The leader of
the Boston Globe investigation into Catholic church child abuse that
spawned the movie “Spotlight” berated Republican presidential
front-runner Donald Trump Friday for his “shameless” treatment of
journalists covering his campaign.
Ben Bradlee Jr, who was in charge of the Globe’s Pulitzer
Prize-winning 2001-02 investigation into the Boston archdiocese, said
Trump’s constant smearing of journalists as dishonest made him a
hypocrite.
“It’s shameless, what’s going on in the Republican campaign. He’s got
them in a pen and they’re not allowed to leave the pen and go out and
talk to people,” he told a panel discussion in Los Angeles.
“And he says ‘look at them, look how dishonest they are.’ This is the
guy who’s lived by the press and has his own relationships — good
relationships — with reporters, and he plays them.
“He so hypocritical in calling them out as a bunch of dishonest jackals. It’s just outrageous.”
Trump’s campaign has faced a barrage of criticism over its handling
of the media, culminating with manager Corey Lewandowski being charged
with battery for allegedly grabbing a reporter, although the case was
later dropped.
The GOP candidate has been accused by Fox News of harboring a “sick
obsession” with prominent news anchor Megyn Kelly and waging a campaign
of crude verbal abuse against her.
Journalist Seth Stevenson, who followed Trump rallies from Chicago to
Florida, accused Trump of singling out specific outlets for vindictive
treatment, denying access to events following negative coverage.
“It infuriated me when he’d pause between telling blatant whoppers to
point at the media pen and say, ‘Those are very dishonest people, I
have to tell you,'” Stevenson wrote in Slate magazine.
“On cue, his minions would spin around and boo us.”
Bradlee Jr, played by John Slattery in Tom McCarthy’s “Spotlight,”
made his comments at the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, during a
panel discussion on journalism in film.
“Spotlight” won Oscars for best film and for its screenplay by
McCarthy and Josh Singer, who was also at the four-day event, organized
annually by film nostalgia network TCM.
Singer also criticized Trump, for affecting outrage when journalists asked him difficult questions during televised debates.
“That’s what they’re supposed to do — they’re supposed ask the hard
questions, right? That’s what makes for democracy. That’s the Fourth
Estate, that’s the job,” he said.
The event coincided with a tense protest outside the California
Republican Convention at a hotel near San Francisco’s international
airport, where Trump was due to speak.
The billionaire businessman was forced to hop over a barrier and use a
back entrance to the hotel, surrounded by security guards.
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