San Diego mayor and veteran Congressman Bob Filner is a serial molester of women who enjoyed immunity from exposure by his friends in the media who "pretty much knew" about his abuses but chose to ignore them as a non-story. We know this because a brave member of the San Diego media crowd has admitted it.  Doug Curlee is troubled, and writes in scoopsandiego.com:

Regardless of how the Bob Filner mess eventually ends-and itwill end, somehow-there are questions that need to be asked and answered.

They are questions that should have been asked long ago, and should have been asked by those whose job it is to ask such questions: us. 

Who are "us"?

"Us" are the San Diego news media reporters, editors, producers and writers who pretty much knew who and what Bob Filner is and has been. 

Yes, I'm including myself in that group. I've covered Bob Filner off and on since he was elected to the San Diego Unified School District Board in 1979. From the beginning, most of us saw how arrogant Filner was and is, how abusive he could be to his own staff members, how he felt elective office entitled him to be all those things and more.

We all saw that in Filner, and yet we did nothing about it. Filner was often a topic of conversation among us when we gathered at news conferences or when we would gather at the various watering holes many of us frequented together when off work.

The near universal opinion among us was, "Can you believe this guy? Why does he get away with acting like that?" Then another round of drinks would appear, and talk went on to other things.

Curlee offers several possible reasons why the media practiced omerta:

Was it because Filner had established himself as a Democratic power here-for a long time, the onlyDemocratic power here?

Was it because he had built his electoral power base generally south of Interstate 8, among the "minority" communities of African-Americans, Latinos and Filipinos?

Was it because Filner totally controlled the votes and campaign funds of large and ever-growing organized labor groups, the unions? 

Was it because economic pressure was brought to bear on TV station ownerships or newspaper ownerships, all of whom depend on advertising dollars as their prime source of revenue?

Was it because we were just lazy?

I honestly don't know, but there may have elements of all of the above involved.

Notice that all of these reasons fit quite comfortably into a picture of a corrupt political/media establishment that demonizes Republicans and protects Democrats, that exploits women, minorities, and unions as fodder for maintaining control while entitling itself to near droit du seigneur rights over sexual targets as well as access to a lavish lifestyle, all the while neglecting serious responsibilities. Let's have another round of drinks!

Ace quips:

There are no Stupid Questions, but there are Forbidden ones.

Iowahawk tweets:

I guess he was molesting women off-the-record: San Diego media admits they all "pretty much knew" about Filner http://t.co/KVb2dRWmqs

-- David Burge (@iowahawkblog) July 30, 2013

Scorn is the appropriate response. The San Diego media deserves a big helping of humiliation over covering this up. There is no profession more conscious of prestige than the media. Just look at all the awards they give each other. Those professionals working in top twenty markets generally hope to move up the ladder, maybe even someday take the national stage. The San Diego media already have been lampooned by Ron Burgundy. His cheesy tagline, "Stay classy, San Diego" seems sarcastically apt for the omerta media in San Diego and beyond: