Monday, September 23, 2024

All of the good titles I can think of for this post are too tasteless for this blog

I don't want to spend too much time on this – – it has already gotten far more coverage than it merits – – but while the story itself may not be that important, it has important implications. And let's be honest, it is a great deal of fun, a freshly baked and fragrant soufflé of schadenfreude involving people who richly deserve to be taken down a notch or two.

New York CNN  — 

One of America’s most acclaimed magazine writers, Olivia Nuzzi of New York magazine, has been placed on leave while a “third-party review” is conducted after the publication said Nuzzi disclosed that she “had engaged in a personal relationship with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign while she was reporting on the campaign.”

While the magazine did not identify the subject, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told CNN that the relationship was with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who ran for president as an independent candidate and recently endorsed Donald Trump. The person said the relationship was emotional and digital in nature, not physical.

A Kennedy spokesperson told CNN, “Mr. Kennedy only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.”

The alleged relationship was first reported on Thursday night by Oliver Darcy in Status.

In a statement to CNN, Nuzzi said her relationship with a reporting subject had “turned personal” and that she regretted not disclosing it to the publication.

“Earlier this year, the nature of some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal. During that time, I did not directly report on the subject nor use them as a source,” she said. “The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict. I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I’ve disappointed, especially my colleagues at New York.”

In a note to readers, New York magazine said Nuzzi is “currently on leave,” and the publication is “conducting a more thorough third-party review.”

By "digital... not physical," we of course mean...

The Daily Beast has more details:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s boasting to friends that star reporter Olivia Nuzzi had sent him intimate photos was what led the scandal to explode, the Daily Beast can reveal. News of the 70-year-old’s bragging reached the ears of the 31-year-old New York magazine correspondent’s boss—who confronted her over the photos.

Nuzzi repeatedly denied an affair to David Haskell, New York’s editor-in-chief, but eventually told the truth. Nuzzi has now been suspended, and is being investigated over her journalistic ethics by an outside party.

 

And since 2024's writers tend to be a bit on the nose...


Nuzzi is a tremendously influential journalist whose work has had a huge impact, particularly in this election cycle. Looking back now over her articles, interviews, and social media, there are numerous passages that suddenly stand out in a troubling way.


(Notice that she doesn't consider the possibility that you wouldn't want to platform an anti-vaxxer not because you were worried about criticism but because that would be a bad thing to do,)

About that Trump profile. Can't choose between ethically compromised and embarrassingly pretentious? Have I got the article for you.

 Here is a mercifully small sample of the ear section (I was almost tempted to work in the verb to wax, but my better angels prevailed).:

An ear had never before been so important, so burdened. An ear had never before represented the divide between the organic course of American history and an alternate timeline on which the democratic process was corrupted by an aberrant act of violence as it had not been in more than half a century. Yet an ear had never appeared to have gone through less. Except there, on the tiniest patch of this tiny sculpture of skin, a minor distortion that resembled not a crucifixion wound but the distant aftermath of a sunburn.

When I got to "Since the bullet had launched from the barrel of an AR-15 and pierced the Pennsylvania sky," I stopped reading and started skimming. It did not get better.

Nuzzi's reputation as a journalist was always based more on her ability to get access and her knack for syncing up with the narrative of the moment than on any literary or investigative skill. Her track record for insights, even of subject she should know very well, is not good.

The other key to her success has been her ability, along with her until recently fiancé, Ryan Lizza, to navigate the world of New York/DC journalism. This leads us to the second genuinely important part of this story. It gives us a glimpse into how incestuous, insular, and dysfunctional this community is. The very fact that, even given an ethical lapse this egregious, Darcy" agonized" over reporting the story.

(Remind me to tell you my Paris Kafka moment.)

Both Nuzzi and Lizza have been caught engaging in questionable behavior before, but they could always count on their friends and colleagues to circle the wagons.

(I'm not sure how this response qualifies as thoughtful. Given the little I've seen of Smith's work in the past, particularly at the New York Times, I suspect it means a vaguely positive word useful for describing someone popular with the right people.)

This time, however, Nuzzi may have gone one nude selfie over the line. Even with a group this experienced at defending the indefensible, explaining away a conflict of interest that goes to the heart of pretty much everything she has written or commented on over the past six months will be a challenge.


Which is not to say that she won't manage a comeback. The elite national press corps has always been remarkably good at forgiving each other their sins. Jack Shafer has based most of his career on it. Even if she can't work her way back into their good graces, the worst case scenario is a lucrative sinecure in conservative media where each week she can point an accusing finger at the former colleagues who couldn't bring themselves to forgive this one final trespass.

All of which gives us leave to mock relatively guilt-free. Nuzzi, Lizza, and most of all Kennedy will not only come out of this fine, they will almost certainly come out of it better than they deserve. So go ahead and have a little fun at their expense.


Have I mentioned that Nuzzi has been at this for a long time?

From 2022





The timing was pretty sweet on this one (and yes, we will be blogging on Haberman's God-awful interview).


If Harris wins, it will be in spite of, not because of the establishment press.


And maybe my favorite.
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 23, 2024 at 9:25 AM

    This is an interesting story. It reminds me a bit of that BBC pedophile scandal from a few years ago, in that involves someone who is a major media star (this time, Olivia Nuzzi; earlier, Jimmy Savile) but whom I'd never heard of before. If Nuzzi's goal is to achieve wider fame, then scandal is one way of getting there more quickly. I'm not saying she had the affair in order to increase her fame. I guess it's more likely that the reason that so many of her colleagues in journalism are supporting her now is the same reason she got all that access earlier: she's skilled in making people feel important and telling people what they want to hear.

    Andrew

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