Fox News Host Jesse Watters: Female Reporters Sleep With Sources ‘All the Time’

During a debate on The Five about the new Clint Eastwood movie Richard Jewell, Fox News host Jesse Watters dismissed the outrage over its portrayal of a real-life female reporter trading sex for scoops, saying that female reporters sleeping with sources for tips “happens all the time.”

Members of the press have begun calling for a boycott after lawyers from the Atlanta-Journal Constitution pushed back at the studio and director demanding that a disclaimer run during the movie to note that it has fictionalized the conduct of Kathy Scruggs, who died in 2001. Both Warner Bros. and Eastwood have rejected the paper’s request and called it “baseless.”

“Greg, is the media worried about how Hollywood portrays a female reporter, or do they not like this because Clint Eastwood made the movie?” Katie Pavlich asked Greg Gutfeld.

“The media must demand that all times they are heroes in every movie, okay? Gutfeld claimed. “It all started with [Bob] Woodward and [Carl] Bernstein, everybody is a Woodward and Bernstein. Flawless crusaders in the pursuit of truth, they aren’t flawed.”

“I think Clint Eastwood does a service by reminding people that this guy got screwed. I think that’s really, really important,” Gutfeld added.

“Especially in the current media environment,” Pavlich chimed in.

“Especially in this current media environment,” Watters repeated. “An example, this happens all the time. Ali Watkins was a reporter for many, many years at many distinguished publications. She slept with one of her sources allegedly for four years and broke a lot of scoops according to this Politico report here.”

Watkins did admit to having a years-long affair with a Senate Intelligence Committee staffer, although she maintained that she never used him as a confidential source for stories.

After citing that single, real-life example, Watters then listed a number of fictional comedy movies that were not based on a true story and real people to back up his incredibly broad claim.

“It happens a lot, and it happens a lot in movies and TV shows,” Watters said, looking down at his phone. “Just a list right here: Fletch, Thank You for Smoking, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. I mean, it’s all over Hollywood. Now then pick a problem with a Clint Eastwood movie? Come on.”

“If the he media wrong, the media should be called out. I don’t have a problem with that,” fellow Five host Juan Williams said, moments later. “But I  do have a problem with what you said. I don’t think most women reporters…”

“I don’t say most women reporters, male reporters could do it too,” Watters cut in, sparking laughter from Williams.

Notably, Watters did not attempt to a cite real-life or fictional example of that kind of unethical conduct by a man, probably because sleeping with a source to get ahead is a sexist trope used only to denigrate women.

Watch the video above, via Fox News.

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