The national news media gives intensive coverage to sexual abuse scandals involving Catholic clergy.

But according to online journalist Dave Pierre, the mainstream media is declining to take a similar interest in what he calls “a major child abuse scandal” in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

In an article this spring on the Media Research Centers’ Newsbusters website, Pierre detailed allegations of sexual abuse involving more than two dozen teachers in the school system.

On Sept. 22, Pierre detailed seven more sexual abuse allegations that have come to light since May.

When contacted in May by a Los Angeles TV station about the sexual abuse cases, LAUSD Deputy Superintendent Ramon Cortines said, “This is not out of the ordinary for school districts all over the nation. These things happen.”

Such scandals in public schools are indeed common, as the Register reported here earlier this year.

In his second Newsbusters article on the topic, online journalist Pierre wondered, “Where’s the outrage? Where’s the media coverage?”

Added Pierre, “Let’s say it again: When it comes to the abuse of children, it sure seems like the national media doesn’t get too worked up unless the words ‘Cardinal,’ ‘bishop,’ or ‘priest’ is in someone’s job title.”

— Tom McFeely