Unfortunately, Scruggs can't come forward to defend herself, either: She died in 2001 at the age of 42 from an overdose of prescription pain pills, according to Poytner. Kathy Scruggs, who was a very accomplished and very aggressive police reporter, had a motto: Im not in the business of being last. And she decided that she was going to be her usual aggressive self and made call after call to law enforcement sources. Her heart gave away. All the cops knew her and respected her and kidded her a lot, said Coram, who based a character in Atlanta Heat on Scruggs. If you wanted to draw a Hollywood stereotype of a hard-charging female cops reporter, Kathy would fit that bill pretty well, King said during a phone call with Vanity Fair on Wednesday. Scruggs isnt alive to defend herself, but Richard Jewells depiction of her had Scruggs colleagues at the AJC calling foul before theyd even seen the film. She became popular in the 1990s for breaking the story that the FBI was investigating security guard Richard Jewell as a possible suspect in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics bombing. This movie is about a hero whose life was completely destroyed by myths created by the FBI and the media, specifically the AJC, Ray told Deadline. According to the Columbia article, they also tried to be careful with the wording. Shewould wear that frustration on her sleeve. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. The suit was dismissed in 2011 when the Georgia Court of Appeals concluded the articles in their entirety were substantially true at the time they were published. But Scruggs was not alive to see her name cleared, and friends told the AJC that stress related to the case exacerbated her failing health. Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Getty That wouldve been a fun movie. Scruggs was 43 years old at the time of her death. Whereas Scruggs important job, local police reporter, is increasingly an anachronism, we still seem to have plenty of Brokaws, Kindreds, and Graces to go around (admittedly fewer Hollis Gillespies). "He called the paper, and the editor told her she needed to apologize. While researching his first novel, Atlanta Heat, Coram spent several days a week for a few years at Manuels Tavernthe homicide cop hangout where Scruggs would sidle up to cops over liquid lunches and happy hours in hopes of coaxing out new information. AJC ace Kathy Scruggs broke the story that made Richard Jewell a household name. Despite the fact that he was never charged, Jewell was subjected to a trial by media, which had a negative impact on both his personal and professional life. Instead, she quit.". Scruggs died in 2001 at age 42. Kent Alexander and Kevin Salwen write: Witnesses repeatedly came forward to accuse [him] of twisting their words. 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. The police caught on to Rudolph when he did a bombing in Birmingham. Why should Kathy Scruggs get named and shamed while the FBI agent who revealed the suspects name receives anonymity? She nonetheless gets the information, while fondling for his crotch. You can access his archive of reviews here. In a thread on Twitter on Thursday night, Lin Wood, the prominent defamation lawyer who represented Jewell in lawsuits against The Journal-Constitution and other media organizations, joined the movie's critics. The claim was that Jewell's reputation had been injured by the AJC and others. Richard Jewell is one of the great movies currently available to stream on HBO Max. Eric Rudolph eventually confessed and pleaded guilty to that bombing and other attacks. That adjective haunted Richard Jewell long before he became known as the FBI's leading suspect in the Centennial Olympic Park bombing on July 27, 1996. Again, a chapter that goes unmentioned in the film. "We never made such a false & damning claim. As well be discussing the plot of Richard Jewell, expect spoilers. Richard Jewell was under FBI scrutiny for about three months before he was cleared. 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? "She did not have to sleep with anyone to get a story," Kiss said. Moreover, of all the players who deserve scrutiny in this saga, why demonize the one who, at the very least, did sourced, factual reporting? Even the AJCs house style, voice-of-God narration that stressed declarative sentences over attribution, news in bite-sized chunklets in an attempt to mimic USA Today, deserves some blame making Jewell fit the profile of the lone bomber sound like objective fact rather than the opinion of the FBI, who created said profile. Scruggs was born and raised in Atlanta. After Jewell was cleared, the media blamed her for making it public that Jewell was a suspect. As Martz told the New York Times: [Kathy] could be flirtatious, but she wouldnt have done that sort of thing, because she was very conscious of her role as a reporter and she wanted to be known as a top-notch reporter. This, in turn, had actors in the movie, like Jon Hamm, when I interviewed him, urging people to see the film before passing judgment. It was chosen by the National Board of Review as one . In 2011, the suitsnaming the AJC weredismissed as the Georgia Court of Appeals concluded the articles in their entirety were substantially true at the time they were published. The film explores Jewells crucifixion by the media and the FBIs manipulative quest to incriminate him. 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. She was the real deal when it came to being a dedicated reporter, attorney and family friend Edward Tolley told the AJC in a 2019 feature on Scruggs, adding that the portrayal of her as a floozy was complete horse [expletive]., My concern is theyre going to turn her into some sort of femme fatale who would do anything to get a story, said former AJC reporter Ron Martz, who added that no one from the film ever got in touch with him. Theyre one of Hollywoods brightest starsand most troubled actors. 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. Eirianedd Munro (Adam Peaty Girlfriend) Bio, Age, Height, Family, Boyfriend, Son, Artist, Job, Net Worth, Lauren Snchez (Jeff Bezos Girlfriend), Age, Children, Husband, Family, Net Worth, Journalist. It's so deeply wrong, yet they continue to do it. Which is still the case and not despite the movie, but because of it. But the truth being obscuredis something that'sbeing brought up for another reason in relation to the film:Many are furious with its depiction of journalist Kathy Scruggs, who broke the Jewell FBI investigation story. The Independent Mail is seeking a copy of the letter from Lavely & Singer, the California law firm that sent it on behalf of the AJC and the newspaper's parent corporation, Cox Enterprises. It was heart-wrenching for Richard, Alexanders co-author, Kevin Salwen adds. Burns her source, breaking her promise to be off the record and jeopardizing an ongoing investigation. 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. As for Olivia Wildes notion of why people arent complaining about Jon Hamms character, thats an easy one: Tom Shaw isnt a real person. At issue is the film's portrayal of the late reporter Kathy Scruggs. "Shes no longer with us, she died very young, and I feel a certain responsibility to defend her legacy which has now been, I think unfairly, boiled down to one element of her personality, one inferred moment in the film. It crushed her like a junebug on the sidewalk., But even facing litigation over the article, Scruggs would not reveal her source in reporting that Jewell was a suspect. "Contrary to a swath of recent headlines, I do not believe that Kathy 'traded sex for tips,'" Wilde wrote. He is serving multiple life sentences for his role in several bombings. In December 2019, a biographical drama film Richard Jewel was released portraying the real life of Jewell. It was like a vacuum, she said. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. Then-AJC columnist Dave Kindred, who wrote a column comparing Richard Jewell to murderous pedophile Wayne Williams, does not. 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 hated being lied to or used. Who is Will Cain? He appeared on the 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list all five years, and there was a million-dollar reward offered for any info. She was born on Sept. 26, 1958, in Atlanta. "She had very good contacts with. There was NO evidence to support a storyline that Ms. Scruggs traded sex for tips about Richard. "Nothing in my research suggested she did so, and it was never my intention to suggest she had. Jewell becomes emotional about regaining his freedom. Even highly respected journalists like Katie Couric tracked Jewell down when he canceled an interview with her. She worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as a reporter. The media circus that surrounded the investigation was widely cited as an example of law enforcement and media excess. And by the way, I will stand by every word and assertion in the script., Said Brenner, I was appalled by the reflexive snobberies and obliviousness of consequences that the AJC never addressed. Pronouns: she/her. Fair enough, and certainly Jewell deserves that, but Jewell already received the benefit of being exonerated during his lifetime. Scruggs' former reporting partner, Ron Martz, played by David Shae in the movie, said no one from the film contacted him. The FBI did in fact investigate Jewell, wrongly suspecting that he might have planted the bomb, and a court even ruled that AJC's reporting was . 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. 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?). They had noneand neither did the FBI. Martz, who made the call to confirm the story with the FBI, said he wanted to make sure that, one, the story wasnt going to screw up the investigation. Wilde also said in her Twitter thread that Scruggs was at the center of the "brutal and unjust vilification" of Jewell and that the film centered on the tragedy of the accusations against him. (This post will contain both spoilers for the movie Richard Jewell and historical facts. Richard Jewell, an American security guard and a police officer got entangled in a web of investigation and media trial after he became a suspect in the investigation. Scruggs, who died in 2001, was working for the Atlanta . That would be an appalling and misogynistic dismissal of the difficult work she did. Centennial Olympic Park bombings are depicted in a film. From there, Jewell spent nearly three months being questioned, probed, discussed, and hounded by the media--who labeled him guilty without any real evidence. Prior to this meeting, Jewell undergoes a polygraph test that proves hes telling the truth. She would get upset when people were supposed to tell her something but wouldn't. The (Journal-Constitution's) claims are baseless and we will vigorously defend . He informed the FBI officials right away. The trial by the media seemed vicious and not shown nearly as intense in the film. Scruggs left the Independent Mail in Anderson after she got into an altercation at a bar, Kiss said. The Georgia Court of Appeals dismissed the Jewell case against the AJC in 2011. The AJCs reporter is reduced to a sex-trading object in the film, theletter says, according to the newspaper. 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. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. She was never at peace or at rest with this story. 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. In 1996, after security guard Richard Jewell discovered a bomb at Atlantas Centennial Olympic Park, helped clear the crowd and saved hundreds of lives, Jewell was declared a hero by the press. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. She was once arrested drunk and naked, sitting in the drivers seat of a taxi outside a bar. In hindsight, its easy to cast Scruggs as the villain, but Gugino said its not that simple. In addition to the park, he bombed a gay nightclub and abortion clinics. However, there are some things that dont quite come across in the film that are stated in the article. Yeah Kathy Scruggs and AJC said they only reported the truth - that Jewell was being investigated. She'd launch into a story maybesomething about the person she had just run into,the interview she had just finished. The film also takes liberties with how information and events unfolded. It was as much a contributor of her death than anything, her brother Lewis Scruggs Jr. told the AJC. She was so empty.. They launch a distraction campaign. She is right now the face of justice. So I had to call the district attorney, and we went through this whole back and forth and Nancy didnt end up speaking about the Olympics again.. True, Jewells lawyers surely got a chunk of that only one of whom, Watson Bryant, appears in the film, played memorably by Sam Rockwell. Carla Gugino plays her in Manhunt: Deadly Games on CBS. Support stories like this by supporting local journalism. However, the film was criticized for its portrayal of a real-life reporter, Kathy Scruggs. It also started her downward spiral. 'Manhunt Deadly Games,' an American true-crime drama, will premiere its second season in the year 2020. That sort of portrayal of her, its an insult not only to her, but to just about any other woman whos been a reporter.. 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. I didnt want to back away from or soften [Scruggs], in any way, because I wanted to give people perhaps a chance of empathy, seeing a little bit of the world through her eyes, said Gugino. Photo: Lionsgate. 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. Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. "The court found that what Kathy reported was true at the time she reported it," Kiss said. She had this big personality the kind you never forget.". Marie Brenner, who wrote the Vanity Fair feature on which the film is based, hopes that Richard Jewell might impact audiences the way the story affected her in 1996. People who knew her called her a true journalist. Want to get a room or just go to my car? Scruggs asks after he reveals Jewells name. Read More Nikki Battiste (CBS News) Net Worth, Age, Husband, Son, Wedding and ABCContinue. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. When Elisabeth Finch met Jennifer Beyer in 2019, the two women forged a fiercely loyal friendship, and eventually got married. While other outlets settled, the AJC didn't. Richard Jewell, a security guard, also discovered the explosives. Kathy had an elder brother called Lewis Scruggs Jr. who worked in the insurance business. He filed several lawsuits against media companies and others, like The Post, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, NBC, and his former employer Piedmont College. It states that she was given a tip about the FBI and Richard Jewell and respected the request to not publish it without finding more sources, so Scruggs and co-writer Ron Martz found more sources. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has taken issue withtheway that itsformer reporter Kathy Scruggs is depicted in "Richard Jewell," amovie about the 1996 Summer Olympics Bombing case. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Mike King, a former Atlanta Journal-Constitution editor who worked with Scruggs for about eight years, said that, save for that glaring implication, Richard Jewell largely seems to get Scruggs right. Clint Eastwood slanders reporter Kathy Scruggs in "Richard Jewell," his otherwise powerful and honest film. Now a movie comes along 23 years later, a perfect chance for the AJC to atone for what they did to Richard and to admit to their misdeeds. It was in 1998, and he then spent over five years on the run living and surviving in the wilderness. They had her back. 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). I think the people that have (criticized the films version of Scruggs) havent seen the film and certainly havent read the book. "Nothing in my research suggested she did so, and it was never my intention to suggest she had. Who is Ashley Willcott? Her former colleagues said she didn't cross ethical boundaries to land a story,as is suggested in "Richard Jewell," the movie thatincludes a portrayal of her as a reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The film was written by Billy Ray and directed and produced by Clint Eastwood. The movie isnt about Kathy Scruggs; its about the heroism and hounding of Richard Jewell, and what rushed reporting can do to an innocent man. The FBI still lists Rudolph on one of its pages about "famous cases and criminals.". Cinemablend is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Shewas young and driven, according to those who knew her. But several friends and colleagues have said over the years that she never really recovered from what happened with Jewell. Specifically, Riley has pointed to a scene in Richard Jewell that implies Scruggs, who died in 2001, traded sex for storiesa scene that has incited an internet firestorm and prompted the AJC to demand a disclaimer on the movie. "She was such a good and dedicated journalist," Kiss said. Kathy Scruggs was the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper reporter whose reporting on the Atlanta Olympics bombing has been extremely controversial. 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. Kathy Scruggs, who died in 2001, was working at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution when she broke a story that the FBI was investigating security guard Richard Jewell for the bombing in Centennial . The brutal murders of four Idaho college students shocked millions. (Ed: note: The sources name, according to The Suspect, was Don Johnson. or the Coen Brothers. The book describes Scruggs as the kind of woman who packed perfume and a pistol in her purse, wore leather miniskirts and fishnet tights to the office, and kept her blouse unbuttoned beyond what some might feel was workplace-appropriate. It haunted her until her last breath, her former colleague Tony Kiss told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a 2019 feature about her. The film, directed by Clint Eastwood, says it is a story of what happens when what is reported as fact obscures the truth.. It was just hard living, her brother toldthe AJC. 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. Many journalists have strongly criticized the portrayal as perpetuating a pernicious and false stereotype that some female journalists trade sex for information, which U.S. news organizations prohibit as unethical. That is entirely false and malicious, and it is extremely defamatory and damaging.. Reporter Kathy Scruggs broke the story that the FBI was looking at Richard Jewell as the Atlanta Olympics bomber. The media hounding of Jewell was shown as being pretty bad, but it was worse in real life. Thats just bullshit.. 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. His motives were because he was against abortion and didnt want homosexuality normalized. Kathy Scruggs would walkinto the Independent Mail newsroom anddrop her purse and notebook on her desk, a daily effort that caused two loud, distinct thuds. I probably will wind up watching it. 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. Its true we shouldnt boil the character to one sexual act (which, again, doesnt seem to have actually happened), but the film doesnt present much that would flesh out the picture. When I'm not writing about pop culture, I can be found channeling Gordon Ramsay by kicking people out the kitchen. Author Robert Coram had a front-row seat to Scruggss dealings with law enforcement in the mid '90s. However, there are two major things that the movie portrays in questionable ways. "He was a suspect at the time she reported that he was. In addition to Eastwood and the movie's production team, Olivia Wilde, the actor who played Scruggs in the movie, has also come under criticism. Scruggs died in 2001 of a morphine overdose. In a new depiction of the 1996 Olympics bombing in Atlanta and its aftermath, a newspaper reporter from the time is once again portrayed in a controversial light. Through social media posts, court records, and other primary sources, author Kathleen Hale forensically reconstructs their lives before the crime, and the night they were killed. In fact, nine law. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Please consider becominga subscriber. 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. Will Cain is one of the prominent journalists for CNN. Wilde concluded her string of Twitter posts on Thursday by saying that Scruggs "unfortunately became a piece of the massive puzzle that was responsible for the brutal and unjust vilification of. Her soul was gone. The New York Times wrote a 3,000-word cover story about his poor treatment after the FBI cleared him. And just in time for awards season, can you imagine that. "If they had actually contacted me, it might have ruined their idea of what they wanted the story to be," Martz told the newspaper. In 2011, the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled for the newspaper, which had refused to negotiate a settlement of Jewell's lawsuit. I never heard any of them, even when they were drinking, say anything negative about her personally or professionally. Without an inkling of self-awareness, Awful Announcing is concerned about the destruction of a dead reporter's reputation eternally. But she was always agood reporter with a tremendous work ethic, said Gouch and Kiss. Decades later, how Scruggs is portrayed as a journalist is at the center of controversy that surrounds the film "Richard Jewell." Walter decided the story should use the word "focus," Scruggs would recall. 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.. Her own brother said of her, I loved Kathy, but she was crazy.. Kathy Scruggs herself wrote follow-up stories about Jewell's shabby treatment and interviewed criminal profilers about how criminal profiling had been mishandled in the Jewell case. Even as a kid Jewell seemed driven by. 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." While there were a number of bad actors this includes journalists who did considerable damage to Richard Jewell's reputation, I've not seen where Kathy Scruggs' reporting went beyond the facts. She responded earlier Thursday in a long Twitter thread, saying she wanted to share her perspective on the role and clarify previous comments in which she said she thought the controversy was a "basic misunderstanding of feminism as pious sexlessness.". Eric Rudolph did three other bombs, four in total, before he became a suspect. 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. Her father, Lewis "Bubber" Scruggs Sr., was a Gridiron Secret. The film flashes six years later and Bryant informs Richard Jewell that the FBI has finally got the real bomber: Eric Rudolph. She struggled with chronic. "Kathy was just luminous," Parke said. "Her heart gave away. ), Fact Vs. 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