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.