRLFRIEND
MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES CONFIRMS
AFFAIR WITH TV REPORTER

MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA NOT HER FIRST POLITICIAN

“She loves to have relationships with politicians,” one inside source at NBC tells ERSNews.com exclusively. “She’s a ‘power f***er!” This source also tells ERS News that Mayor Villaraigosa’s latest dalliance,  Mirthala Salinas, a political reporter for NBC’s Telemundo is not the Mayor’s last.  “He’s now dating one of the members of his LAPD protective detail,” this source revealed.  And a local Los Angeles television station (KTLA) floated the rumor this morning (on their 6a newscast) that Salinas may be pregnant.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has for months dodged questions about his relationship or lack of same with his wife Corina. Now word from  the Mayor about his girlfriend.  Late yesterday the Mayor issued this statement: "It is true that I have a relationship with Ms. Mirthala Salinas. As I've said I take full responsibility for my actions, and I once again ask that people respect my family's privacy. For my part, I intend to stay focused on my job, and to work as hard as I can every day to be the best mayor I can be."

Turns out that’s only part of the story of Ms. Salinas.  Assembly Speaker, Fabian Nunez, one of Villaraigosa’s best friends, also had a relationship with Salinas from the summer of 2003 until after his swearing in as Assembly Speaker in February 2004. The Speaker’s office confirmed to ERSNews.com that while the Speaker was divorced from his wife Maria (they have since remarried), Nunez and Salinas had a romantic relationship. Salinas attended Nunez’s swearing in as Speaker of the Assembly.  Sources also tell ERSNews.com that Salinas would regularly fly to Sacramento to see the Speaker.  One insider at Telemundo said that “everybody in the newsroom knew all about it and management did nothing about it.”

SHARED POLITICAL BELIEFS: SHARED GIRLFRIEND

The Mayor told the Los Angeles Times that Salinas had the “highest journalistic integrity.” However ERSNews.com has learned that on one of the Mayor’s trips to Sacramento where he was seeking education reform Salinas was given unparalleled access to the Mayor. On the return commercial flight with other journalists and the Mayor’s staffers Salinas spent the entire flight sitting next to the Mayor being given obvious special treatment.

ERSNews.com has called the Mayor’s office seeking comment on Salinas, her special access to the Mayor and her romantic relationship with the Assembly Speaker. The Mayor’s office has not returned our calls.

A Telemundo spokesman, Alfredo Richard, said that they removed Salinas from the political beat 11 months ago after they apparently learned about Salinas and Villaraigosa. It appears that Salinas never let it slip that she was having a romantic relationship with the Speaker of the California Assembly and one of the most powerful politicians in California during 2003 and 2004, while shie was still covering politics. ERSNews.com attempted to contact Salinas to ask her about  the inconsistency in her news assignment but calls were never returned.

Last month, the Villaraigosas formally separated and three days later the mayor held a press conference to say he was taking responsibility for what happened, and that he felt a "personal sense of failure about it."  This was not the first time that the Mayor found himself in hot water with his wife.  They were separated once before in 1994 over a similar situation. At that time they were separated for two-and-a-half years but reconciled. 

 

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