Catch and Kill

“And then we need to get a shredder down here.” 

The third chapter of the book opens with a dramatic scene. The contents of a safe are emptied, and Dylan Howard demands a shredder. The details of this event are scarce and difficult to pin down, but the sense of devious criminality is conveyed through the unease in the atmosphere. The documents are mysterious and valuable. They cannot be released to the public or they will do an extraordinary amount of damage to very important people. The shredder implies that the stories are gone forever and the search for truth is actively being curtailed by the people who have done so much to hide it from the public. 

“I did not want to be defined by my parents, or by the worst years of my mother’s life, of my sister’s life, of my childhood.” 

Though a central figure in the story, Farrow evidently does not want to overshadow the discussion around sexual harassment. His own status as the son of a celebrity couple, one of whom has been accused of sexual misconduct, gives him a special insight into the matter. He is not just an outside observer. Farrow has firsthand experience and empathy for those involved and has been a tangential part of the industry he attempts to investigate. Farrow acknowledges his own difficult position but ensures that the stories of the survivors—including his mother and sister—are always at the center of everything he says. 

“The reporting expanded like an inkblot.” 

The stories about the behavior of Weinstein and similarly abusive men is as clandestine as an inkblot. The dark, brooding shape spreads and stains everything it touches. The reporting on the matter tries to mop up this ink blot, but the very act of reporting only serves to uncover more and more stories about terrible behavior. The reporting itself becomes just as dark and brooding as the inkblot because it reveals the code of silence which exists within the media. People refuse to talk about the obvious bad behavior they see happening and refuse to report on anything which might damage their career. The reporting and the behavior are just as dark and as worrying as each other. 

“This, for Abramowitz and many other lawyers, was a cottage industry.” 

The cover up of so much abusive behavior and sexual harassment becomes a financially rewarding enterprise. Men dedicate themselves to covering up the terrible actions of abusers and silencing the voices of survivors. The lawyers who heaped complicated legal documents on Ambra Gutierrez know exactly what they are doing. They intend to drown her in complex legal paperwork to confuse and silence her. Their behavior is part of a wider, profitable pattern. Part of the problem of the catch and kill cover-ups of sexual abuse is the way that so many people make so much money from silencing survivors.

“There were limits to how much we could hide the work.” 

Ronan Farrow’s story is an attempt to uncover secrets which have long been hidden from the public. To do this, he is forced to take on secrets of his own. Farrow and McHugh are compelled to hide the reporting they do on the Weinstein story. In an ironic twist, the investigators find themselves at the center of an investigation. They have to keep secrets in the same fashion as the people they are trying to expose. The tangled web of lies and mistruths envelopes them as they move closer toward exposing the crimes of Harvey Weinstein. 

“Sometimes it’s better to leave things be.” 

Farrow talks to the NBC executive Andy Lack at a party. They make small talk and Lack departs with a comment about an unopened safe left behind at his old house. The comment is seemingly innocuous but loaded with subtext. Lack has been contacted by Weinstein’s people, and the comment can be read as an attempt to force Farrow to leave the investigation against Weinstein alone. The investigation, like the safe, is better left alone. 

“We both looked out of his living room at the storm.” 

As Farrow’s story comes together, it is met by rising anxiety and paranoia. He feels as though he is being followed while numerous reporters tell him that the story will be almost impossible to publish. The storm outside is an example of pathetic fallacy. The storm represents Farrow’s emotional state, the turmoil and the upheaval which is about to be unleashed on his life.

“I found out she was a producer on one of Harvey’s moves.” 

Ally Canosa tries to explain the pain she experienced at the hands of Harvey Weinstein. Even her attempts to get therapy reveal the pervasive way in which he infects every single facet of the entertainment industry. Weinstein has friends, colleagues, associates, and other cohorts everywhere. Even when Canosa tries to get therapy, she discovers that the therapist she trusted with the traumatic story is actually a business associate of Weinstein. There seems like no way to escape his abuse as he is everywhere all at once. 

“Whoever decided that the story couldn’t run had now, it seemed, realized the story couldn’t not run either.” 

The effect of Farrow’s relentless reporting is that NBC finds itself in an impossible position. They have been pressured by Harvey Weinstein’s team into shutting down the story, but the reporting has taken on a life of its own. Farrow has amassed so much evidence that, in the event they suppress his reporting, NBC faces a public relations nightmare if they fail to publish. NBC finds itself caught in an impossible position of its own manufacture. They are in an unwinnable position from which they cannot find a satisfying exit. 

“Bloom never got around to sending the supposed dirt on McGowan.” 

Farrow is betrayed by Lisa Bloom. She conveniently fails to mention her closeness to Harvey Weinstein’s legal team even while teasing information out of Farrow with regards to his investigation. Farrow now understands her true character. She does not send the “supposed dirt on [Rose] McGowan” (147) because she has nothing to gain. Information is a currency in the world in which these lawyers operate, and Farrow has been caught in a moment of naivety. Lisa Bloom is a world-famous lawyer and she has outmaneuvered Farrow. The lack of “dirt” (147) illustrates the extent to which Bloom was willing to lie to get what she needed. 

“The thing with being a victim is I felt responsible.” 

Asia Argento’s regrets play into one of the key difficulties faced by the victims of Harvey Weinstein. He is able to get into their heads and leave them feeling that they have somehow failed. Women like Argento worry that they did not put up enough of a fight while being harassed, assaulted, and raped. Weinstein’s vicious attacks play on others’ self-conscious image of themselves and destroys the survivors’ self-belief. Part of the reason the women remain quiet is that his behavior leaves them traumatized and worried that they might have been able to do more to resist him, even when this is patently untrue. 

“I swung too wide. I gambled too much.” 

As the moment of publication draws nearer, Farrow is nearly beaten. The New York Times publishes a story on a similar topic and Farrow realizes that he has gambled his entire professional career on this single story. If he is not the first to reach the public, that gamble might prove to be far less profitable than it otherwise would have been. Although Farrow is quick to acknowledge the risks taken by the survivors, he is just as aware of what he risked in order to expose Harvey Weinstein. 

“The writing about the man before and after seldom lingered on this quality: he was pretty funny.”

Harvey Weinstein finally makes contact with Farrow. The monstrous, rapacious figure which has been experienced mostly secondhand and who existed in the shadows for the majority of the narrative emerges into the harsh light of day. Farrow’s observation is that Weinstein is just as charming and funny as he his terrifying. The observation is not a compliment. Rather, it explains in part why Weinstein was able to rise to a position in which he had so much power. Weinstein is able to charm people when he needs to and his quick wits belie a fierce intelligence. 

“There are more Harveys in your midst.” 

After the article is published in The New Yorker, Farrow is emotionally drained. He has no time to relax. Almost as soon as the article reaches the public, more women reach out to him with stories about people who committed similar crimes. Farrow’s work is only beginning, and many of the men in similarly abusive positions are far closer than he ever expected. The final line of the chapter foreshadows the events which will transpire at NBC in the near future.

“You heard Annabella Sciorra struggle to tell her story once, and it stayed inside you forever.” 

For all of the effort Farrow applies to documenting the stories told to him by the survivors of sexual assault, the raw pain is impossible to convey in the written word. The written accounts only reveal a tiny portion of the trauma and suffering experienced by these women. Farrow himself understand this. He draws a difference between the story he hears and the story he reports. With the pain imprinted on his memories, he tries to convey this sense of suffering. But the trauma is only third-hand by the time it reaches the reader. The emotionally devastating nature of these assaults is made clear in comments such as this. 

“I paused, processing this, feeling another moment of hair-prickling realization.” 

The revelations about Black Cube come from an anonymous source. While the information forces Farrow to question everything he knows and confirms the validity of his paranoia, he knows nothing about the source. The only hint as to the source’s identity comes from a brief mention of female solidarity. The source claims to be a woman, and the realization makes Farrow’s skin prickle. But given the nature of the lies and mistruths that come out of Black Cube, this information may not be trustworthy. The clandestine nature of the intelligence company means that nothing can be trusted even when it seems hair-raisingly true. 

“It just hadn’t met the Enquirer’s exacting journalistic standards.” 

The reason the National Enquirer gives for sitting on Karen McDougal’s story about an affair with President Donald Trump is the exact same excuse given to Farrow by NBC for why they could not move ahead with his Harvey Weinstein story. The inclusion of this comment at the end of the chapter draws a clear parallel between NBC and the National Enquirer. They are part of the same corrupt system and parrot the same excuses for their failures. Though the newspaper might have a lesser reputation than the news network, they are fundamentally the same in their ability to suppress vital news stories. 

“He knows where the bodies are buried.” 

One of the biggest problems with President Donald Trump’s complicity in the catch and kill media process is the opportunity for blackmail. The use of a cliched phrase such as “knows where the bodies are buried” (209) helps to reiterate the absurd stakes involved. Typically, American Presidents are not so open to blackmail, and Trump’s situation is something which might only be found in a low-grade movie. The absurdity and the danger of his vulnerable position with regards to AMI media is that he is open to the potential of blackmail to almost a cliched degree. Reality has come to resemble the Hollywood scripts which Harvey Weinstein ploughed through with such abandon. 

“However far he had fallen, there was Harvey Weinstein, with his mercenaries, plotting, planning, and bracing for fights to come.” 

The pugnacious nature of Harvey Weinstein is clear even when he is at his lowest ebb. The aggressive, predatory aura around him can be seen even in a still photo buried in the middle of a newspaper. The book frames him at a military commander in this moment as he is surrounded by mercenaries. Weinstein does not view the accusations and the trial as any form of punishment for bad or immoral behavior. He views the situation as a war against him, and he intends to fight back. His competitive, combative personality is ever-present. 

“A year before, I’d have thought the paranoia excessive.”

Part of the change that comes over Farrow can be seen in the way he treats the security around him. Only a year ago, his life was very different. Now he must take additional precautions so often that he barely thinks about them. The gradual descent into justified paranoia accompanies the progress of the story. Farrow’s need to employ extra safety measures speaks to the seriousness of the accusations he is publishing, the power of the people he is accusing, and the stakes of the story he wants the world to know. 

“At NBC News, the year after the Weinstein story was fraught.” 

NBC’s biggest challenge involves dealing with the aftermath of not publishing the Weinstein story. Their inaction reveals the rot at the core of the organization. NBC have their own internal issues with sexual misconduct and harassment, and their hesitancy to publish Farrow’s story costs them far more than publishing it might have done. They lose their reputation, their staff, and their authority in the news media due to their own inability to deal with the issues which reside within the organization itself. 

“If the Weinstein accusers hadn’t talked to you, I never would have said a word.”

Farrow begins to understand the wider implications of his work. The stories of the survivors that he publishes in his article inspire others to stand up for themselves. Farrow learns that his work is not just about finding justice for the people who have endured terrible and traumatic experiences or punishing the people who perpetrated said experiences. One of the most important results of his work is that it provides a justification for other people to stand up to their abusers. Farrow’s work shows people that a better world is possible and that there are many others who want to work with him to achieve it. 

“The memo was only one in a series of steps designed to rewrite the history of the story at the network.”

NBC as an institution emerges as a villain in the book. The network suppresses a story about one sexual predator only to reveal a litany of similar crimes within their own organization. They then try to cover up their own misdeeds. Farrow believes that they are trying to “rewrite the history of the story at the network” (239), but articles and books by himself and others prevent this from happening. Farrow works hard to ensure that NBC is brought to justice just as much as Harvey Weinstein.