Damn the New York Times

[mme_hardy]

 
From the front page of the app this morning, the headline

For Some Fans, Accusations of Rape Crumble Bill Cosby's Wholesome Image

This accurately summarizes the article. The entire article is about how much fans are hurt by the idea that an idol is accused of rape.  The opening sentence is "As woman after woman has come forward to accuse Bill Cosby of sexual assault or molestation, there has been growing public revulsion, but also a nagging question: Did it have to be Cliff Huxtable?".  Note "sexual assault and molestation", not "rape".  For a thousand words, we get sentences like "“I felt a real deflation, not even the outrage I should have felt if the accusations are true." and "“He reminds me a lot of my own father, or he did,”"  There are no sentences like "This reminded me of the way I felt when nobody believed my accusations of rape", or "People's focus on the accused rapist rather than on the victims is giving me flashbacks."   

Worst of all, the article has this: "And still, with at least 15 women coming forward with similar stories — of being given a drink or a pill by Mr. Cosby, then waking up feeling [italics mine] they had been sexually assaulted — many fans continue to point out that he has never been charged. The women, they say, must be after money."

There is no refutation in or near this sentence.   There is no comment about what rape experts say about stories like the women's.   The fans' statements about what constitutes rape are repeated unchallenged.    In the very last paragraph, we finally get "Reflecting on Mr. Cosby now, she thinks of the survivors of sexual abuse she sees in her work, at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. “I feel like women are unable to safely report male perpetrators in our culture,” Dr. Gray, 38, said. "  And then we get to the last sentence of the article, also from Dr. Gray: " About the show, she said: “I remember a very happy, close family. It’s the contrast between that and what you hear on the news that’s so upsetting.”
Damn the New York Times.  Damn its editors, and especialy damn Kate Zernicke, who wrote this piece of trash.

Comments

[mme-hardy.livejournal.com]

Oh, I did that before I posted here. I already know what she's going to say, though.

"I talked to the editors, and they told me that it wasn't really a problem because it was balanced by other stories, but I still think they made a mistake."

[irontongue.livejournal.com]

SIGH.