Scandal-suffering politicians, scorned wives and salacious news: Examining public response to the scandal press conference

Abstract

Politicians caught in scandal often hold a press conference where they address sexual impropriety in the United States. The ‘political wife’ typically stands next to her husband, a symbol of spousal support that has received significant attention from the media. This article investigates the reactions of survey respondents to three news clips of sex-scandal press conferences, including those of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner. The political wife plays a different role at each news event. Silda Spitzer is the present and silent wife; Jenny Sanford is the absent wife; and Huma Abedin is the present and vocal wife. Findings indicate that gender, marital status and age impact respondents’ reactions to scandals.

Recreating and Reenvisioning Scandal: A Photographic Exploration of the Eliot Spitzer and Anthony Weiner Press Conferences

“…Just when I felt that I was hitting my scandal research stride in April 2016, something happened in my brain as I was preparing to give a talk at a visual-communication conference in my hometown of Rochester, New York. The presentation, titled "From Hot to Not: Political Failure and Resilience When Illicit Selfies Go Viral" (Mandell 2016), would be a review of American politicians who got caught in selfie-sexting scandals, and a discussion of the visual narrative that emerges when private nude photographs of aroused male politicians circulate in the public sphere. I faced a conundrum because I felt literally unable to look at the pictures.…”