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Mixing Hollywood entertainment and Washington politics always has been a risky recipe involving money, fame notoriety, and sometimes a fallout of longterm infamy. What has unfolded dramatically over the last weeks amidst the 2024 presidential Fourth Estate’s coverage of Nuzzi v. Lizza has produced a harrowing story about journalistic ethics in the 21st Century. This story has placed the Fourth Estate's political journalism on a cliffhanger of an irrational position of possibly "no return" if ethics are not elevated.
It is time for journalists to realize that the First Amendment will be lost if we do not abide by our responsibilities and stop the tabloid insanity in this country with "gotcha" journalism.
This saga has morphed into a desperate narrative closer to the 1989 movie script, The War of the Roses.
The plot of that movie was based upon the 1981 novel written by Warren Adler, which was inspired by a friend’s contentious divorce in the D.C. area decades ago. The storyline is about a couple’s crumbling marriage. Neither wants to move out of their opulent residence. Their divorce is mired in anger, viciousness and vindictiveness rages engulfing the madness of their imaginations leaving their lives and the house each covets literally in shambles.
The movie is hilarious at times it is so over the top. It stars Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito. It was produced in a time when citizens could laugh at themselves with exaggerated narratives about nihilistic behavior along with George Carlin and Robbin Williams, reminding us all about how twisted the world can become.
This movie should be a cautionary tale to those involved in the Nuzzi v. Lizza saga in Washington, D.C. today, including the journalists reporting on this story for partisan reasons. Professional and personal reputations may be shattered with no risk of recovery in the end because of the irresponsibility of the Fourth Estate.
But, this time, the title should be called “The Media Scavengers.” The two journalists involved in this current saga, who were engaged until mid-August, seem to be picking the bones of their skills like hyenas and vultures. The journalists reporting on this are not far behind by not asking the questions needed to get the facts.
This current sordid Fourth Estate saga putting journalistic ethics on the table stars Olivia Nuzzi, 31, a writer on leave from New York Magazine, who may just believe in her own hubris that she is more alluring and conniving than she actually is, and her more seasoned ex-fiance, Ryan Lizza, 50, Politico's Chief Political Correspondent and its Playbook Editor, who seems to be all in to defend himself as evidenced in his court response.
Nuzzi’s serious allegations against Lizza were filed in an application for a protective order several weeks ago. Now, Lizza has come out swinging in his court response with sensational and sexual accusations involving a third party allegedly based upon Nuzzi’s own words.
The irony is that Lizza’s lawyers have denounced Nuzzi’s accusations of their client, insinuating she is a liar, while simultaneously proffering to the court in the same pleading that what Nuzzi allegedly told Lizza about her professional indiscretions were true statements about herself and a third party.
Go figure.
The optics alone on credibility by both parties are wild, yet very serious.
So far, it is reminiscent of what Maggie Smith’s character would say in Downton Abbey.
“Oh my, this is just too salacious.”
Nevertheless, these very public journalistic ethic issues certainly raise some very momentous questions about judgement, maturity, reservations on both parties’ qualifications to represent a news organization, and let’s face it - could even raise some mental health issues.
On one level, this story is very sad because it has all the elements of self-destructive behavior to survive professionally.
On another level, these are very serious accusations personally and professionally and the fallout to their news organizations is real.
Instead of de-escalating their disputes, lawyers are now involved and, it looks as if the parties may be on one hell of a collision course about revealing what their personal lives have entailed, and their journalistic ethics are, or are not, in the public square that could affect their news organizations' credibility.
This case may go down in Fourth Estate circles as one of the more tantalizing examples about journalistic ethics in lectures for years to come. It is doubtful at this point whether either of the parties will withstand this scrutiny professionally.
The story has zigged, zagged and morphed over the last weeks that what we know today may change tomorrow. It is painful to read and even more disturbing because their choices and reactions seemingly represent that both parties are hellbent on only one of them surviving, although it is dubious that even that may be achieved.
It is almost like the parties are living out a plot to write a script for a book or a TV series.
The story seemingly surfaced between the parties this past summer when Olivia Nuzzi’s admitted sexting a subject she profiled nearly a year ago. Now, Ryan Lizza’s has accused Nuzzi of book failures due to her "reckless" behavior, including an affair some four years ago.
This latest sexting accusation involves a new term - digital affair. That supposedly means something happening over devices, but the affair does not include anything physical, according to Nuzzi, but then it has been reported and characterized as an “emotional affair.” The issue is was this in her head or a two-way street and how much was it in her imagination?
In my generation, affairs have included physical intimacy, so admittedly, I am not certain why the term “affair” is even being cited. Affair usually means two parties are involved. We all know of emotional affairs, but that too usually means two parties even if one notch down from an intimate affair.
Political sex scandals of any sort are not new, but this sordid saga has now been elevated to a protective order, jobs on leave, accusations that a former presidential candidate is involved, who only met Nuzzi allegedly once in person, when she wrote “a hit piece,” on that party.
A source has told CDM that when this story broke, Nuzzi was “gleeful” about having her picture all over the internet next to the former candidate. It has been reported by one independent journalist that Nuzzi “was obsessed” with the party she allegedly sent nude pictures, and then the terminologies later put forth by Lizza have morphed into wanting to “control,” “impregnate,” Nuzzi with book deals railroaded not once but twice by Nuzzi’s “reckless” behavior.
The term "control" is a dangerous term to use - that suggests "trafficking" and as a journalist who has covered human trafficking and all its faces for nearly 25 years, that is an alarming choice of words. I seriously question that terminology being used as a journalist subject matter expert in this field.
It does not take a rocket scientist to see where the paint strokes on this portrait is moving.
In some ways, this story is not as serious as the Janet Cooke scandal decades ago at The Washington Post, when a Pulitzer Prize winner was discovered to have completely fabricated “Jimmy’s World,” a story about an eight-year-old boy shooting up heroin. Not only was that story a lie, but the writer of the story lied about her resume.
That saga hurt The Washington Post when the lie was exposed in 1981. It angered employees and derailed some aspirations of others inside what was then, one of the most respected newspapers in the country.
“The byline belonged to Janet Cooke, a beautiful Black reporter who could write like silk and lie just as smoothly. Cooke had lied about her education, lied about her credentials, lied about her background. She was, in short, a serial liar,” wrote Eugene L. Meyer memorializing that experience about the institution he loved. Meyer spent over three decades at the Washington Post as a reporter and editor.
Mr. Meyer is one of the all time giants of his generation. He comes out of the “Ben Bradlee” era of journalism. Full disclosure - I was blessed to be a protege of men and women from that era - namely, the lates - Hal Bruno, Sander Vanocur, Cassie Mackin - all ethical giants, who broke stories and had their acts together professionally.
In other ways, this Nuzzi v. Lizza sordid saga is far more serious because Nuzzi supposedly filed a report with the FBI report, filed a request for protective order and police escort in the domestic violence division of the D.C. Superior Court against Lizza making accusations about hacking devices and intentionally ruining her reputation and alleging physical threats. Yet, it was she who sent the nudes or "demure nudes," or whatever she sent.
So far, Nuzzi supposedly initially admitted to sending nudes to the former candidate to Lizza, her then fiance. She supposedly denied it to her boss when initially confronted, but then admitted some sort of a personal relationship.
Now, with the protective order issued on the court docket and a possible extension, Nuzzi is alleging that Lizza may have manipulated her devices, which Lizza completely has denied in his court response.
A court hearing was held on October 15, but that has been derailed.
Nuzzi used the FBI investigation she purported initiated as an excuse to not testify. It was reported that the judge found that excuse dubious. The disposition of this part of the legal wrangling has been postponed until mid-November after the election.
In the meantime, both parties have been put on leave from their respective news organizations: Nuzzi at New York Magazine and Lizza at Politico, as they should be.
The potential fallout for either publication's management is not good.
Why Nuzzi has not been fired is bewildering to this journalist. It has been reported that when confronted initially, she denied she sent nudes to a subject she profiled for her employer. Lying and sending nudes no matter how demure is unacceptable professionally. Now, Lizza is purportedly that somehow there is some power play here.
As a female journalist, who was well-mentored and was the first female Political Director of any U.S. network at CNN and worked with Bob Furnad, whom I had worked with at ABC News while working for Hal Bruno, and younger than Nuzzi - I am not buying this power trip argument for one nanosecond.
Lying and nudes is enough to fire someone. If an employee lies when confronted and sends nudes, the only finger-pointing is to the door, and let it hit the reporter exiting.
If a journalist reports on a president or vice-president or anyone running for those offices, and the employer sends a reporter out to the field, it is imperative that the editor managing that reporter have the discernment whether that reporter has the character and ethics to report and represent the news organization. PERIOD.
I am not alone in this reaction as a seasoned female journalist.
"As the first and only woman to own Soldier of Fortune Magazine, I sometimes am asked if the "bad boys" I work with and write about ever try to use sex as a way to gain favorable coverage, or get a professional edge with me. The answer is no. The bad boys have always been professional with me - because I am with them. I can't imagine the thought process that went into a reporter sending nude pics to a subject. She [Nuzzi] completely demeaned herself, and threw professionalism out the window. Of course it bounced back on her. What did she think would happen? I would never consider doing such a thing," states Susan Katz Keating to CDM exclusively. "And I would fire anyone who did. Journalists must walk a strict ethical line. Otherwise, their reporting is not credible. She tarnished all of us with her bad choices. As far as I am concerned, she is not a journalist."
It is confounding that New York Magazine's management to date has refused to deal with this matter since they were the news organization that published their reporter was put on leave.
Years ago, Bruce Wasserstein paid $55 million to purchase New York Magazine. It has been reported that his daughter, Pamela, attended a recent meeting to discuss this Nuzzi matter. If Pamela does not know how to dispose of this mess, she may want to bring in real journalists who have a stake in journalistic ethics. Not a law firm, but journalists with ethics.
It is incredulous that any news organization would employ a journalist, who would send nudes to anyone while on a news organization’s payroll and specifically, to anyone running for office while covering politics.
"Olivia Nuzzi was never a real journalist - she's one of those who worship at the altar of political operatives and ideology, feeding on the illusion of power, destroying lives with no regard for the truth, pretending to be something they are not," writes Investigative Journalist Lara Logan exclusively to CDM. "By their standards trying to seduce a man simply to ruin him is all in a day's work. These people do not understand honor and integrity because they have none."
What also surfaced in this story is that Nuzzi had been or still is represented by CAA and a satirical series is in development based upon a female political journalist character swaggering through the halls of power in Washington, D.C.
That is not lost on this journalist at all and raises another unanswered question.
What was the motive of sending nudes to the candidate Nuzzi profiled?
At 31 years of age - having lived with Keith Olberman at the age of 21, when he was 55 years of age, for three years, and in recent years with Lizza, who is about 20 years older than Nuzzi, one would think that Nuzzi learned something about the media.
But then again, the value of being mentored in the news business is best learned when one is not personally involved with a mentor.
So, the long and short of this saga so far raises the questions not yet asked and answered -
Were the nudes sent to develop a script for a book or a dramatic series?
Were they sent to set up a candidate and turn this into a political story?
Ms. Nuzzi has never replied to a request as this goes to publication per the cell given to this reporter.
Next - PART TWO -
Olivia Nuzzi v. Ryan Lizza
How This Saga Unfolded Raises Serious Journalistic Ethical Questions On All Fronts Politically
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