Amid coronavirus chaos, the media is almost silent about sexual assault allegations against Joe Biden

There’s never a good time for survivors of sexual assault to come forward with allegations. Especially when they’re going against powerful men. And in the midst of a global pandemic, many establishment media outlets also seem to be ignoring ongoing allegations against Joe Biden, one of the Democratic nominees for the 2020 US presidential election.

“That’s exactly why I have to keep going”

According to a report from the Hill, Biden’s latest accuser, Tara Reade, has been trying to get media outlets to report on her allegations for some time. She’s reportedly also been unsuccessful in a “fight to get Time’s Up, an organization that provides financial support for women who come forward with stories of sexual misconduct, to represent her”.

She joins a list of survivors who’ve come forward with sexual assault allegations against Biden:

PART 7 Hear from over half a dozen women who've spoken out against Joe Biden's invasive behavior and sexual assault.
-Lucy Flores @LucyFlores
-Amy Lappos
-D.J Hill
-Caitlyn Caruso
-Ally Coll
-Sofie Karasek
-Vail Kohnert-Yount
-Tara Reade #TimesUpBidenhttps://t.co/2jImlNlb3p

— 🌹 The Antagonized 🌹 (@Doodelay) March 27, 2020

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Reade described her daughter's response to her speaking out: "She's like, 'you can't go up against somebody like Biden. He's too powerful.' And that's exactly why I have to keep going." https://t.co/wwmaXwPg5d

— Susan Sarandon (@SusanSarandon) March 28, 2020

Mainstream media silence

Reade shared her story with American news outlet Hill TV on 26 March. However, since then mainstream news outlets appear to have all but ignored the news:

The total blackout of the Joe Biden sexual assault allegations is incredible. Obviously I knew the media wouldn’t give it fair coverage. But usually they’ll at least mention these kinds of stories and then bury them quickly. In this case, though, nothing. No coverage. Silence.

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) March 27, 2020

In a CNN interview on 28 March, reporter Anderson Cooper failed to question Biden about the allegations:

CNN did not ask Democrat Joe Biden a single question during their town hall event about his former staffer that came forward this week and accused him of sexual assault

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) March 28, 2020

So did @andersoncooper address the sexual assault allegations detailed at Vox today against Biden?

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) March 28, 2020

Double standards

The irony is that when Christine Blasey Ford came forward with allegations against Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, Biden said she should be believed:

Joe Biden’s campaign denied the sexual assault allegations coming from a former Senate staffer, but in 2018 he said that any woman’s public claims of sexual assault should be believed to be true… More here: https://t.co/YtylD4ZkVy

— Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) March 28, 2020

The double standards from Biden and his supporters seem to be fairly obvious:

Hey @neeratanden, would you support an FBI investigation about Tara Reade's allegation of sexual assault against Joe Biden? https://t.co/mK1uR66c8A

— Nikola (@niktaylorde) March 29, 2020

The Intercept also broke the Kavanaugh story, which like the Biden allegation was a decades-old first-person testimony of sexual assault leveled as the accused pursued one of the nation's most powerful positions.

The only difference is the partisan affiliation of the accused. pic.twitter.com/wdVgwBRaki

— Meagan Day (@meaganmday) March 27, 2020

Neera Tanden co-opted the language of sexual assault to try and own Bernie over his meeting with Warren but is not only radio silent about Biden sexually assaulting Tara Reade but is blocking people who call her out for it.

— Social Distancing Enthusiast 🌹 (@LeftistAdvocate) March 28, 2020

And Elizabeth Warren’s silence on the issue hasn’t gone unnoticed either:

remember when liz warren owned mike bloomberg on that debate stage on the non-disclosure agreements he made victims of sexual assault sign? looking forward to her statement on joe biden and tara reade

— Aisha Ahmad (@aishaismad) March 26, 2020

Moreover, some people think those offering partisan support to Biden would have reacted differently if similar allegations about Bernie Sanders had come to light. In fact, allegations of sexism against Sanders were widely reported, making the silence in this instance even more questionable:

Warren claimed Sanders said "A woman can't beat Trump" and EVERY news outlet covered it FOR DAYS. Biden has SEXUAL ASSAULT allegations against him and….media silence. If you don't see what's going on, you're just not looking.

— Ja'Mal Green (@JaymalGreen) March 27, 2020

Endorsements

In the wake of Reade’s allegations, many people have called politicians who have formally endorsed Biden to withdraw their support:

Will @SenGillibrand be retracting her endorsement of Joe Biden now that there is a highly credible claim of sexual assault against him?

— Nathan J Robinson (@NathanJRobinson) March 28, 2020

Dear @SymoneDSanders,

I would like to know what you think of the sexual assault allegations against Joe Biden. You are his campaign senior adviser. You have previously supported Christine Ford but I am now seeing that you deleted those tweets. What is going on sis.?

— Hamdia Ahmed (@hamdia_ahmed) March 29, 2020

If @KamalaHarris does not immediately denounce @JoeBiden in light of this accusation, then all of her emotional condemnations of Brett Kavanaugh were simply the partisan theatrics of a deeply cynical politician. https://t.co/SqyKgpJZhG

— Brad Polumbo (@brad_polumbo) March 27, 2020

Given prior concerns about an anti-Sanders bias in the corporate media, it may come as no surprise that there’s barely any coverage of these allegations against Biden. But with the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements having gained traction, people are now using the hashtag #IBelieveTara to show their support. Let’s hope all the Democratic Party supporters who stood with Christine Blasey Ford will now stand with Tara Reade, too.

Featured image via Flickr/ Marc Nozell