Why did the media downplay the latest sexual assault allegation against Trump?
A lack of enthusiasm from top TV and print outlets to cover E Jean Carrolls accusation has left many observers rattled
Ed Pilkington in New York
@edpilkington
Tue 25 Jun 2019 13.42 EDT
The leader of the worlds most powerful nation is accused by a prominent writer with an impeccable career in journalism of having sexually assaulted her in an act amounting to rape. Pretty big news story, you might think.
Not so in the US, it seems. When the news broke last Friday that E Jean Carroll, a revered advice columnist, had accused Donald Trump of sexually attacking her in late 1995 or early 1996, alleging he slammed her against a wall inside a dressing room in the Bergdorf Goodman store in New York then penetrated her without consent, the response from many top media titles was strangely restrained.
The president himself has denied the claims, saying: Ill say it with great respect: number one, shes not my type; number two, it never happened.
However, for a variety of reasons some apparently blatantly political, some technical, some as yet unexplained news outlets decided to downplay the story or even excise it altogether. The most startling example was at the New York Post, where the tabloid ran an account of Carrolls allegations drawn from an extract from her new book published by New York magazine, only to take the story down a few hours later.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/25/e-jean-carroll-sexual-assault-allegation-against-trump-media-response