Actually, the truth is quite liberating.
"When the Rev. Jerry Falwell sued Flynt after Hustler published a cartoon insinuating Falwell committed incest, the media covered the story in detail. After Clinton was caught in an affair with Monica Lewinsky, the media had to figure out how to cover it in graphic and accurate detail, Thorn said. These two cases made it easier to cover sensitive topics such as child abuse.
The "perfect storm" of coverage of the Catholic Church, Thorn said, came to fruition starting in 2002, a year after the Boston Globe successfully sued to unseal Boston Archdiocese files on abuse. Using those records, the Globe published a series on sexual abuse in the archdiocese. Finally realizing the scope of the scandal, the bishops created the Office of Child and Youth Protection at a conference heavily attended by the media, Thorn said.
But the Vatican, which did not let bishops defrock priests, was reluctant to accept any reforms to fix the abuse problem, Thorn said.
Thorn closed by noting that abuse was not only a Catholic problem and was worse in many Protestant churches, but the media didn't cover this fact. "
Prof critiques coverage of (Catholic) church scandal (How the 'perfect storm' developed)
Ignorance hurts!