Despite this corroboration of contemporaneous disclosure from Reade, the Times article registers some notes of skepticism. "No other allegation about sexual assault surfaced in the course of reporting, nor did any former Biden staff members corroborate any details of Ms. Reade's allegation," the piece reads. "The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden." Lerer and Ember's unusually detailed description of their reporting timeline reads as slightly defensive but is perhaps a response to the criticism the paper has drawn from
both ends of the political spectrum for the lapse between Reade's public airing of her claim and the Times' first acknowledgment of it.
From a certain perspective, the framing of Reade's allegation makes sense in the context of the Times' own role in the #MeToo movement and the broader landscape of contemporary reporting on sexual assault. Each of the paper's major investigations, which have led to a
rapist's conviction and the end of
a serial harasser's career, turned up several related stories of sexual violence or inappropriate sexual behavior. A "pattern of sexual misconduct"—plus documentation of monetary settlements—helped justify the Times' reporting on allegations that hadn't been evaluated in courts of law. Perhaps this helps explain why, instead of reporting on Reade's allegation on its own terms, Lerer and Ember made a point of indicating the pattern they
didn't find. On the other hand, is that really necessary? If they'd left that qualification out, readers still would have assumed as much: that if the journalists
had discovered a pattern of alleged misconduct, they would have reported it. The absence of such reporting indicates a lack of such findings.
