BROADCAST BIAS: Graham Platner scandal shows how media’s #MeToo movement collapsed
New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor made it sound like the "#MeToo" phenomenon she spurred on was dead. It began with Hollywood power broker Harvey Weinstein and collapsed when it came to Democrat candidates like Graham Platner, in the crucial Maine Senate race against Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Those allegations led to Platner suspending his campaign July 8.
Kantor's stories on Weinstein became a feminist movie titled "She Said," and she was played as a heroine by actress Zoe Kazan. But she wasn’t a feminist when it came to Platner. On CNN’s afternoon show "The Arena" on June 10, Kantor dismissed the allegations made in a June 4 article in her own newspaper by two other female reporters. They found ex-girlfriends identifying "unsettling behavior," featuring liberal Jenna Racicot and conservative Lyndsay Fifield.
"The accusations against Graham Platner are not classic #MeToo accusations," Kantor claimed. "They're not about a boss and a young female employee being subjected to sexual advances. They were mostly made in the context of consensual relationships." They were "not classic abuse allegations."
How does that make them less newsworthy? On July 6, pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson, who pushed back against Kantor’s dismissive tone in that segment, tweeted, "I try to stay pretty even-keeled on air, but was pretty aghast at the way the allegations against Graham Platner were being dismissed."
Fifield, the figure at the center of the Times story, reacted over the Kantor video on X by noting she forgave Platner, "but when I realized I was not the only woman he had done this to, that he has a lifelong pattern of deep contempt for women, I realized he had suckered me once again. And instead of support for coming forward, Jenny and I have been met with horrific smears, told it was 'karma,' or that it wasn’t ‘that bad.’"
Kantor wasn’t alone that day. A few hours earlier, co-host Sunny Hostin pushed hard for Platner on "The View," saying Republicans don’t have the moral high ground. "It's time for Democrats to stop that nonsense, put emotions on the side, let's be strategic, let's get some power, let’s take over the Senate and let’s take over the House and let's right the ship!"
'THE VIEW' CO-HOST HITS DEMOCRATS OVER 'BOTCHED' VETTING OF PLATNER
The original Times story was skipped by all the networks on the first night, a Thursday. CBS arrived the next morning, and then ABC found it on the second night. So did the "PBS News Hour." They turned to their Friday pundits, and Jonathan Capehart insisted Platner shouldn’t drop out, because Republicans never cared about sexual-assault accusations against President Donald Trump.
Pseudo-conservative David Brooks strongly disagreed: "The guy is a moral degenerate. The abuse of women, the sexting, the Nazi tattoo," and noting he made comments disparaging rape victims on Reddit.
NBC didn’t arrive on the story until Saturday’s "Nightly News" on June 6. When Platner easily won the primary the next Tuesday (because his opponent Janet Mills had dropped out), NBC reporter Ryan Nobles gushed that Platner’s victory showed "the oyster man and Marine vet has energized progressives despite facing multiple scandals," like a tattoo "some say resembles a Nazi symbol."
BROADCAST BIAS: PLATNER’S NOMINATION EXPOSES MEDIA DOUBLE STANDARDS … AGAIN
This Monday, Politico dropped a new bomb, that liberal Racicot alleged Platner "forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections." Suddenly, Democrats were talking about how he might have to go.
The networks all covered the story that night, but they were slow about it. Only NBC reported on it in the first five minutes. ABC and CBS waited more than 10 minutes into the show, behind the weather and other lighter fare, like World Cup soccer. NPR’s "All Things Considered" put the rape allegation No. 12 on their list, airing three and a half minutes on the subject after spending eight minutes on the Earth-shattering news that the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was deciding not to tour anymore.
The "PBS News Hour" waited almost 37 minutes to get around to it, featuring it in its Monday political-pundit segment, and the panel talked mostly about the political ramifications. Political analyst Carrie Dann was upbeat for Democrats: "Susan Collins remains very vulnerable. This could end up being the best news Democrats could have had if they are able to replace him with a candidate who can be competitive against her."
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION
On "The View" on Tuesday, Hostin doubled down on Platner, saying she would still vote for him if she lived in Maine. Co-host Sara Haines said, "If you were one of those people that was willing to plug your nose, you're the problem." Hostin shot back: "Well then, I’m the problem!" Joy Behar proclaimed: "I don't want to hear from the Epstein protector party, OK?" Then, on Wednesday’s show, Hostin gave in, saying Platner should go.
The internal squabbling among Democrats (and in the media) resembled President Joe Biden’s debate fiasco in 2024, where some diehards insisted Biden shouldn’t be forced out. The only real principle in these stands is that the party's nominee shouldn't be pressured off the ballot by panic-stricken Democrats frightened of losing.
The broadcast networks aren’t "independent journalists" with no rooting interest in the outcome. They are part of the messaging machine that aims to help Democrats win elections. Their standard on scandals isn’t much different from Hostin’s. Scandals are just "distractions" for Democrats, and when someone pressures them to investigate, their first partisan instinct is to "stop that nonsense."
