United States: CFWIJ expresses concern over the harassment of sports journalist

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January 19, 2021, United States — Female sports journalist Britt Ghiroli has opened up about her experience with sexual harassment in 2012. While reporting on the Baltimore Orioles baseball team, the journalist was misled by a player and lured to his hotel room. The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns such behaviour towards a journalist trying to work within professional boundaries.

As a writer for The Athletic, Britt wrote a piece for the website, detailing her experience with misconduct and harassment as a woman journalist.  She recounted that during her time as a beat reporter for the Orioles, an American Major League Baseball team, she faced an unwelcome advance by one of the players. She received a text message from an unnamed player the evening before an important game. 

The message read that the sender had something to tell her but could not do so over the phone.  Britt, believing she was on the verge of a big story, went to his hotel room to interview him in person.  The player had other intentions. 

“There was no news,” she wrote. “I walked in to candles lit and Drake playing. My stomach lurched as he came at me, trying to kiss me. I pushed him away and blurted out the only thing I could think of: What on earth would give him the idea that I was into him? I’ll never forget the answer: Because you were nice to me.”

Britt said that she did not open up and decided to remain quiet about the incident, not unlike the female reporter targeted by former Mets general manager, Jared Porter.  She said, “Porter isn’t just a bad apple, and this isn’t just an isolated incident.”

After she opened up about the incident, Zack Britton, who played for the Orioles in 2012, wrote on Twitter that he was sorry for Britt’s experience. “I’m sorry you didn’t feel comfortable telling anyone in the organization. It’s bs that any man would consider this acceptable behavior. We need to do better.”

CFWIJ is concerned about the journalists focused on their work but who are impeded by misconduct and harassment. Women reporters face such mistreatment far too often, and in many cases, it goes unreported or ignored. Proper measures must be taken by authorities and the journalism community to ensure that women journalists are no longer targeted in their line of work.