Latino media grapples with how to cover the Nury Martinez scandal
The Nury Martinez scandal, in which the NFL star and wife of the President of Mexico Carmen Yulín Cruz accused him of sexual misconduct, has created some unique challenges for Mexican journalists. In recent days, journalists have been attempting to make sense of the story, and there have been a slew of conflicting reports about his career. In the last few days, Fox News Channel, among other cable news channels, gave its interpretation of the story, and ESPN, and even TIME magazine, have given different take on it. It’s a story that has attracted far less public attention than the stories about Donald Trump, or the Trump administration’s reaction to the election of President Trump. Yet, it has garnered a global audience on Fox, among other media outlets, and has prompted debates about free press, the Fourth Amendment, and whether the press can investigate itself.
The scandal first gained national attention when NBC’s Chuck Todd, a former co-host of Meet the Press and host of MSNBC’s Piers Morgan Tonight, published a piece on Twitter titled “Nury Martinez: ‘I’m not perfect, but I am honest. I always have been, and maybe I am a little too honest.’” According to Todd, a Mexican-born actor, lawyer, and singer, Martinez’s wife, Yulín Cruz, said that she was afraid of having sex with him from the time he was a child and that she’d had affairs before. (Cruz has denied the accusations.)
Yulín Cruz told Fox News that Todd’s account was a lie, that she had never had sex with Martinez, and that she’s not afraid of him because he is the president of Mexico. She told an interviewer that she was very confident about her claim. She added that she believes in free press, that Trump is anti-Mexican, and that Trump is not an authentic Republican