Rolling Stone Allegedly Omitted ‘Child Porn’ Accusations In Story About FBI Raid On Journalist: Report
A report by NPR alleged that Rolling Stone, in its account of the FBI raid on an ABC News journalist late last year, neglected to mention references to child pornography.
In accordance with the NPR report, Editor-in-Chief of Rolling Stone, Noah Shachtman, directed reporter Tatiana Siegel in her writing to avoid using the phrase “child pornography.”
Shachtman has apparently always been doubtful of information derived from federal sources and was unconvinced that Siegel’s sources had concrete information on the matter of child pornography, the NPR report declared. It was said that Shachtman instructed people involved in photo selection for the article to use a photo of the FBI and not of James Gordon Meek, the ABC News national security producer who was arrested on child pornography charges just this year.
Rolling Stone’s parent company, Penske Media, responded in a statement, “The Meek case was a particularly complex one, and the editorial choices made while covering it weren’t always simple or easy. So Rolling Stone stuck to a simple principle- publish in the moment as much information as it could confidently substantiate.”
Meek was apprehended in his Arlington, Virginia, residence at the end of January after the file hosting system Dropbox informed authorities about five unfamiliar videos of child exploitation in an account. The information arrived at the Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Taskforce of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Washington Field Office.
The FBI carried out a search of Meek’s home in April 2022, and he resigned shortly after.
“Law enforcement confiscated several devices that allegedly contained evidence of the transportation of images of child sexual abuse,” according to a news announcement.
According to court documents, the producer’s devices carried images displaying children engaged in sexually explicit activities and numerous chat conversations with participants who expressed eagerness for the sexual abuse of minors.
“In two of those conversations, a username allegedly associated with Meek received and distributed child sexual abuse materials through an internet-based messaging platform,” the statement reads.
Meek’s iPhone 8 supposedly contained messages and child pornography traded with another accused pedophile, Rolling Stone revealed in February 2023.
Meek supposedly appeared to acknowledge having previously exploited children in some of the messages.
“Have you ever raped a toddler girl? It’s amazing,” he allegedly wrote in one exchange, Rolling Stone reported.
If found guilty, Meek will serve a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Brandon Drey contributed to this report.
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