Ronan Farrow is known for taking down powerful men like Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer with his in-depth reporting, but on Sunday, New York Times’ new media columnist Ben Smith delivered a takedown of Farrow.
Smith questioned whether Farrow flies “too close to the sun”: “Because if you scratch at Mr. Farrow’s reporting in The New Yorker and in his 2019 bestseller, ‘Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators,’ you start to see some shakiness at its foundation. He delivers narratives that are irresistibly cinematic — with unmistakable heroes and villains — and often omits the complicating facts and inconvenient details that may make them less dramatic. At times, he does not always follow the typical journalistic imperatives of corroboration and rigorous disclosure, or he suggests conspiracies that are tantalizing but he cannot prove.”
Though he pointed out examples of reporting that didn’t hold up over the years — like a piece on “missing files” on Trump fixer Michael Cohen within the Treasury Department that turned out to be “simply put on restricted access” — Smith insisted Farrow “does not make things up.” Still, he spoke to the New Yorker’s Ken Auletta, who worked to bring Farrow’s reporting to the magazine, and Auletta shone a light on what he thinks Farrow’s strategy is, if not making things up.
“Are all the Ts crossed and the Is dotted? No,” Auletta said. “You’re still left with the bottom line — he delivered the goods.”
Smith wrote Sunday that Farrow defended the word “conspiracy” in “Catch & Kill’s” subtitle, saying it “accurately conveys the substance of the book and efforts by powerful men to evade accountability.” Farrow added, “With respect to Weinstein, I carefully lay out the various levers of pressure exerted against my reporting — through personal relationships, private espionage, legal threats, etc.”
The piece caused a stir Sunday night on its release as readers questioned why Smith and the Times would take aim at Farrow seemingly out of nowhere.
“I’ll be honest, my first reaction to NYT publishing a bizarre hit piece on Ronan Farrow is that he’s working on something they want to preemptively discredit,” tweeted Shannon Stagman, co-lead of the grassroots group Empire State Indivisible, who said the story is “full of innuendo.”
Most in media seemed to be on Farrow’s side, though his camp has yet to release an official statement. Writer Carole Cadwalladr scorned Smith, writing, “you can take a bro out of Buzzfeed. But can you ever take Buzzfeed out of the bro?”
7 Times Matt Lauer Came Under Fire, From Sexual Harassment Accusations to Ann Curry Ousting (Photos)
Matt Lauer was terminated by NBC News on Wednesday after the company received a complaint of sexual harassment against him. But that's not the first time the longtime "Today" host found himself in hot water.
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Rumors of extramarital affairs dogged Lauer during his tenure on "Today," with tabloid reports linking him to other members of the show, including Natalie Morales. In 2010, NBC News finally responded to the allegations, calling them "completely inaccurate and unfounded" and "reckless and harmful to the Lauer family."
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Ann Curry was ousted from "Today" in 2012 as the show was losing ground to ABC's "Good Morning America," and after she issued a tearful on-air goodbye Lauer was widely viewed as the reason for her departure. New York Magazine later reported that the two had a tense off-camera relationship, and though Curry took the fall, Lauer was more to blame for the show's declining viewership.
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In 2012, Lauer was criticized for asking Anne Hathaway about an upskirt photo taken at the premiere of "Les Miserables" and attempting to make a joke of the situation by saying he'd "seen a lot of you lately." Hathaway was praised for how she handled the situation, gently shutting down the line of questioning by saying it was unfortunate that the culture "commodifies sexuality of unwilling participants."
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In 2006, Lauer's wife Annette Roque filed for divorce, alleging that she suffered "cruel and inhumane" treatment at the hands of her controlling husband. The two eventually reconciled and Roque, who was pregnant at the time, withdrew the paperwork, but the documents were obtained and published by the National Enquirer in 2014.
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Lauer's former co-anchor Katie Couric joked about his behavior in a 2012 interview with Andy Cohen. "He pinches me on the ass a lot," she said, calling it Lauer's most annoying habit. Video of the interview, which was handled jokingly at the time, was recirculated following his termination for a sexual misconduct allegation.
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Lauer moderated a pair of NBC News town halls during the 2016 presidential election, which were widely slammed for the way he questioned the two candidates. Lauer repeatedly asked Hillary Clinton about her email server and rushed past other, more concrete policy issues. Meanwhile, he was perceived to have gone much softer on Donald Trump, failing to press the then-nominee on repeated falsehoods.
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Lauer was finally axed by NBC News and removed from "Today" in 2017, after the company received a "detailed complaint" from a colleague accusing him of inappropriate sexual behavior.
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Morning show host was axed following a sexual misconduct allegation by an NBC News colleague
Matt Lauer was terminated by NBC News on Wednesday after the company received a complaint of sexual harassment against him. But that's not the first time the longtime "Today" host found himself in hot water.