Los Angeles Times: Selective outrage
The criminal complaint alleges felony-level "substantial sexual contact" and "lewd and lascivious acts" upon thirteen different kids, all under the age of fourteen. At least one of the alleged victims was a student of the teacher, detectives allege.
And there is an additional shocker to the story: The teacher had already been "prosecuted for molesting a young neighbor in the late 1980s"!
Yet one place you will not read about this stomach-turning story is in the Los Angeles Times.
[Click to read L.A. County's criminal complaint against this teacher.]
Double … standard
Although the Times did report the original arrest of the teacher last October – when there were lesser charges and he was still working – it is hard to imagine the paper ignoring this latest development if it involved a Catholic priest.
As we have reported several times before, the Los Angeles Times has a lengthy and established record of imbalanced coverage when it comes to the topic of child sex abuse.
Just a month ago, the Times' Steve Lopez invoked the clergy scandals while railing against the Catholic Church for its doctrinal issues with some dissident women religious.
Kudos to the Times' smaller cross-town rival, the Daily News, who has done an excellent job giving this story the wider attention and scrutiny it deserves.
The media's one sided concern about sex abuse continues.