Opinion
Ronan Farrow Jumps the Shark, But It’s Kavanaugh Who’s Chum: Annotating the New Yorker Report
by John Ziegler | Sep 24th, 2018, 10:51 am
Late yesterday, media darling Ronan Farrow, along with co-writer Jane Mayer, published an allegation of sexual misconduct against current Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in the New Yorker. There are so many examples of journalistic malpractice in the piece that I feel compelled to go through at least some of the many lowlights by taking direct quotes from the article and annotating them in the order in which they appeared.
“The offices of at least four Democratic senators have received information about the allegation, and at least two have begun investigating it… The Democratic Senate offices reviewing the allegations believe that they merit further investigation.â€
This is what is called the news “hook.†The basis for why the allegation is newsworthy. The standard here used to be a criminal charge or at least a legitimate lawsuit, but now if unnamed partisan political operatives, with a huge self-interest to push a damaging story regardless of its truth, simply get information and say it ought to be looked into further, this now reaches the threshold for publishing?!
Or, more likely, is this dangerous new rule only in effect when Democratic senators want more time to torpedo a damaged Republican Supreme Court nominee?
“The New Yorker contacted Ramirez after learning of her possible involvement in an incident involving Kavanaugh. The allegation was conveyed to Democratic senators by a civil-rights lawyer.â€
The way I read this, a Democratic lawyer, gave the allegation from a Democrat accuser to Democratic senators, who then leaked the information to a liberal publication. Gee, what could possibly go wrong here?
more
https://www.mediaite.com/columnists/ronan-farrow-jumps-the-shark-but-its-kavanaugh-whos-chum-annotating-the-new-yorker-report/
