CBS Evening News broadcast an interview on April 12 with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), who bluntly dismissed House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's (R-TX) attempts to blame Democrats for his ethics problems. Gingrich said that “DeLay's problem isn't with the Democrats. DeLay's problem is with the country,” adding that the Texas Republican needs to “get everything out in the open” and that the burden “is on him to prove [his case].” But morning TV news shows and major newspapers all failed to note Gingrich's comments on DeLay. And, as of this posting, the wire services Associated Press and Reuters have both failed to report the comments.

The April 13 broadcasts of NBC's The Today Show, ABC's Good Morning America, CBS' The Early Show, CNN's Live at Daybreak and American Morning, as well as Fox News' Fox & Friends, all failed to mention Gingrich's call on DeLay to come clean about potential ethical problems. A Nexis search of major newspapers on April 13 showed that they too failed to note Gingrich's remarks.

The media's neglect thus far of Gingrich's comments, which are notable because one high-profile member of a political party issued criticism of a fellow high-profile member, appears to undermine the conservative claim that the “liberal media” is unduly hyping the DeLay story.

From the April 12 edition of the CBS Evening News:

GINGRICH: I don't want to prejudge him, and I -- my hope is that Tom will be able to prove his case. But I think the burden is on him to prove it at this stage.

GLORIA BORGER (CBS News contributor and U.S. News & World Report columnist): And do you think he's doing that?

GINGRICH: I don't know yet. I think that the jury's out, and I think that he is going to have -- you know, my only advice through friends has been that they have got to get everything out in the open, and they've got to understand that this is not something where fighting a delaying tactic does anything except to hurt his case.

BORGER: He's said that this is the liberal media going after him.

GINGRICH: Sure.

BORGER: You agree with that?

GINGRICH: Well, that's the famous Hillary Clinton defense; this is the vast left-wing cor -- you know, conspiracy as opposed to her description of a vast right-wing conspiracy.

BORGER: So he's using --

GINGRICH: I'm saying when you're being attacked, the first thing you naturally do is you describe your attackers. In this case, that won't work. DeLay's problem isn't with the Democrats. DeLay's problem is with the country. And so DeLay has a challenge, I think, to lay out a case that the country comes to believe, that the country decides is legitimate. If he does that, he's fine.