Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault
Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault, and the interview was aired by NBC news. The third accuser, in this case, was Julie Swetnick. She provided a sworn statement to the senate committee through her lawyer. She claims that they attended a party with Kavanaugh while in high school, and a series of rapes occurred. According to the accuser, Kavanaugh was one of the people involved with rape incidents that happened at the party. NBC delayed the editorial process after interviewing with the victim. The interviewer gave an explanation of the delay stating that, “By the time we were able to find the woman independently from Mr. Avenatti, who declined to give us her full legal name and phone number and full report and vet her story, the Kavanaugh confirmation process was over, and the news value was limited.”
Frankly, the explanation doesn’t make sense. One reason the Kavanaugh nomination exploded in partisan rancor was that his opponents, seeing what seemed like three substantial sexual assault allegations, thought so much smoke suggested a pretty big fire. Despite the accusation, Kavanaugh was approved, and the action attracted questions concerning the legitimacy of the Supreme Court. The conservative theory is that the network, by withholding vital information Democrats derail Kavanaugh’s nomination. But there’s a less malevolent explanation, which is simply that news organizations are leery of ever questioning the credibility of a sexual-assault accusation.
That’s understandable. A skeptical response to rape allegations risks re-victimizing someone who has already been brutally violated. It also makes punishing attackers more difficult, leaving them free to assault again. That’s why activists are so adamant that we “believe women” and why they savage anyone who questions an accuser’s reliability. Which only heightens the news media’s reluctance to say, “something’s not right here helped.”
On the other hand, NBC was reluctant with its reasonable standards during the hearing process. For instance, New Yorker contained weak evidence after running the background of Kavanaugh concerning his college behavior. The reporter was confident that the process could have made it easier for the victims to be heard. Allowing airing of insufficiently backed up allegations will lead to public distrust of media. Therefore, actual victims will have no platform to be heard if no one is not there to listen.