Opinion by Christine Emba: How the media failed at covering Huma Abedin’s memoir
, which obtained an advance copy of the book — “Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds,” publishing on Nov. 2 — Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s longtime aide, describes an unwanted advance from a U.S. senator. By Abedin’s account, the man in question invited her to his place for coffee after a Washington dinner in the mid-2000s that had been attended by “a few senators and their aides.” Clearly, Abedin thought this was a platonic invitation.
The senator, the book says, apologized and said he had “misread” her “all this time.” Abedin worried over how to leave “without this ending badly,” then said “something only the twentysomething version of me would have come up with — ‘I am so sorry’ — and walked out.”The Guardian and other news organizations covering this disclosure characterized it — sensationally — as a “sexual assault,” even though it doesn’t appear that Abedin herself used the phrase.
And although Abedin doesn’t name the senator or his party, or give any other clues to his identity, more media speculation immediately followed: So who was the senator? Why is sheIt has been years since #MeToo began trending, and media organizations still don’t know how to talk about events like this. We cover them without nuance. We often fail to address the underlying issues. And when we waste the opportunities we are given to engage in needed conversations, we do our readers a disservice.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Holly Willoughby shares rare snap of her lookalike sister KellyITV star Holly Willoughby took to social media on Friday to show some love for her big sister Kelly Willoughby, as she continues to promote her new memoir
Read more »
Katie Couric on Matt Lauer, Her Media Diet and Writing Her New MemoirKatie Couric's provocative memoir, 'Going There,' includes several moments in her journalism career she isn't proud of: 'It was important for me to shine a lens on myself and to be introspective about my own mistakes.'
Read more »
Ross Douthat, Conservative Pundit, Is Actually Exactly What the Chronic Lyme “Debate” NeedsRoss Douthat’s memoir is a dispatch from the edges of medicine.
Read more »
10 Brutally Honest Anecdotes in Katie Couric’s Memoir Going ThereHer memoir Going There arrives on stands October 26
Read more »
Will Smith gets in shape mentally, physically in new YouTube seriesWriting his upcoming memoir seems to have unlocked a lot of Smith's inner fears.
Read more »
'Candid' Matthew Perry memoir coming in 2022It will be 'self-aware and told with his trademark humor.'
Read more »