Today, it was Matt Lauer. Some of you want the newest, shocking details. The Miami Herald called the accusations against him “crude misconduct.”
Less known, it was a two-fer. Well-known Minnesota Public Radio host Garrison Keillor won’t be showing up for work anymore.
Last week, Charlie Rose went down, fired for alleged sexual harassment over the years.
The list of male journalists (and also politicians and some in the entertainment field) has grown since I last blogged about the subject, 20 days ago.
Don’t forget Bill O’Reilly, Mark Halperin and the late Roger Ailes. And Kevin Spacey, Harvey Weinstein, Brett Ratner, Jeremy Piven, Louis CK and, of course, Bill Cosby.
There are now Sen. Al Franken and Rep. John Conyers.
Plus, President George H.W. Bush was implicated. And, of course, current President Donald Trump himself has been named repeatedly.
There are too many others to mention. My previous blog post mentions others.
I hate the story and wish it would go away. Deep, painful wounds are being opened.
Yes, it looks like justice is happening to a degree — and that’s good — but American newsmen (there’s a word from the past, when the behavior may have been looked upon as typical, or maybe even normal and accepted) are making Trump look right in his spat with them and their bosses.
I didn’t hear Trump say so or tweet it, but it really doesn’t help the non-journalist American men who are his base.
And we’re learning way too many other people, including executives, kept the sexual harassment they witnessed or heard about to themselves, afraid of powerful or popular colleagues.
Keep in mind, teachers and several other professionals can go to JAIL for not reporting any suspicion — suspicion — but that involves another of the most vulnerable around us: minors. In Florida, failure to stop what you’re doing and report is now a felony.
Young women, in or just out of school, are expected to fend for themselves against these wolves — kind of like dangerously going out on stories by themselves in bad neighborhoods at night. These so-called multi-media journalists, or MMJs, shoot, write, edit, and present the news live on TV — and forced to look over their shoulders, as if they don’t have enough to do — and unfortunately this is becoming more popular.
Recently, I’ve been wondering: Has anybody interviewed the mothers of the accused men? Yes, I know the accused tend to be older. Their once-proud mothers may not be around any longer. But several have to be.
I don’t care where these guys worked. Notice I left out network references, since journalists should be friendly competition to find out the truth and make society better. And most have worked in more than one place. (I did the same with politicians’ parties.)
Politically, I’m close to the middle, depending on the issue. Since the 2016 presidential election, political parties have meant less and less to me every day. It seems both sides have folks who are corrupt, and unworthy of trust and respect. (Kind of like the candidates!)
I’m not justifying Connie Chung’s 1995 interview with new Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s (Newtie’s) mother — and he has a whole lot to answer for, personally — but I’d like to hear some moms’ thoughts on their sons who are accused of sexual harassment these days.
In the Chung-Kathleen ‘Kit’ Gingrich “just between you and me” exchange below, the trusting 68-year-old admitted Newt told her that then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was a “bitch.” Mrs. Gingrich died in 2003 at the age of 77.
Have any of you heard from any of today’s moms?
11 thoughts on “Hey, you accused! Would Mom say, wait until your father gets home?”