“The president has been accused of raping two women, one when she was as young as 13, and sexually assaulting three more. They are among 11 women who provided evidence or testimony that Trump “abused, assaulted, and even raped numerous women alongside, and in coordination with, the most infamous sex trafficker in history.” The NYT, however, is paying the charges less attention than Dem’s alleged hardball tactics in Alaska (which even if true, would be legal). From the first link (a piece at The Nation), a theory: “If asked, mainstream media types would no doubt argue that the lack of coverage of these latest rape allegations stems from the fact that previous rape allegations failed to “move the needle.” Trump’s sexual misconduct (both alleged and litigated) is “baked in” to people’s understanding of the man.”
As The Nation goes on to point out, so what? New accusations of rape are news. serious news. They should be reporting on them whether or not they “move the needle.” Plus, numbers matter. As Alec-Nevala Lee once put it, Isaac Asimov’s history of harassing and groping women stands out because he groped so many. Groping was common back then (which is not an excuse) but sheer numbers make Asimov a bigger deal. The more rapes the Toddler is accused of, the more serious the issue becomes.
And the idea that it won’t move the needle — which I suspect is the rationale — is bullshit because media coverage moves the needle. That’s why they wrote dozens of stories about Clinton’s email practices and Biden’s age. By contrast, the Times’ Patrick Healy says they ran a story on one of the allegations last year (it’s down in the comments here) so no point in running another. They can always put in diligent effort to shape perceptions of a candidate if they want to (consider a WaPO editorial shaping perceptions of the anticipated Democratic victory: a historic win would be bad news for Democrats).
And, of course, the DOJ covering up the Epstein case is an ongoing scandal and ongoing scandals remain news. Todd Blanche, a liar who claims you have to show ID to get into any restaurant (so why not for voting) appears to have steered Ghislaine Maxwell away from saying anything potentially awkward in interviewing her.
People Magazine has done much better than the NYT covering the new allegations. Hunter Lazzaro offers a depressing but plausible theory: “People’s journalists have long focused most of their coverage around young, attractive celebrities—people who are frequent targets of the entertainment industry’s grotesque and rampant rape culture. That is their wheelhouse.” It’s in their interests not to treat assault as a terrible problem. Maybe they don’t think it is. As Moira Donegan says, “Complicity, too, is typical, not uncommon, for responding institutions. Impunity for rapists is cast as good sense, or as responsibility; as fairness, or compassion.”
