The Tara Reade Saga Is a Failure of Journalism
Reporters haven’t done their due diligence, and Reade is paying 100% of the price
Tara Reade deserved better than The Katie Halper Show. Reade came forward in the spring of 2019 with a credible allegation of sexual harassment against her former employer, Joe Biden, and in 2020 with a claim of sexual assault. Since that second allegation aired on Halper’s podcast in March, Reade’s account has been torn apart in the press, her private life has been invaded and dissected, and her reputation has been dragged through the mud. All of this could have been avoided. It’s happening, simply, because the outlets who initially reported her claims had more interest in promoting their own agenda than in protecting survivors.
Since her allegations came to light, Reade says she’s been inundated with harassment. Biden supporters have flooded social media with smears and conspiracy theories, like the claim that she’d been on a Dr. Phil episode for being “in love with Putin.” Late last week, Politico published an “expose” on Reade’s private life, interviewing disgruntled former landlords and employers. Its tone can be summed up in the first three words of the headline: “Manipulative, Deceitful, User.” New York’s Jonathan Chait used that report to declare that Reade’s account was “more likely to be false…
