harassment at work media


men in their 30s, who had grown up in the porn culture, laddish, entitled, who had the worst wandering hands and [made] comments,” Mills says. “We also heard about ‘misogyny noir’ – a really toxic kind of sexism [combined with] racism.” In larger, more established newsrooms, Mills says she does not believe overt sexism and harassment happens now. She observes that having “a lot of very senior, strong women executives around definitely makes a difference – here we would stamp on it very fast”. The less blatant tendency to diminish the capabilities of


female journalists can also have a powerful negative impact on their status in the workplace. “People saying, ‘oh, I won’t have birds on my big reporting project’ – that doesn’t happen,” says Boland. “But we hear things like women’s expertise being undervalued, for instance a woman bringing in great stories using her language skills but her job title and pay not reflecting that. Or you watch male colleagues rise through the ranks while equally talented women don’t.” Professional mockery can be public and painful. One young


female journalist recalls an April Fool spoof run by a rival publication that rubbished her editorship. “I’m northern and working class, and it referred to that, and essentially said I was a stupid woman,” she recalls. Her employer’s fury, she said, erupted not on her behalf, but “came from the humiliation of the publication, rather than anger for me”. How has the experience affected her? “Probably for the best to be honest,” she says. “It gave me fuel and fire, and I now see it as a sad, bitter old man who got pleasure from attacking a young woman publicly.” Cooper now works at a national news outlet with strong,


supportive female editors. Professionally, she is thriving, though she gets anxious when her assailant’s name crops up. She worries people will find out she reported him. “Journalism is a small world, after all,” she says. Jarvis, who still struggles to come to terms with how her


trust was betrayed, says media companies must take active steps to let staff know inappropriate behaviour will not be tolerated “then an environment might be created which lets people know how they should go forward”. Rooting out misogyny in the media will need intervention,


says Boland. The Second Source has been asking media outlets if they have harassment guidelines: “Many don’t but a lot are asking ‘how might we do that?’ “ she says. “You hope that through a combination of policy change, legal support and women supporting women, people will feel empowered.” (Some identifying details have been changed)


*TUC guide: Protection from Sexual Harassment (http://tinyurl.com/ybx9srwg).


theJournalist | 13


ILLUSTRATION: NED JOLLIFFE


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28