Antonio's Lust Hardly A Ratings Bust

LA Mayor Antonio Villargairosa may be reeling from his affair with the stunning former Telemundo news anchor Mirthala Salinas. Salinas, stuck in an unwanted (but well deserved) spotlight and suspended without pay, sure is.

Not hurting, though, is Telemundo -- an indication of the ever sinking standards of news today.

Reports Advertising Age:

But while the story may have damaged the station's credibility and put serious dents in a couple of careers, it didn't exactly hurt ratings. Rochelle Newman-Carrasco, CEO and principal of Los Angeles-based Enlace Communications, said: "Are you kidding? It actually helped the ratings. I think even non-Hispanics tuned in just to find out what was going on."

According to a report from Los Angeles Business Journal based on numbers from the Nielsen Hispanic Station Index, Telemundo affiliate KVEA saw its 11 p.m. news numbers skyrocket to more than 200,000 viewers the night news of the scandal broke. That put it within striking distance of leading L.A. Spanish broadcaster Univision KMEX-TV's 237,000.

The ratings spike lasted a number of days -- exactly until management took Ms. Salinas off the air.

The LA Times sniffed at the whole affair, with columnist Gregory Rodriguez manufacturing offense because the media was comparing the mayoral shenanigans to the sordid telenovela soaps that fill the Spanish-language airwaves. "The gratuitous injection of ethnicity" he called it. Sniff.

Why bother with offense? The Spanish-language stations were making the same hay, says Ad Age:

Telemundo's main competitor, Univision, ran a several-page-long story on its website under the headline: "Villaraigosa y Salinas, un romance digno de una telenovela" ("Villaraigosa and Salinas, a telenovela-type romance"). Furthermore, the story was not categorized under the "news" or "politics" sections of the site but instead on the "famosos" (famous people) page

I wouldn't argue about the famosos placement; this is politics as celebrity, an indication that the mayor of LA is no longer a politician to be taken seriously.

Seriously taken to the cleaners, his soon-to-be ex-wife is probably thinking, but not taken seriously by the rest of us -- another career lost because a foolish man can't keep his fly shut.

Quote Of The Day: Hizzoner Edition

"That's the real news here, by the way."
-- LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

Hizzoner was trying to get reporters to focus on the "real news" -- low-emission trucks at the port -- but the reporters thought they'd rather pursue the story of his affair with recently-canned Telemundo TV newsette Mirthala Salinas.

"Have your poll numbers had dropped?"

"Did you speak with Telemundo about Salinas?"

"Do you feel responsible for her being fired?"

Just another day for the man who would be governor, if only he could keep his parts in his pants. And it went downhill from there, says the LATimes:

Villaraigosa customarily lingers after news conferences to answer additional questions from reporters and allow cameras to follow him to his vehicle.

But today, as the mayor strode from the podium, a half-dozen port police officers formed a skirmish line to block reporters and cameramen from approaching him.

"How come we're not allowed to talk to him?" one reporter barked.

"Why the suddenly limited access?" another demanded.

When the officers broke their formation, more than a dozen journalists starting running across a parking lot in pursuit of the mayor as he departed.

Spanish-language television reporter Alicia Unger was at the front of the pack, and as she approached one 20-foot container, Port Police Sgt. Kevin McCloskey shoved her into the side of it, further infuriating reporters, who began shouting.

"That's wrong," one television reporter screamed.

Another said: "You can't hit a woman like that."

In the background somewhere, watching this nightmare unfold, were the PR persons for the Port and the truck manufacturer, their mouths hanging open, thinking, "What were we thinking associating our stuff with that hack?"

The word will spread and no one will want the Mayor to give their products, events or causes face time. This is how political careers unravel.

Villaraigosa may have been at the port, but career-rise, he was on the edge of a cliff, watching his career tumble over the edge before his very eyes. Married, two kids (legit ones, anyway), already forgiven for a previous tawdry affair and now wrecking family and mistress alike.

Villaraigosa may be able to ride the American over-propensity for forgiveness to maintain some political future in LA, but any aspirations for higher office ... well, adios, Bub.