Responding to a Journalistic Menace

By Greg Reaume

Managing Editor,

CBC News Coverage

Broadcast journalists face an array of professionalchallenges and obstacles on the job. From nailing down facts and lining up the right interviews, to copingwith unforeseen circumstances and deadline pressures.

Mostly these things are all in a day's work for CBC's well-trained staff.  But finding yourselfthe target of deliberate, public, outrageously-sexist verbal assaults whiledoing your job is a menace few journalists imagine having to face.

How to respond?  Newsorganizations have struggled with that question ever since these odious assaultsfirst started popping up.  As alreadyindicated to our staff, the CBC takes this scourge seriously.  We stand full square behind our reporters,producers and camera operators who continue to handle these incidents withremarkable grace.

There are no easy answers. We have consulted widely--with our field staff, our assignment editors,our employee unions, police, academic experts and other mediaorganizations.  This process continuestoward the goal of developing a comprehensive strategy including specifictraining programs to combat sexual harassment and other threats in the field.

In the meantime we have provided field staff with some basicsafety guidelines and recommendations. These include practical steps to help deter attacks and a reportingmechanism to ensure we have a detailed record of where and when all incidentsoccur. 

It is important to note that we recommend against ourreporters openly confronting their assailants. We respect it as a legitimate, completely understandable response toreprehensible behaviour.  But the safetyand well being of our journalists in the field is paramount.  It's difficult to know how an extremelyabusive person--possibly unstable or inebriated--might react to gesturesperceived as challenging or provocative. Based on the balance of opinion and expert advice received so far duringour consultations, we feel the risk of escalating the situation into apotentially dangerous conflict is too great.

Second, some have suggested using social media to shamepeople caught in the act of assailing reporters in the field.  This tactic comes with its own perils and ishighly contentious.  We recommend againstit at this time.  While it might havesome deterrent effect, it could also escalate matters in a way that would placeour own reporter at risk.  It bearsrepeating: our primary focus has to be on the safety of CBC people in thefield.

This is a complex, industry-wide problem, as we've madeclear, with no quick and easy solutions. All responsible broadcasters are grappling with it.  The CBC remains interested in liaising withother organizations to find effective approaches.

We all hope this repulsive "trend" eventuallyfizzles out.  We know the hurt andhumiliation it has caused.  And let mesay clearly we support, without reservation, the principled actions of all ourdedicated, hard-working reporters, producers and camera operators having todeal with this sickening abuse.