“I actually decided not to go into entertainment because of this incident,” she told me. Behind her the sun was setting over the marina. “Is this the way the world works?” She wondered. “That men get away with this?”
CATCH AND KILL: LIES, SPIES, AND A CONSPIRACY TO PROTECT PREDATORS (2019) is journalist Ronan Farrow’s astonishing book on his very personal voyage of “two years of reporting” on the sex scandal surrounding Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and his long-time abusive treatment of women. CATCH AND KILL is all the more remarkable due to the fact its content is supported by “interviews with more than two hundred sources, as well hundreds of pages of contracts, emails, and texts, and dozens of hours of audio. It was subjected to the same standard of fact-checking as the New Yorker stories on which it is based.”
Farrow’s journalistic journey begins in 2016 when he first hears mention of possible sexual indiscretions by Harvey Weinstein and becomes very real as Farrow begins his investigative work in 2017 while under contract at NBC, initially with their full blessing. CATCH AND KILL is the full story of Farrow’s trek into dark, lurid, forbidden waters. Written with great expertise and after the fact with knowledge and evidence from the Weinstein and NBC camps (as well as others) which he did not have access to at the time he was doing his initial work, Farrow is able to tell a linear story in CATCH AND KILL which is full of revelations much of which many in the public is likely unaware—even for those who followed the original articles Farrow penned in THE NEW YORKER, articles for which he and reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey won a Pulitzer Prize in public service in 2018.
For individuals who wonder why women do not come forward immediately with allegations (and not even until sometimes years later—if ever) after being victims of sexual abuse, the answers are clearly, convincingly, and chillingly provided in portions of interviews and comments by victims in CATCH AND KILL. The stories told by numerous women with lives in tatters are horrid, disgusting, and heart-wrenching. Weinstein’s targets ranged from assistants and professionals working with Weinstein and Associates to known, recognizable Hollywood stars. Equally unsettling, are the answers Farrow provides to questions regarding how sexual predators such as Harvey Weinstein develop patterns and strategies to prey upon their victims and get by with their rapaciousness as well as why they do it.
At times Farrow’s narrative adopts some self-depreciating humor and confessions, but more often he writes openly about his frustrations, fears, and worries. Above all, behind his drive is the desire to provide victims a safe platform to speak out and receive some sort of justice, give other victims an opportunity to feel confident and safe to come forward with their stories, and to do all he can to put an end to such inhumane and ill treatment. A number of people report to Farrow the work and efforts he makes starting in 2017 put him in physical danger (with more than one person telling him he needs to start carrying a gun) as he receives death threats and is stalked by suspicious strangers in person and via his phone.
Although Weinstein rightfully remains the primary villain in CATCH AND KILL, top executives at NBC who did all they could to “put a hold” on Farrow’s investigation and public reporting are unquestioningly exposed as acting contrary to their public commitment and responsibility to reporting the truth and reek of corruption—even with Farrow having a tape recording of Weinstein admitting his guilty behavior. NBC’s efforts to stop Farrow’s work even calling into question his impartiality due to his own family history, leaves the author more than once in tears of frustration and the reader withering in anger.
Farrow’s uncompromising, dogged inquiries uncover not only venality among the higher-ups at NBC, but also depict other more public, readily recognizable on-air figures at the broadcast giant, the biggest being anchor and reporter Matt Lauer who eventually is fired for the sexual allegations made against him by numerous women (which to this day he denies). In revelations late in CATCH AND KILL Lauer, and Harvey Weinstein’s knowledge of Lauer’s alleged indiscretions, figure highly in NBC’s motives for trying to silence Farrow. Although there are people of integrity in the lower NBC corporate chain, one very well-known public figure at NBC is predominately “a voice of principle” and pugnacious truth-telling: Rachel Maddow. She, alone, dares to have Farrow as a guest on her show after he is basically blackballed by NBC. She even dares to broach subjects which had been nixed by NBC brass and her comment which Farrow discloses in regards to NBC and what she covers on her show is priceless.
Farrow’s determination to find and reveal the truth about sexual predators unveils the extraordinary power that wealth can provide men such as Harvey Weinstein in their attempts to remain protected. With money, experience, positions of authority, “political influence,” and contacts Weinstein and pariahs like him are able to involve well-known politicians, disingenuous attorneys and journalists, “slut shaming,” and even spy agencies as imposing as the Israeli security firm, Black Cube, to come to their aid. Subsequently, as one might expect, CATCH AND KILL involves figures higher up at CBS, Jefferey Epstein, Donald J. Trump (especially in regards to the infamous ACCESS HOLLYWOOD tape, his relationship with Epstein and allegations by Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels), David Pecker and THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER (owned by American Media, Inc.) and Roger Ailes. Farrow frequently reaches a point where he does not know who he can trust and the levels and depths of conspiracy against women and truth that pours out from the pages of Catch and Kill are staggering. The “gulf between the powerful and the powerless that wealthy individuals could intimidate, surveil” is vast.
Thanks to NBC’s purposeful, time-consuming delays placing Farrow in “limbo,” Ronan ends up taking his research, interviews, and story to THE NEW YORKER magazine. Because others are on Weinstein’s tail by that point and THE NEW YORKER (where Farrow and his story is met with incredible support and resources by numerous people) have to start from scratch fact-checking Farrow’s work, Farrow is denied the opportunity to be the first to break the story on the Weinstein scandal. His articles much like CATCH AND KILL, however, contain more information than provided by anyone else. By the conclusion of CATCH AND KILL, Farrow also accepts the fact that his future in journalism most likely will be in print and not on the TV screen.
Some critics have said CATCH AND KILL reads like a spy thriller (among them Rasha Madkour from the Associated Press and David Canfield from ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY) and they are not mistaken. There also isn’t a boring, gratuitous, self-serving, or redundant passage in the book. Farrow does a commendable job of providing twenty-two pages of notes citing his quotations and information, chapter by chapter.
Only time will tell the extent to which Ronan Farrow meets his goals of increasing women’s ability and safety in speaking out regarding sexual harassment. Undoubtedly, Farrow and the Weinstein case has helped lead to the #metoo movement bringing greater awareness of the inherent problem of sexual harassment and abuse, motivating more women to speaking out in regards to their experiences. Some people also point at allegations made against some men in the last couple of years as suspect. One definite, unresolved issue is Harvey Weinstein’s fate. Although placed under arrest and charged on May 25, 2018, Weinstein’s case, has been delayed and will reach the courts in January 2020).
CATCH AND KILL provides readers with an amazing and compulsive reading experience, allowing them to witness modern history in the making and what may very well be a turning point in current American justice, hopefully for the better.
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Popular Highlights in this book
“You know, the press is as much part of our democracy as Congress or the executive branch or the judicial branch. It has to keep things in check. And when the powerful control the press, or make the press useless, if the people can’t trust the press, the people lose. And the powerful can do what they want.”Highlighted by 1,292 Kindle readers- In the end, the courage of women can’t be stamped out. And stories—the big ones, the true ones—can be caught but never killed.Highlighted by 1,073 Kindle readers
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Breathtaking, riveting, scary, and moving
Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2019
Wow. I just read the entire book in basically one sitting, riveted. Farrow chases the "White Whale" of investigative journalism stories, powerful Harvey Weinstein's alleged serial sexual assaults, behind a phalanx of lawyers, non-disclosure agreements, public relations teams, private investigators, threats, and high-level personal connections. The threads lead to similar stories of abuse at Farrow's employer, NBC, and beyond, into the National Enquirer's catch-and-kill practices and the politically well-connected and beyond. Stunning, scary, sometimes enraging, sad, moving, and ultimately mostly triumphant, because it's a story about dozens of instances of human bravery in the face of intimidation, to prevent the same thing from happening to future victims. After literally decades of effective efforts to suppress the stories from being heard. Terrific. Everyone should read it, even if you have to skip some of the scenes of assault. Wow. --Dean Gloster
Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2019
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