premise: This attitude was fueled in part by Bennett's leaks and sound bites about what a big-haired slut she was, and reversed by an influential article by Stuart Taylor Jr. in the American Lawyer . For the same reason that the National Organization for Women can no longer give Clinton the benefit of the doubt in his sexual-harassment case, the media are now in be-extra-fair-to-Paula mode.
hypothesis: There were some leaks that slut shamed the woman.