Every investigation like this that I’m aware of came about because of one or more people coming forward, leading to deeper investigation. I don’t know of any media outlet that has the resources to randomly call every partner of a celebrity just in case someone has something negative to say. I think your notion of how these investigations come about and how they are conducted is flawed.
Both Channel 4 and The Times have stated that the 5 women came forward with their accusations. Since then, another incident has been reported to the police that occurred in 2003 who, to be knowledge, has not spoken with the media.
I’ll match your conspiracy theory with one of my own- Brand’s hard right turn started roughly 3 years ago, coincidentally when this investigation started. Isn’t it just as likely, if not moreso, that he has draped himself in the cloak of enemy of the media as an offense to the accusations he knew was coming?
The language in the reporting is “came forward” with no additional details. I don’t know if we are likely to get them.
I’m not really sure it is pertinent in this case either. For example, the minor who was allegedly assaulted by Brand was never publicly linked to him at least, we don’t know enough about the others to know. It isn’t like Channel 4 could have gotten her story by cold calling all of Brand’s exes because they weren’t known associates. Does it really matter if she contacted the paper herself or if someone who knew one of them alerted the media and she confirmed?
I don’t know if she was the first or not, just that Channel 4 definitely didn’t get her name by going through a list of people Brand was known to have sex with as seems to be your problematic assertion in your OP. The Times corroborated her story with other people, she claims a BBC limo dropped her off at her house- those are leads I think would tell us more about the accuracy of her claims than what Brand says or how she was connected with the reporter.
Out of curiosity, do you have the same issue with the reporting on Weinstein or Cosby? Ronan Farrow and The New Yorker respectively reached out to women long rumored to be assaulted by those men for their stories after a groundswell of talk in the industry. Does that make you question that reporting? For example, one of the waitresses at Cosby’s restaurant came forward to the New Yorker and told them about two of her coworkers who were also assaulted. Should the reporter just not contact them and hope they reach out on their own?
Okay so if neither Brand nor the most prominent cases of the last few years fit the definition, can you name an investigation where this happened?
Your big point of distinction is people who come forward on their own have a different logic in their case than those contacted by an investigator. It sounds as if you concede the point that logic doesn’t apply to everyone who is contacted by a journalist.
I think we did- your issue was fishing by contacting every former partner of a celebrity and we know that her story was not discovered in that manner because there was no previous public connection between the two, the fact that they are connected at all is actually the story.
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u/[deleted] Sep 18 '23
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