From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

I'm Bob Garfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone.

Enron was America's seventh biggest company in the year 2000, and by the year 2001, it became the biggest bankruptcy in history. And many are wondering if it

will be the political albatross of the 2002 election season. No fewer than 10 congressional

committees are looking into possible malfeasance around the Enron collapse, and their investigations

are driving this story forward. From the top on down, the Bush administration was very friendly with Enron executives,

and dozens of members of Congress were beneficiaries of Enron donations.

That's why it was so surprising when Howard Mortman,

a columnist for the National Journal's Hotline newsletter,

went to a meeting of political journalists.

The consensus was that Enron, though a financial fiasco, didn't qualify as a political scandal.

Howard Mortman, welcome to OTPM.

Thank you.

So why isn't it a political scandal?

Because no politician is accused of a crime?

I think because it hasn't met

any of the standard definitions of a political scandal, you know, no indictments or grand jury

investigations of politicians. We have definitely a big political mess here for both parties,

but in terms of our traditional knowledge of our understanding what a scandal is,

this really hasn't met the test yet in the minds of the media.

So do you think the Washington Press Corps will just walk away from the country's seventh largest

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