Mainstream Media Ignore John Edwards Affair vs McCain “Affair”

See New York Times August 8, 2008 article "Reticence of Mainstream Media Becomes a Story Itself" by Richard Pérez-Peña and Bill Carter see http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/business/media/09media.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin
■ “For almost 10 months, the story of John Edwards’s affair remained the nearly exclusive province of the National Enquirer — through reports, denials, news of a pregnancy, questions about paternity and, finally, a slapstick chase through a hotel in Beverly Hills.”
■ “Jay Leno and David Letterman made Mr. Edwards the butt of jokes on their late-night shows, but their own networks declined to report on the rumors surrounding him on the evening news. Why?”
■ “the three broadcast network newscasts, the three cable news networks, and most of the major newspapers and magazines did not say a word.”
■ “CBS kept track of the story but did not actively pursue it. ‘We saw no reason to make his life or the life of his family any worse, until it became well-documented or he admitted it, which is what happened today’,”
I think it is obviously partisan given that the New York Times had no qualms about running February 21, 2008 a front page story about a possible John McCain affair "For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk". see http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/us/politics/21mccain.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1218311025-OZhSzMJOoP4lDHixM1AyJg
■ “A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.”