When getting the story means years of threats, even bullets
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Sarah Matusek Staff writer
As a music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, Jim DeRogatis received his first tip about R. Kelly via fax. It alluded to the R&B star鈥檚 problem with 鈥測oung girls.鈥� The critic broke the story of Mr. Kelly鈥檚 alleged sex with minors in December 2000.
The following month, Mr. DeRogatis received an anonymous sex tape. Within 12 hours, a bullet burst through his front porch window.
鈥淚 cannot say it was R. Kelly, but I think it was a message,鈥� he says.
Why We Wrote This
The rich and powerful have always pushed back on investigative journalists. But when it comes to sexual crimes, the threats are losing to the pursuit of truth.
Mr. DeRogatis has covered Mr. Kelly for two decades, interviewing dozens of women who claim they survived the musician鈥檚 abuse. Mr. Kelly, who faces 18 charges from two federal indictments, was denied bond this week. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Mr. DeRogatis鈥� peers used to deride his coverage of the famed Chicagoan. Today, many herald Mr. DeRogatis鈥� work as helping advance justice.
It鈥檚 hard to separate empty threats from real danger, he says, though he recognizes that survivors of sexual crimes have it much worse. Mr. DeRogatis says he took heat from members of Mr. Kelly鈥檚 camp, including a phone call with the message, 鈥淲e know you have a daughter.鈥� Online attacks spiked around the release last month of his book, 鈥淪oulless: The Case Against R. Kelly.鈥� To his alarm, people have circulated images and video of his family on social media. 鈥淚 never slowed down for a minute,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f anything, it redoubled my efforts.鈥�
Reporters who pursue sexual misconduct allegations against high-profile individuals say they face a flurry of pressure 鈥� from fans, newsrooms, and targets of stories. But the increasing impact of investigative journalism in exposing sexual violence cases may point to something promising: The pushback isn鈥檛 working.
鈥淭he bigger the targets, the more pushback you get,鈥� says Mark Feldstein, a former investigative journalist and journalism historian. 鈥淏ut what actually strikes me about #MeToo is kind of the opposite 鈥� yeah they鈥檙e fighting back, but they鈥檙e not succeeding.鈥�
Not so two decades ago. Journalists had dug into Harvey Weinstein鈥檚 rumored abusive behavior his arrest in May 2018. Mr. DeRogatis says his story on Mr. Kelly鈥檚 alleged sex cult before BuzzFeed published it in July 2017. Former Vanity Fair reporter Vicky Ward allegations against financier Jeffrey Epstein in the early 2000s.聽
While reporting a profile, Ms. Ward says she landed on-the-record interviews with two sisters who accused Mr. Epstein of sexual abuse. One alleged she鈥檇 been underage.
Leading up to publication, Ms. Ward, who was pregnant with twins at the time, says he called multiple times to threaten her and her unborn children, warning something would happen if the story displeased him. A lawyer for Mr. Epstein did not return requests for comment.
鈥淚 actually had to ask the hospital to make sure that they had 24/7 security for two months,鈥� Ms. Ward said on a Slate聽. 鈥淚t was a horrendous time.鈥�
As for the threats, 鈥渢hey made me more determined to nail鈥� the story, Ms. Ward wrote in an email to the Monitor.
However, the women鈥檚 allegations were excised from the Vanity Fair profile. Graydon Carter,聽Vanity Fair鈥檚 then-editor, defended the cut, saying he 鈥渄idn鈥檛 have confidence in Ward鈥檚 reporting,鈥� Politico .
The registered sex offender鈥檚 arrest and new charges in July came 11 years after a controversial nonprosecution聽agreement. Alexander Acosta, who helped broker the deal as a U.S. attorney, resigned as U.S. labor secretary last week. Many credit extensive by Miami Herald journalist Julie K. Brown for renewing scrutiny of Mr. Epstein.
鈥淲e were assisted by some excellent investigative journalism,鈥� said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman for New York鈥檚 Southern District. On Thursday, a federal judge denied Mr. Epstein鈥檚 request for bail, calling him a danger to the community and a flight risk. Mr. Epstein has pleaded not guilty to the new charges.
Intimidation of the press in the U.S. dates back to the first Colonial newspaper in 1690. British authorities shut down Boston鈥檚 Publick Occurrences聽Both Forreign and Domestick after one issue. President Donald Trump鈥檚 calling reporters 鈥渆nemy of the people鈥� is the latest in a long history of government pressure. In 2018, the killing of five Capital Gazette employees in Maryland brought home to U.S. journalists a horror more often faced by peers abroad. Twenty journalists have been attacked in the U.S. this year, reports .
鈥淲hen we see an increase in harassment and threats to journalists, it can have a real chilling effect on journalism,鈥� says Sarah Matthews, a staff attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. 鈥淚t鈥檚 depriving the public of important stories.鈥�
In 2017, Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore threatened to sue the news site AL.com, after the local outlet allegations of his 鈥減redatory behavior鈥� toward teenage girls in Etowah County dating back to the 1970s. Mr. Moore鈥檚 counsel argued the coverage defamed the former state judge, who denied the claims.
Alabama Media Group rejected the cease-and-desist letter and stood by its reporting. Kelly Ann Scott, AMG鈥檚 vice president of content who joined in 2018, says the threat of litigation didn鈥檛 pack a punch.
鈥淚t made folks even more motivated to pursue the truth,鈥� says Ms. Scott.
鈥淭here鈥檚 an openness now鈥�
Mr. Weinstein awaits trial for rape and other offenses following his arrest last year. He has denied wrongdoing.
He鈥檇 spun a web of enablers with his towering influence who tried to snuff out allegations against him and derail negative press, according to reports in The New York Times and The New Yorker.
Mr. Weinstein allegedly hired private security agencies 鈥� including Israeli ex-intelligence officers 鈥� to track accusers and journalists, Ronan Farrow for The New Yorker in 2017. At the time, a spokesperson for Mr. Weinstein said it was 鈥渁 fiction鈥� to suggest that individuals were targeted.
A professor of journalism at the University of Maryland, Mr. Feldstein knows well the risks of investigative journalism 鈥� he was once beaten up for exposing migrant slavery in Florida in the 1980s. He says there could be more pushback on issues of sexual harassment because of the volume of current coverage.
鈥淭he men who predominantly run newsrooms in the United States now have come face to face with what women have found for a long time,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 an openness now to doing those stories, and a willingness now by the sources, the victims, to talk about it in ways that they weren鈥檛 willing to before.鈥�
As Ms. Brown began digging into Mr. Epstein鈥檚 alleged sex ring in 2017, she鈥檚 said,聽a former Palm Beach, Florida, police chief聽warned her that previous reporters had failed, and the Miami Herald could face pressure to kill the story. Ms. Brown persisted, poring over thousands of records and tracking more than 60 alleged survivors of sexual abuse. Eight agreed to interviews.
Miami Herald managing editor Rick Hirsch says the #MeToo era contributed to people opening up about what they hadn鈥檛 been willing to share before.
The Herald didn鈥檛 face threats for its series 鈥� 鈥渘or would it have mattered,鈥� says Mr. Hirsch.
鈥淚 had it coming at me on all sides鈥�
In her book 鈥淐hasing Cosby,鈥� former Philadelphia Daily News reporter Nicole Weisensee Egan says she faced incessant intimidating calls from Martin Singer, a former lawyer for Bill Cosby, as she investigated sexual abuse claims in 2005. Some media slammed her reporting on 鈥淎merica鈥檚 dad.鈥�
鈥淚 had it coming at me on all sides, but my newspaper had my back the entire time,鈥� says Ms. Egan.
She continued to follow the story at People and The Daily Beast. She finally saw the media take the allegations against Mr. Cosby seriously when a joke by comedian Hannibal Buress went viral in 2014. Dozens more women came forward to accuse Mr. Cosby of abuse.
鈥淐osby could control the media, but he couldn鈥檛 control social media,鈥� says Ms. Egan.
Some observers called Mr. Cosby鈥檚 2018 conviction a #MeToo milestone. The entertainer is serving three to 10 years for sexual assault, and continues to deny wrongdoing. An assistant for Mr. Singer did not respond to requests for comment.
Ms. Egan may have been spared online harassment because she uncovered allegations against Mr. Cosby pre-Twitter. Mr. DeRogatis, on the other hand, says he found a 鈥渉acker for good鈥� to help him with cybersecurity. Two decades on the story, he perseveres.
鈥淪ometimes you choose a story, and sometimes it chooses you,鈥� says Mr. DeRogatis. 鈥淚 think you don鈥檛 let go of it if you are a journalist. Not when people are being hurt.鈥�
