Here's my story on how the media fell short on covering Epstein, with case studies on Vanity Fair, ABC & the NYT. It's a story of society ties, fears of legal threats, and working class victims.
I hope you'll give it a listen and a read.
npr.org/2019/08/22/753…
In this story, Maria and Annie Farmer confirmed to me for the first time that they spoke of their experiences on the record to Vanity Fair. Their account was cut from the story.
You also hear the voice of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who was interviewed 4+ years ago by ABC NEWS. The network tells NPR it will broadcast the fruits of its investigation in coming months.
Miami Herald's @juliekbrown deserves admiration for breaking the larger story wide open.
And Daily Beast's @kbriquelet has reported on this for years, along with colleagues at the high minded tabloid.
Yet much of press covered Epstein episodically and salaciously.
As both reporters told me, the Epstein scandal is fundamentally about power - its deployment and misuses as in #metoo, which changed how newsrooms handled accusers. Though not always.
Jeffrey Epstein served up tips for then NYT reporter Landon Thomas and charmed him into feeling they had something of a friendship. Epstein donated $30K at Thomas's request. His dinner party drew Stephanopoulos Couric & Rose. Epstein had confidence he could keep the press at bay.
Maria and Annie Farmer on being dropped from VF piece in 2003: "It was terribly painful. We hoped the story would put people on notice and they would be stopped from abusing other young girls and young women. That didn't happen. In the end, the story that ran erased our voices."
Virginia Roberts Giuffre on ABC sitting on her interview for four years: "I was defeated, once again, by the very people I spoke out against and once again, my voice was silenced. I could not believe that a formidable network like ABC had backed down and given in."
The magazine and the network cite journalistic standards and, in VF's case, legal concerns, for their decisions. All newsrooms must take such concerns seriously. And numerous editors note changes in the landscape wrought by #metoo on how credibility of allegations is assessed.
Taken together, these episodes may help explain how stories did not get more circulation and credence.
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