CBS Evening News Highlights Harassment Of Women Sportswriters
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
From the April 27 edition of CBS' Evening News with Scott Pelley:
SCOTT PELLEY (HOST): In the age of tweets, hatefulness has no bounds. Words that people would never say are so much easier to send. A podcast called “Just Not Sports” noticed that female sportscasters are enduring harassment, so it asked a group of men to read some of these tweets to female sportswriters. The men you see did not write them, but read them to demonstrate the power of the words.
[...]
One of the women you saw there, espn.com's Sarah Spain and Dana Jacobson of CBS Sports Network were on our digital channel today, CBSN, with Josh Elliot.
JOSH ELLIOT: I wonder, what did you hear, especially from your male colleagues yesterday?
DANA JACOBSON: I have to say, it is interesting, guys often say, this made me think of my daughters, this made me think of my sisters. Well, every guy has got a mom too. How about just thinking that everybody is a human being, male or female? And how about thinking about the mom that made you?
ELLIOT: Dana, I mean,you're -- a lot of head-shaking over here --
JACOBSON: I mean, would you say those words to your mom? And even -- some of the male colleagues that I was talking with was, I've gotten comments like that, two of them, over the span of five years being on Twitter, I can't imagine getting those daily, and I think it's again a broader thing of can we be a little bit nicer to people? If you wouldn't say it to my face, why is that okay to say it on Twitter?
ELLIOT: Sara, what do you say now, what do you say today to an aspiring young woman who wants to be you?
SARA SPAIN: Well, I actually have a young girl who just graduated, and wants to get into the field, And over the course of the last couple months, that she's job hunting and just kind of paying close attention to my career as we've become friends, she sort of sadly lost her goal and she said, “I don't think I can do it anymore. I don't think I'm the kind of person that can deal with that stuff.” I say eventually you get to the point where you are confident in your own abilities, you are validated in your own abilities by your coworkers, your peers, your viewers and the people who are positive, and it makes it easier to look at those comments and say, you're wrong, I do belong here, I am great at my job, and I'm not wasting my time believing any of the things that you're saying to me.
PELLEY: Such an important issue for the age. You can see Josh's full interview with the reporters at cbsnews.com.
Related:
CBS: Video Sheds Light On Harassment Women Face Online
Previously:
“Let Men Be Men”: Fox News Hosts Defend Catcalling
Fox News Turns To A Panel Of Men To Debate Whether Women Should Be Allowed To Wear Leggings
Fox News Defends Street Harassment As “Nothing Disrespectful”
Limbaugh On NYC Street Harassment Video: “Most Of It Was Just Men Being Polite”