Is Weiner a ratings winner?

TORONTO – It seems embattled U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner will remain top fold news for some time.

Despite calls for his resignation, Weiner refused to leave his post Thursday over an embarrassing Twitter gaffe that had a lewd, allegedly self-snapped photo of his member circulating the web.

Weiner admitted on Monday he had Tweeted sexually charged photos and messages to six female followers on his Twitter account.

The 21-year-old recipient of the X-rated photo of Weiner’s erect penis in grey underwear was so shocked to receive the unsolicited image, she assumed it was a fake.

Though he’s hardly the first politician embroiled in a sex scandal, Weiner’s is the first born on Twitter.

“People have a voracious appetite to get fresh news in a 140 characters,” says Janice Neil, an assistant professor at Ryerson University’s School of Journalism and editor of J-Source.ca.

In the case of Weiner’s lewd Twitpic, “it’s the technological equivalent of being flashed,” she says.

“It’s fascinating because it’s using a piece of technology that most of us have and use for public and professional ways-and most of us use it appropriately-and here it is being used inappropriately. It sort of crosses that public threshold.”

Neil says this latest political scandal is part of a trend of other high profile sex scandals that helped keep the media spotlight firmly fixed for Weinergate.

“It’s a narrative that’s pretty fresh at the moment… the fact that the story is still hot is completely reasonable,” Neil explains. “News stories are of interest when they are completely on their own but also when they are part of a pattern.”

Recent revelations of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s lovechild with a housekeeper and former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s alleged sexual assault incident at a New York hotel are especially topical.

Last week, two-time U.S. presidential candidate John Edwards pleaded not guilty to charges he solicited and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to hide his mistress and their baby during his run for the White House.

Now, more Weiner media fodder: confirmation the Congressman’s wife of less than a year, Huma Abedin, is pregnant.

“If you look at good old fashioned journalism and what attracts journalists and audiences to news, I think all the factors are there. And his name!,” Neil says.

“He’s got a name that’s appropriate to it. That’s the quirky bit,” she says.

While the Weiner scandal continues to play out, it’s possible sustained media coverage, lampooning and all, will eventually force Weiner to duck and cover.

“It seems impossible that he would continue to enjoy the support of his constituents,” Neil says.

“I think it’s just a few days before he has to resign and I think the media fever will not die down before that happens.”