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Richard Jewell: The Media Spin Begins In Earnest
I was reading another post at this site entited “A Cornered Rat Responds” by Ole Summers (extremely well written) and was reminded of some of the reviews that I have read of Clint Eastwood’s new movie Richard Jewell. I wrote a piece on this movie a couple of weeks ago (“Put This New Eastwood Movie On Your Radar”) and believed then that there would be considerable pushback from the media establishment against Eastwood’s work. I was right.
Like the slimiest, corrupt politician (yeah, I would include Nancy Pelosi), a sizable segment of the media is attacking Eastwood and even calling for a boycott over his “egregiously sexist” portrayal of Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Kathy Scruggs. The AJC is even threatening a lawsuit against Warner Brothers.
Of course, this is all a smokescreen to attempt to disguise the fact that the media, led by the AJC, effectively ruined a man’s life and then hid behind the First Amendment when they were called to account for it. And now, that same spin is being employed in an attempt to obfuscate the media’s rank dishonesty.
Did Kathy Scruggs bed an FBI agent to obtain information for her slanderous story? Maybe or maybe not and we will never know (Scruggs died of a drug overdose several years ago). However, this has nothing to do with the real story. Whether the AJC (and the rest of the media) acknowledge it or not, the true story is the trashing of a person’s life and their refusal to take responsibility for it. The portrayal of Scruggs’ supposed actions is comparable to the flare-up between astronauts Jack Swigert and Fred Haise in the fantastic movie “Apollo 13.” It never happened. Director Ron Howard simply inserted this confrontation into the movie for dramatic effect. Eastwood employed the same technique.
Were there calls for boycotts of “Apollo 13”? Don’t be ridiculous. Moviegoers are more sophisticated than that. And, they will be just as sophisticated when viewing Richard Jewell. Just how ridiculous is it getting? One reporter from Slate has written, “Please do not pay to see movies that feature fictional female reporters who sleep with sources for a story. It’s an egregiously sexist, demeaning, insulting trope and at this stage, I don’t see an appropriate response other than a flat-out boycott.”
If there is a difference between the pomposity of this reporter and politicians such as Nancy Polosi, I just don’t see it. Take a look at Eastwood’s movie and make up your own mind. And, before going to the movie, take a look at “Richard Jewell Case Study – Columbia University”. See for yourself, how closely to the truth the movie portrays the destruction of a person’s life.
Published in General
I was living in Atlanta at the time and the behavior of all the media (as well as law enforcement) was shameful.
These are the facts that matter.
Eastwood generally does a good job with history, and I think he is interested in historical events of individuals against a system; the Changling comes to mind.
I stand with Clint. But I think the real message here is that only certain types of historical distortions are permissible–especially when they shine a nice light on the “courage and integrity” of the media.
CA,
This is what the modern woke world has become. All talk and the total abandonment of ordinary people. Do you believe that the modern female reporter class hasn’t stooped to play for pay? For this generation having sex has been portrayed as a right. I’m not saying that every woman reporter is whoring after stories, however, how naive must I be.
Some search for the truth.
Regards,
Jim
Trump Derangement Syndrome strikes again. The media hates Trump and loves anything that Trump is against, Trump complains about the FBI, the movie shows the FBI in a bad light, therefore the movie must be hated. So childish…
BTW, was it “egregiously sexist” when Kate Mara slept with
Kevin Spacey(whoops, he’s been non-personned) in House of Cards? Or was that OK because it was Netflix and Frank Underwood was a white male cad of the highest order?Yeah, that’s outrageous. Wait, what about the real female NY Times reporter who was sleeping with the security director of the Senate Intelligence Committee in order to get stories? Doesn’t count because it’s old news – happened way back in 2017 so I wouldn’t expect someone from Slate to remember (or know how to use google).
I lived in Atlanta at the time and still do…and the AJC is running an article a day with counter spin. The AJC is borderline as a newspaper today and was way below that line in the mid 90s so I don’t have any sympathy for them…
Wish Clint would do another about NBC covering up for Weinstein and Matt Lauer, ABC covering up the Epstein story, CBS colluding with them and firing their employee they suspected leaking the Epstein tapes….ect ect.
So is this more or less “sexist” than the Peloton ad?
It’s impossible for me to comprehend that anyone with any knowledge of government is unaware that reporters regularly sleep with sources. Doesn’t mean that all reporters do it, but it happens with enough regularity that it’s fair ground for a movie.
What does Andrea Mitchell have to say on this count?Sorry, cheap shot.
All part of a long and apparently venerated tradition. For some more examples read this.
The sad truth is because there has been a history of an incredibly small number of firemen who set fires to act the hero, the MSM looks at almost all heroes as, “Did they cause the problem in the first place to make glory for themselves?”
Fake news was alive long before the present day . . .
That, and they love to tear down anyone better than themselves.
Yeah, I’d forgotten, for example, about Judy Miller (who has now been deemed a non-person because of her WMD coverage in the NYT). Do people think that Henry Kissinger was considered a “ladies’ man” because he looked like Cary Grant?
It’s not unknown. There’s Ali Watkins and James Wolfe.
I have a movie card. A nice side effect is that I can help a movie out with little cost to me.
I purchased 10 tickets to help dinesh d’souza movie. Clint may be getting a few extra trips just for the fun of it.
He writes,
But all I hear is,
“Dear Sir, I wish to complain in the strongest possible terms about the scene in the movie depicting a female reporter sleeping with a source for a story. Many of my best friends are female reporters, and only a few of them are sleeping with sources for stories. Yours faithfully, Blue Check-marked Reporter Mark Joseph Stern, Slate”
People with unlimited access to media to defend themselves don’t get the irony of complaining about a story about a man with no such access being trashed in the media. Eastwood did not get it right? Boo Hoo. Neither did you and you did not apologize either.