The Foley Congressional-page scandal came in two parts. The first, a set of friendly but ambiguous emails between the Rep. and former pages that ABC News publicized after the Miami Herald and St. Petersburg Times had decided to pass, created a stir and sparked the second stage: Someone sent ABC News an instant-message chat allegedly between Foley and a former page, and when this was presented to Foley, he immediately resigned from the House. So this IM exchange made news. Why are many outlets not reporting it?

ABC News posted the IM exchange, with a "discretion advised" warning. Slate also ran the document, in its "Hot Document" feature. Among the lowlights: "Maf54" calls his fellow chatter a "young stud" with a "cute butt" and a "beautiful" seven-and-a-half-inch "one eyed snake" which he asks him to take out; asks if he's had a hand job lately; swaps masturbation advice; fears his fellow chatter's Mom might spot the exchange; and, IMing like a teen, misspells "keep," "Pensacola," "that's," "your," "hand," "you're," "too," "interesting," "a," "that," "spurting," "on," "bulge," "grab" and "she."

But this newsmaking chat session gets oblique reference from much of the euphemistic press. Their hesitance is understandable, because, as USA Today notes, "the e-mails and instant messages have not been independently verified by USA TODAY and were not mentioned by Foley in his resignation letter." Nonetheless, the press is talking around an important part of the story, one that appears to have sparked a Congressman's resignation and has not been denied by his staff. Here are some examples of the delicate linguistic dances:

USA Today
[House Speaker Dennis] Hastert said that in fall 2005, his office looked into e-mails Foley sent last year to a 16-year-old boy, in which Foley asked for a photo. "Sexually explicit" instant messages dating back to 2003 just came to light, the speaker said Sunday, citing media reports.
Everyone has seen the media reports, and the exchanges are undeniably sexually explicit. Did USA Today really need to cite the speaker, and use the quotation marks?

Washington Post
In one instant-message exchange with a high school boy, ABC News reported, Foley made repeated references to sex acts and body parts.
"You should have safe sex and check for testicular cancer" refers to sex acts and body parts, too.

Los Angeles Times
…
sexually explicit instant messages to at least one teenager who had served as a congressional page. …
the sexually explicit earlier messages …
the sexually explicit instant messages …
the explicit instant messages, in which Foley discussed sexual matters with at least one other former page.