A few years ago a journalism student asked me what she should do if the person she interviewed hit on her. I asked her specifics. She said she had gone to meet a famous photographer who said he found her attractive. She was flattered. He wanted her to pose for a shoot. She told him she would do it only if she didn't have to 'expose'. He seemed upset, she said, and they did not meet after that. She asked me if I had been faced with a situation like that. "Many times," I said recalling instances tucked into corners of my mind where interviewees, celebrities and colleagues had 'dropped hints'. "What did you do?" "I gently told them my dad was a commissioner of police. They'd let it drop, right then." (My dad was a senior bureaucrat in the revenue service but there's nothing like talking police to those who are not in the force.) Her question made me think. In journalism courses we teach how to write, edit, report, but we often fail to address the issues of harassment, abuse, exploitation, monetary compensation and threats faced by male and female journalists in the classroom.
#MeTooAndJournalism #MediaEducation
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