More Women in Newsrooms are Changing the Conversation and Reshaping the News
When New York Times investigative reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, along with the New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow, told the world about Harvey Weinstein’s chronic sexual harassment history and abuses of power as a Hollywood producer, it ignited a movement called #MeToo that inspired people to speak out and stand up against the cultures of harassment in the workplace that had been overlooked for years.
Organizations outside of the entertainment industry became introspective about their own workplace cultures, where some found that the same problems existed within their own walls. Reported instances in the fashion, government, business and agriculture industries showed that discrimination, sexual harassment, and wage and gender parity were issues women dealt with regularly.
The spotlight even found its way to the media industry, where it was discovered that the very industry reporting on sexual harassment was also experiencing the same harmful behaviors and sweeping them under the rug. Among them were NBC News’ Matt Lauer, CBS CEO Les Mooves and New York Times’ Glenn Thrush, who all allegedly displayed inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.
A female journalist E&P spoke with for this story painted a powerful illustration of how unnerving it can be to report an incident: When she approached one of her male co-workers for advice on how to handle a sexual harassment issue, she was rebuffed.
“You don’t want to be that girl, do you?” her male co-worker asked.