The View’s Meghan McCain speculated that Ronan Farrow has dirt on the New York Times, prompting the outlet to publish a column questioning his journalistic integrity.
The conservative commentator reacted to a weekend piece by media critic Ben Smith that raised questions about the veracity of Farrow’s reporting following his time at NBC, including a rape allegation against former Today show host Matt Lauer. Lauer followed up on Tuesday with a column published by Mediaite that accused the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter of failing to meet basic journalist principles in his coverage of the accusation that led to Lauer’s exit from the network.
“The New York Times article that was written about him honestly just made me think, what does Ronan Farrow know about someone at the New York Times? Why is someone like Ben Smith so threatened by a journalist like Matt Lauer?” McCain wondered Wednesday on ABC. “I read the article several times, and I just think the timing of this is very fishy. I mean, we’re in the middle of a huge global pandemic. “
She added, “I want to know what article Ronan Farrow was working on that seems to be threatening so many people in media.”
Farrow defended his work against both Smith’s and Lauer’s claims that he failed to live up to journalistic standards.
“We called dozens of corroborators around the Lauer allegations described in the book, and more than a dozen around Brooke Nevils specifically,” Farrow told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday following the publication of Lauer’s column.
Farrow’s publisher, Little, Brown and Company, also defended Farrow’s work.
“Little, Brown and Company fully supports Ronan Farrow and his reporting in Catch and Kill,” a spokeswoman told the Washington Examiner. “Ronan’s dedication to a deep and thorough fact-check of his reporting, his commitment to the rights of victims, and his impeccable attention to detail and nuance make us proud to be his publisher.”
