In case you missed it, New York Times media columnist Ben Smith has been busy ruffling feathers with a new piece on Ronan Farrow that calls his journalistic credibility into question:
Is Ronan Farrow Too Good to Be True? https://t.co/ZvjbcHKr8J
— Ben Smith (@benyt) May 18, 2020
Yikes:
Oof. https://t.co/cGujaGciFl pic.twitter.com/Vaz1Zw3mZY
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) May 18, 2020
Quite a shift in tone when it comes to MSM coverage of Farrow …
The real question is why it took the MSM two years to write this story, when Farrow’s reporting about Treasury and Kavanaugh was facially bogus to objective observers in 2018. Not surprised to learn the Clinton and Weinstein reporting similarly flawed. https://t.co/o9AKl0t8e3
— tedfrank ? (@tedfrank) May 18, 2020
Disappointed @benyt didn't get into Farrow's trash reporting on the Deborah Ramirez accusation of Brett Kavanaugh in an otherwise excellent piece. It would have fit right in.
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) May 18, 2020
Regardless of what you may think of Farrow’s reporting (there’s no doubt he blew it big-time on the Deborah Ramirez thing), #MeToo pioneer Rose McGowan is clearly siding against Ben Smith and the New York Times. As she sees it, Smith (and the Times, by extension) has a vested interest in destroying Farrow’s reputation:
@benyt Ben Smith of The NY Times failed to disclose his ties to @nbcuni. Look deeper, people. It’s all connected. NBCUniversal doubles stake in (Ben Smith) BuzzFeed with $200 million investment – Reuters #RonanFarrow https://t.co/tRr5gZF1PA
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) May 18, 2020
Smith is no longer with BuzzFeed, but McGowan apparently believes that he’s still loyal to BuzzFeed and therefore would still have a reason to discredit Farrow, given NBC’s concerted effort to bury Farrow’s reporting on Harvey Weinstein as well as alleged sexual predation among prominent NBC personalities like Matt Lauer.
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) May 18, 2020
Ben Smith is cancelled. https://t.co/F5QDhygb8U
— neontaster (@neontaster) May 18, 2020
Or not.
Wait…Buzzfeed's investment in his former company in 2016 means he's writing a conspiracy driven hit piece? Genuinely confused.
— Chris Paul (@imyourmoderator) May 18, 2020
That was 4 years ago. So the argument is that Smith, who is no longer with Buzzfeed, is currently trying to defend NBC, who he's also not with, because 4 years ago NBC invested in Buzzfeed? I see that people think this is a bombshell, but it's really not.
— Michael Wayne (@Michael23210143) May 18, 2020