A Spanish-language newscaster who had an affair with the mayor of Los Angeles has been suspended for two months for violating conflict-of-interest policies, her network said Thursday.
Mirthala Salinas was having the relationship with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa when she announced the news of his separation from his wife of 20 years on local Telemundo station KVEA, Channel 52, an Associated Press (AP) report said. Salinas was suspended without pay. The findings of Telemundo's three-week investigation were reported on its national newscast. She has not been fired.
"Her reading of copy during newscasts... regarding the Mayor's separation from his wife was a flagrant violation of these guidelines," network president Don Browne wrote in a memo to employees.
Salinas, 35, was placed on leave July 5 while her employer investigated whether her romantic relationship with Villaraigosa breached journalistic ethics. She has said station managers knew of her relationship with the mayor before she announced the news of his breakup. Salinas led into the story by saying, "The rumours were true."
Villaraigosa, who said last month that he believed that Salinas did not act inappropriately, said in a statement: "I regret that decision I have made in my personal life have been a distraction for the city and I am deeply sorry that I have let so many people down, especially my family.
"Now that Telemundo's internal review has reached a conclusion, it is my hope that we can all move forward. I intend to do that by working as hard as I can every day to deliver results on the critical issues we face as a community."
Three of Salinas' superiors with the Telemundo network also were disciplined, including the top two station officials, the Los Angeles Times reported. Media watchdogs flayed not only Salinas but her superiors for allowing her to continue reporting on the mayor after they knew of the relationship. One analyst predicted that the scandal would tarnish Salinas' career.
"People will always remember her as the reporter who had an affair with the mayor, and that she got in trouble for that," said Judy Muller, a former ABC network news correspondent and current NPR commentator who now teaches journalism at USC.
"That damages her credibility, and I don't know where she goes from Telemundo," Muller told the Times. "A reporter only has her credibility, and once that's sullied you have lost your value to your news organisation."
