WHY THE STORY BROKE NOW

In recent years a number of high-profile sexual-abuse cases involving men in a position of power have successfully been brought to light.

Comedian Bill Cosby was accused of a battery of sex abuse charges over decades. Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly and Roger Ailes were accused by co-workers of sexual harassment.

And then there’s Donald Trump, who was accused of sexual harassment and notoriously boasted on tape in the run-up to the presidential elections about groping women.

Despite these cases having mixed outcomes – O’Reilly was sacked, Ailes resigned, Cosby faces trial and Trump became US president – many believe they have created a climate of exposure that’s emboldened women to come forward and tell stories that until now they harboured as a shameful secret.

Jodi Kantor, one of the reporters who broke The New York Times’ story, also believes that for a long time there simply wasn’t enough firm evidence to go on.

And, she reckons, there’s been a feeling in Hollywood that Weinstein’s star was on the wane.

“Many people were still afraid of him and I don’t want to understate that,” she said in a radio interview. “But there was more of a feeling that he was at the end of his career.”

Kantor also believes another reason the story worked out is that the reporters approaching the victims were women. “There were sources who said things such as, ‘Every other journalist who’s approached me is a man and I want to speak to a woman about this.’”