#AmberHeard #WaPo and Questionable OpEds
The ACLU op-ed placed under the name of actress Amber Heard on December 18, 2018, has come under scrutiny. Not just because the Washington Post oped is at the center of a $50 million defamation lawsuit by Heard’s former husband, actor Johnny Depp — but also because it was revealed during the trial that the Washington Post editorial with Amber Heard’s name atop it was actually authored by the ACLU who Heard gave over a million dollars to. Heard references sexual assault and domestic violence but never references Depp directly by name though it was clear who she may have been referring to and Depp is claiming millions in damages.
A revealing December 2021 deposition by ACLU general counsel Terence Dougherty uncovered a lot about how politically driven the placement of the Heard oped was. The Dougherty deposition also revealed how deep the involvement of the ACLU was in the message crafted and made public. Was the Washington Post transparant about the ACLU connection in real time? No.
The Heard oped is a window into the politics and the money behind modern journalistic decision making. For all the public knew, the words and views in the oped were from an individual, Amber Heard. But the testimony of Dougherty at trial reveal something much different. This includes a possible “pay to play” aspect of the story as Heard donated at least $1.3 million to the ACLU.
That the moment was so verifiably connected journalism to financial considerations is jarring.
Sixty four days after the Heard editorial ran, on February 19, 2019, the Washington Post oped page published another defamatory oped on similar subject matter.
On February 18, 2019, they published an oped by Meredith Watson who accused two prominent graduates of Duke of rape after 19 and 20 years in early 2019. These serious criminal allegations had no evidence, medical records, contemporary emails or any other documentation attached to them. I was a comms advisor to one of the individuals accused by Watson so I had a very close look at what transpired.
The New York Times published a story — with no documenatable evidence attached to it — platforming one of the allegations from 1999. Did the Washington Post call the two men accused before the February 18, 2019 editorial ran? No. Did they modify anything after facts emerged that the story told in the oped was questionable? No. Did they investigate the claims in the oped carefully before publication. I can find no evidence of that.
There’s no evidence the Washington Post even spoke directly to Meredith Watson to access credibility. A February 15, 2019 article by the Associated Press on Watson revealed why that may have been a mistake. Associated Press never actually spoke with Watson either. They reported a “sometime-turbulent” personal life, "scrubbed” social media accounts and no signs of current employment. Associated Press also reported a 2008 restraining order filed by a former boyfriend. Watson’s former ex told a judge in court Watson wanted to “destroy my life” and “mess things up” for his friends and family. This is who the Washington Post platformed without investigation:
Associated Press’ reporting also revealed the vivid restraining order connected to the case — featuring lines such as “I am going to enjoy tearing you down just as much as you enjoyed tearing me down. Hang on tight because you are in for a ride!”
Because the Washington Post never actually spoke directly to Watson — they appear to have spoken to her attorney and a PR firm who likely were the actual oped authors — no one at the Washington Post can claim they accessed the credibility of the person they represented as the oped author.
We now know facts that would call into question those allegations. Including the fact that the Washington Post’s editorial board, as mentioned in a Washington Post editorial on July 24, 2020, called Watson’s attorney Nancy Smith and couldn’t get a straight answer to a basic question: Was Watson’s boyfriend present for what she claimed in public 20 years (in Feb. 2019) later was a sexual assault?
Shouldn’t the question of “who was in the room” have been easy to answer in the grand scheme of things? Not getting an answer to something so basic should have prompted investigation by The Washington Post. Watson has never been interviewed by the leading journalist investigative news organizations: AP, Washington Post and the New York Times. Watson has never been interviewed by CNN, NBC or ABC. But they published a criminal level story minutes after a Friday, February 8, 2019 4:45 pm press release by an attorney.
And with no investigation.
All the top editors at WaPo have been contacted on the above numerous times over three years. None has answered. WaPo has no public editor.