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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Telemundo suspends newscaster


Antonio Villaraigosa walks with Mirthala Salinas in June 2006.Associated Press
 (File Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Gary Gentile Associated Press

LOS ANGELES – Spanish-language network Telemundo has placed a newscaster on leave while it investigates whether her romantic relationship with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa breached journalistic ethics, TV station KVEA said Thursday.

The Telemundo affiliate announced the probe two days after Villaraigosa, whose wife has filed for divorce, acknowledged he had been in an extramarital affair with newswoman Mirthala Salinas for about a year.

“We will conduct this investigation with the utmost respect to personal privacy and journalistic standards,” said Manuel Abud, the station’s general manager.

The mayor’s office had no comment, Villaraigosa spokesman Sean Clegg said.

Salinas said in a statement that she would cooperate with the investigation. She said, “I am confident that when all the facts are analyzed it will be clear that I conducted myself in an appropriate way.”

Salinas once covered the mayor as a political reporter. Telemundo took her off the political beat about 11 months ago after she disclosed her relationship to station management, the mayor has said.

Still, as the station’s news anchor, Salinas read an on-air report last month on the mayor’s separation from his wife. At the time, Villaraigosa declined to say whether he was involved with another woman.

Since confirming his romantic relationship with Salinas at a news conference Tuesday, Villaraigosa has all but disappeared.

The mayor “deserves a few days’ vacation during a holiday week to attend to personal and family matters,” Clegg said.