The controversy swirling around an unverified claim of a journalist having sex with an
FBI agent in Clint Eastwood’s new movie has led to a string of unconvincing justifications
![Richard Jewell pushes a damaging myth about female journalists. Stop defending it | Benjamin Lee](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b892a2c91fb63847f671ea59cd9ccfaaaa63b4cb/59_0_1187_712/master/1187.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctb3BpbmlvbnMucG5n&enable=upscale&s=1dda8faccf21ab7d74d05cefa528ae56)
The ongoing furore over Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-hungry new drama Richard Jewell shows no signs of abating, partly because the contentious issue at its centre is so egregious and partly because no one involved with the film is willing to admit this.
The film purports to tell the “true” story of the heroic security guard who found the pipe
bomb which killed one person and injured 111 others at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He was heralded as a hero until he became the focus of the FBI investigation, a fact that was first made public in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution before getting picked up across the country. Jewell was ultimately cleared after a difficult 88 days of accusations and media focus.