Kathy Scruggs
Kathy Scruggs was an American journalist, based in Atlanta, Georgia, best known for her role in the case of hero Richard Jewell.[2][3]
Scruggs broke the story that the FBI were investigating Jewell as a suspect in a deadly bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.[4] Jewell was a security guard at an Olympic event and initial reports describe him noticing a suspicious package and taking key steps to clearing potential victims from the area, saving lives. However Scruggs ran wiht a leak that the FBI's main suspect was Jewell, based on the theory he set up the bombing specifically so he would be regarded as a hero.
Other reporters surrounded Jewell's home, and he lived under a cloud of suspicion for years - until the real bomber was found, after he was caught for another crime. The real bomber had been an anti-abortion kook, and protesting abortion had been his motive. Jewell had been a hero, all along.
After he was cleared Jewell sued. Scruggs faced jail if she did not reveal her source. Scruggs refused, and appealed the jail term. While her appeal was in process she was found dead of a drug overdose.[4]
In a 2013 profile of her Doug Monroe, who had been a colleague of hers, at The Atlanta Journal, described her a hard-drinking, hard-partying, risk-taking crime reporter that the Police loved.[4] Monroe described her going to the scene of a murder, and arriving before the Police, only to ask them what had taken them so long, to arrive.
- "She was blonde and wore miniskirts and gaudy stockings. She smoked. She drank. She cussed. She flaunted her sexuality. She dated Lewis Grizzard. She dated an editor who allegedly beat her with a telephone. She dated cops, including one who was accused of stealing money from the pockets of the dead. 'Kathy was a bigger-than-life figure,' Coram says. 'She was over the top in many ways.'"[4]
In 2019 two movies about Jewell were released, with Scruggs portrayed by Carla Gugino and Olivia Wilde.[5][6][6] Those films portrayals of the role Scruggs love-life played in her reporting was a source of controversy. Richard Jewell, directed by Clint Eastwood, was the target of more criticism Critics say that film shows Scruggs being offered a tip-off that the FBI was investigating Jewell as the possible bomber from an FBI agent with whom she was having sexual relations.[4] Scruggs colleagues, at The Atlanta Journal Constitution assert Scruggs was too professional to have ever used her sexuality this way. Doug Monroe, one of those colleagues, acknowledged that Scruggs's relationships had been subject to reporting, but that none of her lovers had ever been the source for a story.
Commentators said that her role in Manhunt: Deadly Games was more nuanced.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "What Happened To Kathy Scruggs? Learn About The Reporter Who Broke The Jewell Story". Republic World. 2020-12-16. https://www.republicworld.com/entertainment-news/web-series/what-happened-to-kathy-scruggs-learn-about-the-reporter-who-broke-the-jewell-story.html. Retrieved 2021-10-19. "The report reveals that Scruggs passed away in 2001 when she was only 42."
- ↑ Shreya Bhatti (2020-09-20). "The Sad End to Atlanta Bombing Reporter Kathy Scruggs’ Life". Qnews hub. Archived from the original on 2021-10-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20211011121434/https://qnewshub.com/entertainment/the-sad-end-to-atlanta-bombing-reporter-kathy-scruggs-life/. Retrieved 2021-10-18. "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."
- ↑ Shreya Bhatt (2020-09-22). "The Sad End to Atlanta Bombing Reporter Kathy Scruggs’ Life". Qnews. Archived from the original on 2021-10-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20211011121434/https://qnewshub.com/entertainment/the-sad-end-to-atlanta-bombing-reporter-kathy-scruggs-life/. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Doug Monroe (2003-07-01). "Requiem for a Reporter: Kathy Scruggs". Atlanta magazine. Archived from the original on 2021-09-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20210927215449/https://www.atlantamagazine.com/news-culture-articles/requiem-for-a-reporter-kathy-scruggs/. Retrieved 2021-10-18. "AJC ace Kathy Scruggs broke the story that made Richard Jewell a household name. It also started her downward spiral."
- ↑ Anthony D'Alessandro (2019-12-03). "‘Richard Jewell’ Controversy: Olivia Wilde Calls Out Double Standard Of Sexism". Deadline magazine. Archived from the original on 2021-01-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20210125221716/https://deadline.com/2019/12/olivia-wilde-responds-to-richard-jewell-kathy-scruggs-controversy-1202799205/. Retrieved 2021-10-19. "There is the strong suggestion that Scruggs (Wilde) had a sexual relationship with the FBI agent (Jon Hamm) who tipped her. 'There is no evidence that this ever happened' regarding Scruggs’ quid pro quo, and 'if the film portrays this, it’s offensive and deeply troubling in the #MeToo era,' Riley wrote."
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Marianne Garvey (2019-12-10). "‘Richard Jewell’ film under fire for depiction of journalist Kathy Scruggs". CNN. Archived from the original on 2021-10-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20211008065940/https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/10/entertainment/kathy-scruggs-richard-jewell-film-trnd/index.html. Retrieved 2021-10-19. "The paper is claiming that Warner Bros. and the movie’s producers took dramatic license and portrayed Scruggs, played by Olivia Wilde in the film, as having traded sex for information from a FBI source, and having done so due to being exploited by the newspaper – accusations the paper denies."
