News media operates like a body of predators that destroy public figures for financial gain

Nowadays the news media operates more like a body of predators that expose the personal failings of high-profiled celebrities and politicians for financial gain.  They would vehemently deny that characterization and would argue that they are doing the public a service to bring the indiscretions of public figures to the light of day.  If the public figure is the President or a candidate for president, then yes the public has a right to know. If it is about the sexual improprieties of actor Charlie Sheen or a bombastic congressman from New York City, then no.  However, the news media is not as gung-ho to investigate and report endlessly the sex scandal of someone in their own industry.  Case in point, Andrea Mackris vs. Fox News broadcaster and media personality Bill O’Reilly.


O’Reilly, a blatant hypocrite, faced his own sex scandal in 2004 when allegations of quid pro quo sexual harassment and sexually hostile work environment ended up in a lawsuit filed by his former producer Andrea Mackris.  O’Reilly first denied the allegations until Mackris revealed that she had an audio recording of his phone conversations.  He eventually settled the suit with her for tens of millions of dollars, and his lawyers demanded the return of his sex tape

The news media reported the story but did not spend near as much time on O’Reilly’s sex scandal as they did on the other poor suckers who cheated and lied then ended up in their crosshair. Bill O’Reilly broke the law and paid to cover it up, and the news media abandoned the story.

The salacious details in Mackris lawsuit were far more damaging and serious than Congressman Weiner sending suggestive pictures to women on Twitter. O’Reilly violatedNew York City law, which defines harassment as “verbal, physical or pictorial and can include sexual comments, jokes, innuendo, and pressure for dates, sexual touching, sexual gestures, and sexual graffiti.”