#MeToo depends on the credibility of the journalists who report on it.

SO YOU’RE SAYING IT’S SCREWED, THEN? Megan McArdle: #MeToo depends on the credibility of the journalists who report on it.

But given the thinness of the evidence, I’m frankly surprised the New Yorker ran the article, which went online Sunday. So are a lot of folks on the right, including those who had favored withdrawing Kavanaugh in favor of Amy Coney Barrett, a federal appeals court judge. They, too, had expressed the belief that a second allegation would be automatically disqualifying.
But they had assumed, as I did, that a second allegation would be stronger, not weaker, than the first. And among that group, I saw a sudden shift toward the view that Republicans must take the matter at least through a hearing. Otherwise, nominee after nominee would go down to a string of unverifiable allegations.
And so I’m writing a different column than I expected, about something I hadn’t fully understood until I watched that seismic shift: the extent to which the success of #MeToo depends on the credibility of the journalists who report on it.
We hear the slogan “believe women” a lot, but even its strongest media proponents can’t really mean it literally, because journalists know how often people tell them things that aren’t true. Sources exaggerate their résumés, underplay things that make them look bad, make mistakes about what happened or simply outright lie. It’s hardly a majority, but it’s common enough that caution is always warranted. . . .
As #MeToo has grown, mainstream media outlets have generally been scrupulous about getting that confirmation before they publish. It’s hard to overstate the dangers when that filter fails. When Rolling Stone failed to check allegations about gang rape at the University of Virginia, the magazine both smeared innocent young men and caused other victims to be treated more skeptically. And when a weak story breaks into an already raging political conflagration, it not only creates skepticism under which future abusers can shelter but also threatens to turn #MeToo into yet another divide in the culture wars.
That would be a disaster for the country, and the women in it. Which is why, despite the risk of failing to say something that later turns out to be true, sometimes it’s best to tear up that piece you expected to be able to write.

Too late.

88Posted at 11:06 pm by Glenn Reynolds  

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/308517/