This is all mind-numbingly familiar. At Black Virginia News we are investigating what happened to LG Justin Fairfax in 2019. What are we finding? We're learning that The Washington Post's Mike Semel, Cameron Barr, Theresa Vargas and Karen Tumulty were so ensconced in the "believe all women" narrative that no one bothered to check any other possible side of the story. Have you ever seen a Black man beg for police investigation over and over and not get it? That was LG Justin Fairfax. There was good reason for his effort to be investigated as legacy media published without facts or investigation. When Ben Bradlee said the "truth is never as dangerous as a lie in the long run" he wasn't joking.
Today's legacy media is driven by the pressure of random unverified comments on social media, unproven salacious allegations that get big traffic and the rush to publish. The rush to print is the big killer. Speed to publish is now more important than publishing accurate information. Jussie Smollett is a celeb so that was definitely a tale media would rush into publication. Once the narrative train pulls out of the station it's game over. Nothing can change the initial narrative. No one wants to ever admit they were wrong. Preconceived notions and personal feelings dominate the direction of coverage. No one at WaPo or the NYT bothered to look at all the court records, medical records, phone records, lengthy and suspicious history of multiple unproven allegations by accusers, court audio, glaringly obvious political connections insanely suspicious timing -- and complete lack of evidence against LG Fairfax. People believe whatever they read. They believe whatever they're told.
No one at NYT bothered to interview his accusers on the allegations. No one at the NYT bothered to call Fairfax before publishing a life destroying allegation with no evidence attached to it. No one at WaPo bothered to interview an accuser with a 20 year old allegation with zero evidence and a duplicate 21 year old allegation having nothing to do with Fairfax with zero evidence. Hard provable facts related to locations and dates and no corroboration or evidence over two decades stopped nothing from being published. The lack of investigation at the NYT was likely caused by the politics around the issue -- basic journalistic procedure was inconvenient. The paper didn't want to be seen as "questioning" women. A press release from an attorney with no actual proof of anything was taken as gospel. Destroying someone's life and reputation meant nothing. When a news org decides what the narrative is and is too embarrassed to admit later it may be wrong after other hard evidence is uncovered it's a tragedy -- and it kills public trust. The public learns the truth in other ways by other sources. The job of journalism must be to learn the truth and report it. Not toss unverified stories into publication and "see what happens."
The fact is: When mistakes are made no one cares. There is no punishment for failure in journalism. There are no set rules as in other professions. Each platform makes up their own rules. Everyone in senior leadership understands that Times-Sullivan means no elected official can win a defamation case. The NYT hasn't lost a defamation case against an elected official since the 1964 SCOTUS decision. Everyone says "it was widely reported..." and walks away. WaPo and NYT suppressed the hard evidence that would exonerate Justin Fairfax. Publishing fast is everything and the algorithm demands it. It is an open secret that the fastest easiest way to destroy someone's reputation is a SA related allegation. Nothing can be proven. No facts can be confirmed. In politics these tactics are standard. The goal is to destroy someone in the court of public opinion and get it in NYT and WaPo and bounce. The punishment on the accused is instant.
No one in journalism bothered to notice that no hard facts were on the table in the case of Justin Fairfax. What a surprise. Didn't Ida Wells tell us all of this in the late 1800s? For Black men -- the concern for reputation is non-exist. Compare what happened to Fairfax with what happened to Joe Biden in 2020 (the Tara Reade allegation). The media acted as Biden's defense attorney and investigative arm. The racial differences in these stories are undeniable. Black men are clearly the most stereotyped group in legacy newsrooms -- and they often have no defender in editorial discussions because there are no Black men at the table at most legacy newsrooms. Who sets narrative and decides the focus of a story is the entire ballgame.
Jessie Smollett was done the minute the police set the narrative and the media repeated it without challenge. But that's an actor. When journalistic news orgs make mistakes that change the course of history and don't even bother to correct the record one has to wonder: Are we better off without them? The damage a news org causes reporting the wrong information to the public is disorientating. These mistakes are misinformation. Are we better off with independent media that takes the time to do the hard work of investigation on matters legacy media doesn't want to confront?
Unfortunately, corporate media can beat independent media to the punch and spread that disinformation quickly. By the time they find out anything about the truths in each matter, it's too late, Folks might not see any retractions. I say that executives know this and don't care. They have another agenda they're serving and I can only imagine what that is. I can speculate, but what good does that do? Substack can't move at the speed TV does.
This place boasts of having 50 million users, and then I see another article saying double-digit thousands. If it really is the higher number, how many are seeking information to spread far & wide? If it's the lower number, that won't make a dent in anything. Oh well, we're kind of stuck with this method of getting news, and I hope corporate/legacy/mainstream media fails. Might as well be called gossip columnists, not journalists.
As the son of a very famous Black male celebrity, I have a 6th sense when it comes to things like this, because I have been on the end Jussie was on. I have met several very famous Black men who had stories made up about them and they all started from the premise they must've been guilty before the trial ever began. They were all family friends. When it comes to Black people, especially rich ones, I do NOT trust the media. I admire very few journalists, whether they're corporate or independent. I know how the gossip mills work around this country, because our family fell victim to it often enough. I do NOT trust the poleece (misspelled on purpose). I am a product of the 60's and haven't seen the kind of honest journalism I saw during that time ... since about the 1980's. Look at how they scared the shit out of people about AIDS and HIV.
Just for the record, I felt in my gut that Jussie was telling the truth. I stayed out of arguments about that entire thing, because I knew people would rather believe sensationalized lies and would attack me. Who needed that bullshit? I've seen that all of my life. Nothing about that entire cop story made any sense, and I swear people are more motivated by jealousy & spite than they are by common sense. Especially of rich Black men/women, let alone a rich gay Black man. Why would a man at the height of his career do such a thing? He doesn't strike me as a person who is deranged, disillusioned, or mentally ill. He just doesn't.
I'm not gay, so I never saw him as cute, but I did think he was very talented in his role on Empire. The entire thing brought up my own personal childhood trauma with vicious people who thought like you, Wesley. I saw the documentary last week, and unlike you, I think it more than proved the dishonesty of the Chicago police department. I've seen other articles about why the CPD would do such a thing, and given the scandal going on around that poleece chief, I more than ever believe they made up that entire scenario to smear Mr. Smollett. There's no inconclusiveness going on in my mind.
Anyway, that's my perspective and as people do, take it or leave it. I do not care. 😆
This is all mind-numbingly familiar. At Black Virginia News we are investigating what happened to LG Justin Fairfax in 2019. What are we finding? We're learning that The Washington Post's Mike Semel, Cameron Barr, Theresa Vargas and Karen Tumulty were so ensconced in the "believe all women" narrative that no one bothered to check any other possible side of the story. Have you ever seen a Black man beg for police investigation over and over and not get it? That was LG Justin Fairfax. There was good reason for his effort to be investigated as legacy media published without facts or investigation. When Ben Bradlee said the "truth is never as dangerous as a lie in the long run" he wasn't joking.
Today's legacy media is driven by the pressure of random unverified comments on social media, unproven salacious allegations that get big traffic and the rush to publish. The rush to print is the big killer. Speed to publish is now more important than publishing accurate information. Jussie Smollett is a celeb so that was definitely a tale media would rush into publication. Once the narrative train pulls out of the station it's game over. Nothing can change the initial narrative. No one wants to ever admit they were wrong. Preconceived notions and personal feelings dominate the direction of coverage. No one at WaPo or the NYT bothered to look at all the court records, medical records, phone records, lengthy and suspicious history of multiple unproven allegations by accusers, court audio, glaringly obvious political connections insanely suspicious timing -- and complete lack of evidence against LG Fairfax. People believe whatever they read. They believe whatever they're told.
No one at NYT bothered to interview his accusers on the allegations. No one at the NYT bothered to call Fairfax before publishing a life destroying allegation with no evidence attached to it. No one at WaPo bothered to interview an accuser with a 20 year old allegation with zero evidence and a duplicate 21 year old allegation having nothing to do with Fairfax with zero evidence. Hard provable facts related to locations and dates and no corroboration or evidence over two decades stopped nothing from being published. The lack of investigation at the NYT was likely caused by the politics around the issue -- basic journalistic procedure was inconvenient. The paper didn't want to be seen as "questioning" women. A press release from an attorney with no actual proof of anything was taken as gospel. Destroying someone's life and reputation meant nothing. When a news org decides what the narrative is and is too embarrassed to admit later it may be wrong after other hard evidence is uncovered it's a tragedy -- and it kills public trust. The public learns the truth in other ways by other sources. The job of journalism must be to learn the truth and report it. Not toss unverified stories into publication and "see what happens."
The fact is: When mistakes are made no one cares. There is no punishment for failure in journalism. There are no set rules as in other professions. Each platform makes up their own rules. Everyone in senior leadership understands that Times-Sullivan means no elected official can win a defamation case. The NYT hasn't lost a defamation case against an elected official since the 1964 SCOTUS decision. Everyone says "it was widely reported..." and walks away. WaPo and NYT suppressed the hard evidence that would exonerate Justin Fairfax. Publishing fast is everything and the algorithm demands it. It is an open secret that the fastest easiest way to destroy someone's reputation is a SA related allegation. Nothing can be proven. No facts can be confirmed. In politics these tactics are standard. The goal is to destroy someone in the court of public opinion and get it in NYT and WaPo and bounce. The punishment on the accused is instant.
No one in journalism bothered to notice that no hard facts were on the table in the case of Justin Fairfax. What a surprise. Didn't Ida Wells tell us all of this in the late 1800s? For Black men -- the concern for reputation is non-exist. Compare what happened to Fairfax with what happened to Joe Biden in 2020 (the Tara Reade allegation). The media acted as Biden's defense attorney and investigative arm. The racial differences in these stories are undeniable. Black men are clearly the most stereotyped group in legacy newsrooms -- and they often have no defender in editorial discussions because there are no Black men at the table at most legacy newsrooms. Who sets narrative and decides the focus of a story is the entire ballgame.
Jessie Smollett was done the minute the police set the narrative and the media repeated it without challenge. But that's an actor. When journalistic news orgs make mistakes that change the course of history and don't even bother to correct the record one has to wonder: Are we better off without them? The damage a news org causes reporting the wrong information to the public is disorientating. These mistakes are misinformation. Are we better off with independent media that takes the time to do the hard work of investigation on matters legacy media doesn't want to confront?
Unfortunately, corporate media can beat independent media to the punch and spread that disinformation quickly. By the time they find out anything about the truths in each matter, it's too late, Folks might not see any retractions. I say that executives know this and don't care. They have another agenda they're serving and I can only imagine what that is. I can speculate, but what good does that do? Substack can't move at the speed TV does.
This place boasts of having 50 million users, and then I see another article saying double-digit thousands. If it really is the higher number, how many are seeking information to spread far & wide? If it's the lower number, that won't make a dent in anything. Oh well, we're kind of stuck with this method of getting news, and I hope corporate/legacy/mainstream media fails. Might as well be called gossip columnists, not journalists.
As the son of a very famous Black male celebrity, I have a 6th sense when it comes to things like this, because I have been on the end Jussie was on. I have met several very famous Black men who had stories made up about them and they all started from the premise they must've been guilty before the trial ever began. They were all family friends. When it comes to Black people, especially rich ones, I do NOT trust the media. I admire very few journalists, whether they're corporate or independent. I know how the gossip mills work around this country, because our family fell victim to it often enough. I do NOT trust the poleece (misspelled on purpose). I am a product of the 60's and haven't seen the kind of honest journalism I saw during that time ... since about the 1980's. Look at how they scared the shit out of people about AIDS and HIV.
Just for the record, I felt in my gut that Jussie was telling the truth. I stayed out of arguments about that entire thing, because I knew people would rather believe sensationalized lies and would attack me. Who needed that bullshit? I've seen that all of my life. Nothing about that entire cop story made any sense, and I swear people are more motivated by jealousy & spite than they are by common sense. Especially of rich Black men/women, let alone a rich gay Black man. Why would a man at the height of his career do such a thing? He doesn't strike me as a person who is deranged, disillusioned, or mentally ill. He just doesn't.
I'm not gay, so I never saw him as cute, but I did think he was very talented in his role on Empire. The entire thing brought up my own personal childhood trauma with vicious people who thought like you, Wesley. I saw the documentary last week, and unlike you, I think it more than proved the dishonesty of the Chicago police department. I've seen other articles about why the CPD would do such a thing, and given the scandal going on around that poleece chief, I more than ever believe they made up that entire scenario to smear Mr. Smollett. There's no inconclusiveness going on in my mind.
Anyway, that's my perspective and as people do, take it or leave it. I do not care. 😆