NYT’s Ben Smith: Farrow’s Stories Are Built and Sold on His Beliefs

EXCERPT:

SMITH: "You know, I think that’s — I think — I’m not sure he actually quite said that, but I think that is actually like our jobs. I think reading 'Catch and Kill,' but this is not something specific to his work. Maybe he’s just the highest profile practitioner. For instance, Hillary Clinton’s spokesman calls him — he describes it as ominous and he later says it was an instance of power protecting power. It suggests that Hillary Clinton is taking Harvey Weinstein’s side, and there’s just really no evidence that that happened at all. It’s a theory that many, many Americans are very eager to believe, that there are these conspiracies of powerful people against them. By the way, that’s often quite true, but it’s — you have to prove it. You can’t just sort of imply it and then when called on your implications say, 'Hey, I never literally said it,' and to take these legalistic defenses."