The DA in MA charged 50 people yesterday in federal court as part of a long-running, nationwide $25 million conspiracy to illicitly gain admission for their children to top colleges and universities (see note 1). It's the type of story that is all too familiar - rich people trying to buy their way to the head of the line when they don't deserve it. What made this notable is the inclusion of 2 celebrities who were charged: Felicity Huffman and Lori Laughlin.

You can read about it here, here, here, and here. What's interesting in all of these news reports is that these two actresses are highlighted. There is very little mention of husbands or fathers. Laughlin's husband was also charged, but his picture was not prominently displayed like Laughlin's was, despite being a well-known fashion designer. Huffman's husband - actor William H. Macy, and quite a celebrity in his own right - was not charged at all, which seems odd.

Four days after International Women's Day, there is deluge of news reports about 50 people charged in a scandal, yet only two are highlighted, and they are both women. That also seems... odd.

While I agree that rich people who illegally try to buy an advantage for their children should be charged, it is aggravating that the news media seems to think that we news consumers prefer salacious mud-digging reporting that targets female celebrities. We're smarter than that. This is painful for me to say, the FOX "News" link I posted above was the only one that simply lists all of those charged (the video is another story - it's what you'd expect from FOX "News". I expected better from WaPo).

As this story develops, I hope the media focuses more on Rick Singer and the others at the college end of the money pipeline, as well as the other male indictees. Their guilt deserves equal scrutiny.

(note 1: The first sentence of the blog was lightly edited, but otherwise verbatim from the Forbes link)