What Matters These Days?
November 25, 2017 at 4:20 a.m.
By Gary [email protected]
There literally are dozens of famous people being accused – Hollywood folks, politicians and journalists.
It’s crazy and interesting all at the same time.
I want to touch on one particular case of a journalist in this column because I think it illustrates the level of importance the issue has gained.
That would be the case of Glenn Thrush, of the New York Times.
The star political reporter has been suspended over allegations of sexual misconduct involving younger, female journalists.
Thrush, 50, was one of the newspaper’s top reporters, covering the Trump administration. A NYT spokesperson said the allegations against him were, "very concerning and not in keeping with the standards and values of The New York Times. We intend to fully investigate and while we do, Glenn will be suspended. We support his decision to enter a substance abuse program. In the meantime, we will not be commenting further."
NYT CEO Mark Thompson sent out an email telling employees they should talk to managers or human resources if they had any concerns about sexual misconduct.
He wrote that "... We're committed to ensuring that we treat every allegation of sexual harassment with utmost seriousness.”
Thrush got in hot water over a story published Monday on vox.com, which alleged he had "a history of bad judgment around young women journalists."
The story chronicled allegations from three women – one of whom was the author of the article, Laura McGann.
All three women accused Thrush of smarmy behavior, including unwanted groping, touching and kissing, as well as “hazy sexual encounters that played out under the influence of alcohol."
Thrush has apologized, and said booze had a lot to do with his behavior. In fact, most of the alleged incidents happened after Thrush spent time with these women in bars. He says he quit drinking in July and is getting counseling.
"I apologize to any woman who felt uncomfortable in my presence, and for any situation where I behaved inappropriately. Any behavior that makes a woman feel disrespected or uncomfortable is unacceptable,” Thrush wrote.
The women – as most women in these situations do – worried that if they didn’t go along or play nice, it would damage their careers. Thrush had access to some of the most powerful people in the world, after all, and to be on his good side gave you a foot in the door of power politics in Washington, D.C.
Here’s an excerpt from a story on CNNcom:
Thrush joined the Times late last year after a successful eight-year run at Politico. Since joining the paper, he has teamed up with fellow Times reporter Maggie Haberman, herself a former Politico writer, to deliver some of the biggest stories about President Trump's White House. The two interviewed Trump earlier this year, and they landed a deal to write a book about the president.
Thrush's longtime Beltway chronicling has made him a fixture on cable news over the years, but his coverage of the Trump White House has elevated him to new heights. Last year, "Saturday Night Live" depicted him in multiple sketches. And earlier this year, Thrush signed a deal with MSNBC to become a contributor there.
So yeah, Thrush was a big deal and now it’s all in jeopardy because of his alleged creepy behavior with these women.
I get that.
That’s the way it should be. But here’s what I don’t get.
Our intrepid reporter, Thrush, was one of the people outed by the WikiLeaks dump of Podesta emails back in the summer of 2016.
While he was at Politico, he was sending his stories about the Trump/Clinton campaign to Clinton staffers for approval.
Remember the email exchanges?
“Because I have become a hack I will send u the whole section that pertains to [you],” he wrote to Podesta in April 2015. That email also included five paragraphs from a story he was writing about Hillary.
He added, “Please don’t share or tell anyone I did this,” Thrush added. “Tell me if I f****d up anything.”
During that same month, he sent an email to Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton’s communications director: “pls read asap — the [Jennifer Palmieri] bits — don’t share.”
So she forwards the email to other campaign staffers: “He did me courtesy of sending what he is going to say about me. Seems fine.”
When all this came out, there was a bit of a minor hubbub, but no real sanction for Thrush. Far from it.
Within the year he was awarded the prime White House correspondent job at the NYT, where, apparently, the behavior continued.
Emails show Thrush worked with Haberman who the Clinton campaign characterized in a memo as a “friendly journalist. ... We have had her tee up stories for us before and have never been disappointed.”
(I wonder what would have happened if Thrush had been emailing his NYT stories to Trump surrogates for approval?)
This type of behavior is completely antithetical to the role of a free press in America. You simply can’t – while retaining any level of credibility – let your sources edit your story.
Thrush knew that. That’s why he admonished his sources not to tell anybody he was giving them prior approval of his work.
Antics like these should get you fired. But apparently, at the NYT, it gets you promoted.
The guy commits the cardinal sin of journalism and gets a prime beat at the NYT anyway. I guess that behavior is “in keeping with the standards and values of The New York Times.”
A couple of drunken interactions with female reporters, however, and the NYT drops him like a bad habit.
Gives an interesting insight into the priorities of the NYT, doesn’t it?
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There literally are dozens of famous people being accused – Hollywood folks, politicians and journalists.
It’s crazy and interesting all at the same time.
I want to touch on one particular case of a journalist in this column because I think it illustrates the level of importance the issue has gained.
That would be the case of Glenn Thrush, of the New York Times.
The star political reporter has been suspended over allegations of sexual misconduct involving younger, female journalists.
Thrush, 50, was one of the newspaper’s top reporters, covering the Trump administration. A NYT spokesperson said the allegations against him were, "very concerning and not in keeping with the standards and values of The New York Times. We intend to fully investigate and while we do, Glenn will be suspended. We support his decision to enter a substance abuse program. In the meantime, we will not be commenting further."
NYT CEO Mark Thompson sent out an email telling employees they should talk to managers or human resources if they had any concerns about sexual misconduct.
He wrote that "... We're committed to ensuring that we treat every allegation of sexual harassment with utmost seriousness.”
Thrush got in hot water over a story published Monday on vox.com, which alleged he had "a history of bad judgment around young women journalists."
The story chronicled allegations from three women – one of whom was the author of the article, Laura McGann.
All three women accused Thrush of smarmy behavior, including unwanted groping, touching and kissing, as well as “hazy sexual encounters that played out under the influence of alcohol."
Thrush has apologized, and said booze had a lot to do with his behavior. In fact, most of the alleged incidents happened after Thrush spent time with these women in bars. He says he quit drinking in July and is getting counseling.
"I apologize to any woman who felt uncomfortable in my presence, and for any situation where I behaved inappropriately. Any behavior that makes a woman feel disrespected or uncomfortable is unacceptable,” Thrush wrote.
The women – as most women in these situations do – worried that if they didn’t go along or play nice, it would damage their careers. Thrush had access to some of the most powerful people in the world, after all, and to be on his good side gave you a foot in the door of power politics in Washington, D.C.
Here’s an excerpt from a story on CNNcom:
Thrush joined the Times late last year after a successful eight-year run at Politico. Since joining the paper, he has teamed up with fellow Times reporter Maggie Haberman, herself a former Politico writer, to deliver some of the biggest stories about President Trump's White House. The two interviewed Trump earlier this year, and they landed a deal to write a book about the president.
Thrush's longtime Beltway chronicling has made him a fixture on cable news over the years, but his coverage of the Trump White House has elevated him to new heights. Last year, "Saturday Night Live" depicted him in multiple sketches. And earlier this year, Thrush signed a deal with MSNBC to become a contributor there.
So yeah, Thrush was a big deal and now it’s all in jeopardy because of his alleged creepy behavior with these women.
I get that.
That’s the way it should be. But here’s what I don’t get.
Our intrepid reporter, Thrush, was one of the people outed by the WikiLeaks dump of Podesta emails back in the summer of 2016.
While he was at Politico, he was sending his stories about the Trump/Clinton campaign to Clinton staffers for approval.
Remember the email exchanges?
“Because I have become a hack I will send u the whole section that pertains to [you],” he wrote to Podesta in April 2015. That email also included five paragraphs from a story he was writing about Hillary.
He added, “Please don’t share or tell anyone I did this,” Thrush added. “Tell me if I f****d up anything.”
During that same month, he sent an email to Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton’s communications director: “pls read asap — the [Jennifer Palmieri] bits — don’t share.”
So she forwards the email to other campaign staffers: “He did me courtesy of sending what he is going to say about me. Seems fine.”
When all this came out, there was a bit of a minor hubbub, but no real sanction for Thrush. Far from it.
Within the year he was awarded the prime White House correspondent job at the NYT, where, apparently, the behavior continued.
Emails show Thrush worked with Haberman who the Clinton campaign characterized in a memo as a “friendly journalist. ... We have had her tee up stories for us before and have never been disappointed.”
(I wonder what would have happened if Thrush had been emailing his NYT stories to Trump surrogates for approval?)
This type of behavior is completely antithetical to the role of a free press in America. You simply can’t – while retaining any level of credibility – let your sources edit your story.
Thrush knew that. That’s why he admonished his sources not to tell anybody he was giving them prior approval of his work.
Antics like these should get you fired. But apparently, at the NYT, it gets you promoted.
The guy commits the cardinal sin of journalism and gets a prime beat at the NYT anyway. I guess that behavior is “in keeping with the standards and values of The New York Times.”
A couple of drunken interactions with female reporters, however, and the NYT drops him like a bad habit.
Gives an interesting insight into the priorities of the NYT, doesn’t it?
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