After 88 days of public scrutiny, he was cleared as a suspect. Longtime friend Lisa Griffin told the Journal-Constitution that she spoke with Scruggs on the phone shortly before she died. The thing she was always proud of was the newspaper stood by her. Scruggs died in 2001 at age 42. Jewell becomes emotional about regaining his freedom. Alex Johnson is a reporter and editor for NBC News based in Los Angeles. Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times wrote, An accurate movie script about a female reporter would involve her being constantly propositioned or harassed by people she covers, while being invited to evening meetings that somehow turn into involuntary dates with sources, and bombarded with rape threats on Twitter. Added Melissa Gomez of the Los Angeles Times, Hollywood has, for a long time, portrayed female journalists as sleeping with sources to do their job. Her father was a Gridiron Secret Society member at the University of Georgia and a pilot in the Army Air Corps during World War II. Amid safety concerns, and anxiety over the fate of a $200 million movie, The 2023 Hollywood Issue: Selena Gomez, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh & More. She was really tough and hard-nosed. Scruggs, who was areporter atAtlanta Journal-Constitution at the time of the bombing, broke the story that Jewell was considered a suspect. It haunted her until her last breath, her former colleague Tony Kiss told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a 2019 feature about her. She was blamed for ruining Jewells life who was once considered a hero. As Hamm told me during our interview, I really do think that the movie is an exoneration of a man who did his job and was wrongfully accused of something that he didnt do and is still thought of as something that he isnt.. It was just hard living," her brother told the AJC. To play this as Kathy Scruggs willingly burning her source and jeopardizing an investigation is unfair. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. He joined the station in September 2021 from KING 5. Read More Julia Morales (Astros) Husband, Daughter, Age, Height, Salary, Net worthContinue. That would be an appalling and misogynistic dismissal of the difficult work she did.". 3 Might Make You An Emotional Wreck, How Bail Bag Helps The Formerly Incarcerated Get Back On Their Feet, Advice From A Finance Pro For How To Survive (And Thrive) In This Economy, Why We Shouldnt Forget About The Game Stop Short Squeeze, Five Cities Where Latinx Street Art Is Alive And Well, Travel Budgeting Pro Gabby Beckford Shares Her Best Financial Advice For 2023 Adventures, We Blind Tested Our Favorite Fast Food Double Cheeseburgers & Crowned A New Champ, How To Actually, Truly Buy Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon For Real, Were Picking The Very Best Air Jordan IIIs Of All Time, In Control: Quentin Grimes Is Writing His Own Story With The Knicks, Amanda Renner On Getting To Dig Deeper With Player Interviews At The Masters, Charlotte Flair Continues To Carve Out My Own Path Ahead Of WrestleMania 39, Maxo Decries The Face Of Stone Portrayed By A Fake Friend For UPROXX Sessions, Talib Kweli & Cormega On The Realness II, Nas, The Firm, Large Pro, Queens, Luh Tyler Goes Behind The Video For His Law & Order Visual, Sandra Mejia Is Bringing The Healing Power Of Plants To The Green Desert Of South Central Los Angeles, The Suspect: An Olympic Bombing, The FBI, The Media, And Richard Jewell, The Man Caught In The Middle, trope of reporter-who-sleeps-with-sources. The most important rule of reporting is never to reveal a suspects name without corroborating evidence. The film implies Scruggs gave sexual favors to get the information, according to multiple media outlets. She hosts the live coverage of Court TV, which airs on weekdays from 3 to 6 p.m. Heres a guy who hadnt had a date in a year and the first time he goes out, it turns out the woman is a reporter that writes a story about him, Alexander says. Initially hailed as a hero by the media, Jewell was quickly identified as a suspect by the FBI and local law enforcement based on psychological profiling. Theyre one of Hollywoods brightest starsand most troubled actors. They had noneand neither did the FBI. Her choice of boyfriends was not great. While King was clear that Scruggs had never slept with sources, he told Vanity Fair that the reporter had in-house romances [at the paper] that caused us to have to say, You stay over here, you stay over there. On July 30, 1996, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the FBI investigation of Jewell as the potential bomber. I would encourage people to see the movie and read the story behind it and then come to that conclusion, Hamm told me, referring to The Suspect: An Olympic Bombing, The FBI, The Media, And Richard Jewell, The Man Caught In The Middle, by Kent Alexander and Kevin Salwen, another source for the movie. "The court found that what Kathy reported was true at the time she reported it," Kiss said. The FBI greenlit the entire thing. With their, Video related to the sad end to atlanta bombing reporter kathy scruggs life, New Reality Star Lost Her Son to a Drug Overdose in 2009. Kathys downfall began when she realized how her story destroyed Richard Jewells life. In the film, Atlanta-Journal Constitution reporter Scruggs, played by Olivia Wilde, is depicted as offering sex in exchangefor information about the case from an FBI agent, NBC News reports. By Doug Monroe - July 1, 2003 A crowd gathers on July 30, 1996, in. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Hes a composite. In addition to suffering from depression, she had a chronic back problem. Age, Height, Salary, Net Worth, Podcast, Andrew Nichols CBC Salary, Age, Height, Wife, College, Net Worth, Ashley Willcott Court Tv Husband, Age, Height, Salary, Net Worth, Craig Herrera FOX Weather Salary, Age, Husband, Leaving KING 5. The movie actually does Scruggs worse than that. I probably will wind up watching it. It all happened in 1996 when security guard Richard Jewell alerted police during the Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Days later, Scruggs was told by a trusted law-enforcement source that Jewell was also the FBIs foremost suspect. Instead, she quit.". In the end, Kathy Scruggs greatest crime was being interesting. Shewas young and driven, according to those who knew her. Age, Height, Salary, Net Worth, PodcastContinue, Who is Andrew Nichols? That piece didnt name the individual leaker. Someone saw him running from the scene and took down his license. Wildes defense seems to be based on the idea that while Scruggs didnt sleep with her source for Jewell, the depiction was fair because people did question Scruggs close relationship with police sources, and many believe she had slept with her sources in the past. You can access his archive of reviews here. He noticed a suspicious green backpack, and then alerted cops and authorized authorities. According to the Vanity Fair article, Jewells phone number was leaked online and he received thousands of calls a day from people threatening him. Burns her source, breaking her promise to be off the record and jeopardizing an ongoing investigation. However, there are two major things that the movie portrays in questionable ways. Heres how it works. Rolling Stones film critic Peter Travers wrote in his review, The attempt to slut-shame a reporter whos not around to defend herself stands as a black mark in a film that otherwise hews close to the proven facts of the case." Its obvious to me they did not go to any great lengths to find out what the real characters were like., Both Gugino and the creators of the limited series obviously work to offer a bit more nuance with the character. "She was aggressive. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. "The perspective of the fictional dramatization of the story, as I understood it, was that Kathy, and the FBI agent who leaked false information to her, were in a pre-existing romantic relationship, not a transactional exchange of sex for information," Wilde continued. That is entirely false and malicious, and it is extremely defamatory and damaging.. Please consider becominga subscriber. Once Scruggs got the scoop, she wrote up the story with her co-author, Ron Martz. Later, movie-Scruggs is moved to tears at a Jewell press conference, apparently humbled by the Jewells plight and ashamed at her own actions the movies way of showing that Scruggs had learned a lesson about being so aggressive (uppity?). She had a very close relationship with the cops and the FBI helping to tell their story, and yes, by all accounts she had relationships with different people in that field, Wilde told Deadline. "She did not have to sleep with anyone to get a story," Kiss said. Kathy Scruggs was an American reporter working for Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC). But as Beyer would soon realize, Finchs past wasnt what she claimedand Beyers own difficult history was up for the taking. Nichols, who resides and works in Toronto, has been a newsroom reporter, a field reporter, as well as an anchor for the CBC News Network, Read More Andrew Nichols CBC Salary, Age, Height, Wife, College, Net WorthContinue. Many of her friends and family members claimthe stress from the legal fallout around the Jewell case contributed to her failing health: Jewell sued the AJC, among other outlets, after Scruggs' story pinpointing him as an FBI suspect; all other outlets settled except the AJC. "She was so, so alive." Scruggs was born Sept. 26, 1958 into a prominent Athens family. According to the 1997 Vanity Fair piece by Marie Brenner that the movie is partially based on, the case was being handled by an FBI division that had been formed to fight the Cold War, whose strength was intimidation and manipulation rather than the deliberate gathering of evidence to be presented in court.. "It's obvious to me they did not go to any great lengths to find out what the real characters were like. In addition to the park, he bombed a gay nightclub and abortion clinics. It starts with them in a conference room conducting an interrogation of Jewell. Wilde seems to infer that Richard Jewells critics are basing their criticisms of the Kathy Scruggs character solely on the idea that the movie infers that Scruggs had sex with a source for a story (true, the film doesnt show the actual penis going in, but when two people say theyre going to have sex and leave for a hotel room its not much of a leap to assume that they did). And two, that it was accurate, said Alexander. He is serving multiple life sentences for his role in several bombings. To say that Kathy Scruggs had sex with an FBI agent (or at the very least fondled his crotch) to get the Jewell scoop when theres no evidence of that is defamatory enough, and that has nothing to do with sexism or double standards. Thats just bullshit.. Scruggs left the Independent Mail in Anderson after she got into an altercation at a bar, Kiss said. The movie focuses on the security guard who was heralded for saving lives when a bomb went off in Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park in 1996, but who later became a suspect in the bombing. There was NO evidence to support a storyline that Ms. Scruggs traded sex for tips about Richard. Kathy Scruggs herself wrote follow-up stories about Jewells shabby treatment and interviewed criminal profilers about how criminal profiling had been mishandled in the Jewell case. When she went after a story she did what was necessary to get the story, within legal and ethical bounds., Her friend Susan Parke called her luminous, adding she was so, so alive. She struggled with chronic. Why should Kathy Scruggs get named and shamed while the FBI agent who revealed the suspects name receives anonymity? It was the early 1980s when Scruggs arrived in Anderson to be an education reporter. They deflect and distortopting to challenge one assertion in the movie rather than accepting their own role in destroying the life of a good man. He really didnt know. AJC ace Kathy Scruggs broke the story that made Richard Jewell a household name. All rights reserved. Its like, well, the names out there. Olivia Wilde, the actress who portrays Scruggs in thefilm, took to Twitter on Thursday to share her perspective. Carla Gugino plays journalist Kathy Scruggs for the CBS show Manhunt: Deadly Games. She was great at that, and I think thats one of the reasons why she was so successful working with cop sourceswhether it was beat cops or detectives in the homicide squad. Richard Jewell was under FBI scrutiny for about three months before he was cleared. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). https://t.co/Wii3yiCK7y. When I'm not writing about pop culture, I can be found channeling Gordon Ramsay by kicking people out the kitchen. "There was NO evidence to support a storyline" that Kathy Scruggs traded sex for tips about Richard Jewell, his attorney tweeted. According to them, he fit the profile of a lone bomber. But she was a good reporter. Her soul was gone. The Georgia Court of Appeals dismissed the Jewell case against the AJC in 2011. Im thinking D-cups, movie-Scruggs growls, cupping her breasts for effect. So he said, Yeah, the names out there and I dont really know the details. So he couldnt really say it was accurate, but he said, Im not going to quibble with it. And then, will it screw up the investigation? Alita: Battle Angel Producer Gives Hopeful Update On The Sequel, And How Avatar 2 Is Connected, Jason Momoa Clarifies Feelings On Aquaman, Talks Frustration Of The Lost Kingdom Not Using Many Of His Ideas, David Arquette Admits To Feeling Inferior To Courteney Cox While She Was On Friends, And Explained How He Worked Through Those Feelings, Following Sydney Sweeney And Glen Powell Rumors, Photo Of Her Fianc Leaving The House With Bags Sparks More Debate, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisels Michael Zegen Reveals The Unexpected Way He Learned About Joels Fate, Nick Cannon Reacts To The Red Table Talk Cancellation, Related It To Will Smith And Chris Rock's Oscars Slap, Ok, I Know Mortal Kombat: Annihilation Is Bad, But I'll Still Defend It, The Man Of Steel Improv Choice That Led To Martian Manhunter In The SnyderVerse, Ben Stiller Addressed Alleged Drama On Severance Set Following Rumors About The Apple TV+ Series Being Delayed. Olivia Wilde as Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Kathy Scruggs in the movie "Richard Jewell." Warner Bros. "I am Kathy Scruggs' brother and only remaining member of our immediate family. But according to various sources, including Kevin Riley, the current. She and Martz had been held in contempt for refusing to reveal their source. In a statement, Warner Bros. called the AJC's claims in the letter "baseless" and said the film was based on "a wide range of highly credible source material," according to Variety magazine. The brutal murders of four Idaho college students shocked millions. And what do they decide to do? Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The other questionable element of Richard Jewell is the portrayal of Kathy Scruggs, played in the movie by Olivia Wilde. It feels unfair that Kathy has been minimized in this way. [] Its a misunderstanding of feminism to assume that all women have to be sexless.. Former AJC reporter Ron Martz, who reported on the bombing along with Scruggs, said, She was one of the better reporters I ever worked with. Reporting what happened to Richard Jewell and his mother profoundly changed me as a reporter and caused me to rethink many of the assumptions and quick judgments we can all unwittingly make under deadline pressure without attempting to find out a larger truth that lurks behind breaking news, Brenner told Vanity Fair. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. These cases typically ended up being settled out of court and him being rewarded an undisclosed amount of money. How this story and source was gotten was never my interest., When Brenner read the rumor about Scruggs trading sex for stories in Alexander and Salwens book, she felt it was deeply problematic: Inevitably men get it wrong when they try to write about a womans sexuality., Both Brenner and Billy Ray, though, say the focus on Scruggs is a diversionary tactic. I think the people that have (criticized the films version of Scruggs) havent seen the film and certainly havent read the book. In Cherokee County, Georgia, Mrs. Scruggs has died. After the bombing fiasco, Jewell went on to get married, realized his dream of becoming a cop (The Suspect details a later incident in which Jewell performed CPR on a dying infant, saving its life), and bought a 26-acre farm in rural Georgia. She was charming and kind, generous and profane, according to Tony Kiss, a former colleague at the newspaper in Anderson, South Carolina, who became her longtimefriend. The reporters attire, according to Alexander and Salwen, did little to dispel a growing sleeps with her sources reputation. But in a statement to Vanity Fairs Joe Pompeo this week, the authors clarified that their five years of researchwhich encompassed dozens of interviews about Scruggs and an examination of thousands of pages of her deposition testimony and news articlesnever turned up evidence that Scruggs ever traded sex for a story. While other outlets settled, the AJC didn't. The attorney for Richard Jewell, who came under suspicion in the 1996 Olympic Park bombing before he was exonerated, criticized the movie "Richard Jewell" on Thursday night, calling its depiction of a reporter at the center of the movie "false and damning.". Or at least, one FBI agent in particular fed her the story. He filed several lawsuits against media companies and others, like The Post, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, NBC, and his former employer Piedmont College. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. They launch a distraction campaign. Shestruggled with chronic health issues and had been on medical leavefrom the newspaper for about a year when she died, Kiss said. Columnist Hollis Gillespie went on a date with Jewell after meeting him on an airplane, only to write up the whole thing in Atlanta Magazine, along with a follow-up piece in which she appeared on the cover. ", Eric Rudolph, the actual bomber, was found in 2003, rummaging through trash behind a grocery store in Murphy, North Carolina. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. How that actually played out is an interesting, quasi-Coen Brothers-esque story in itself. However, Jewell soon became a public villain when it was leaked that the FBI was investigating him (Jewell would quickly be cleared of all suspicion). In the 1990s, Scruggs was known for her solid reporting, her tight relationship with local law enforcement, and also her hard-partying ways, something that was exacerbated after she set off the media firestorm directed at Jewell. Yes, Jewell deserves to be better remembered as a hero, but the movie only does a middling job of helping that case, presenting Jewell largely as a sad sack defined by his victimhood rather than a lovable good ol boy who showed up to his interrogation in a stars-and-stripes fanny pack, loved karaoke, and sang Free Bird in a cover band. The film explores Jewells crucifixion by the media and the FBIs manipulative quest to incriminate him. or the Coen Brothers. She broke the story that security guard Jewell at that point a hero for saving countless lives in the Centennial Olympic. When Elisabeth Finch met Jennifer Beyer in 2019, the two women forged a fiercely loyal friendship, and eventually got married. Richard Jewell is one of the great movies currently available to stream on HBO Max. The film was written by Billy Ray and directed and produced by Clint Eastwood. Doha Madani is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News. Clint Eastwoods new movie, Richard Jewell, adapted by screenwriter Billy Ray partly from a 1997 Marie Brenner Vanity Fair article, tells the story of the FBI and the medias rush to judgment in the case of Richard Jewell, a security guard who discovered a bomb in Atlantas Centennial Olympic Park and then became the prime suspect, beaten up in the press even though he actually helped save peoples lives. The newspaper, in turn, has criticized the film's depiction of Kathy Scruggs who broke the story with Ron Martz that the FBI was eyeing Jewell as its prime suspect as a promiscuous crime. We never made such a false & damning claim. Kathleen Kathy Scruggs was a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution who broke the story that the FBI was investigating security guard Richard Jewell as a possible suspect in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics bombing. In a feature last month, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that Scruggs was disturbed by a lawsuit naming the AJC. Scruggs writes a story saying just that, which turns Jewell (and the implication of his guilt) into a global news event. Goads her bosses into rushing the story into print Early buzz for Clint Eastwoods latest film indicates that both Paul Walter Hauser and Sam Rockwell have a fighting chance. The case wasnt dismissed until 2011, on the grounds that they were substantially true at the time they were published. None of the lawyers who pursued Scruggs get mentioned in the film. People who knew her called her a true journalist. Bryant also had help from other lawyers to clear Jewells name. They had her back. And just in time for awards season, can you imagine that. Jewells death is noted at the end. Jewell was the security guard who spotted an unattended bag containing a pipe bomb in Centennial Park in the early hours of July 27, 1996. Kathy Scruggs Cause of Death, Family, Downfall, Richard Jewell, Journalist, Julia Morales (Astros) Husband, Daughter, Age, Height, Salary, Net worth, Nikki Battiste (CBS News) Net Worth, Age, Husband, Son, Wedding and ABC, Who is Will Cain Married To? Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Getty Richard Jewell was never officially charged with any crimes, but he spent 88 days being under investigation as the person responsible for the 1996 bombs in Centennial Park. Unlike Tom Shaw, Kathy Scruggs, who died in 2001, was a real reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution who really did break the news that Jewell was the focus of the FBI investigation. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. I think [Grace] said that there was no presumption of innocence at this time because there wasnt a jury trial, and that was a head-shaker, Alexander says.
5 Facts About Billy Bowlegs, Articles D