Mets firing Porter is a start, but sports industry has work to do

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The same feeling washes over you every time that text comes in. Usually it’s when you’re riding a reporting high, thrilled that you’re making inroads. And then those dreaded words flash on your phone screen:

“You’re beautiful,” your source says.

Or, “Do you have a boyfriend?”

Your heart sinks and your stomach ties in knots. You calculate your next steps. But as one foreign correspondent who covered the Cubs in 2016 knows, it doesn’t matter how clear you make it that you’re not interested. Best case scenario, you’ve lost a source. But that’s not all that happened to her.

The Mets took swift action Tuesday morning, firing general manager Jared Porter less than 12 hours after ESPN reported that Porter had sent unsolicited texts and images, including one of a naked penis, to a female reporter in 2016. Porter was the Cubs director of professional scouting at the time. The Mets hired him a month ago.

“I think what we’ve talked about the most is just a cultural shift, for one,” Porter said back then. “Adding good people to the organization, Improving on the organizational culture.”

By firing Porter, the Mets demonstrated their commitment to cultivating that culture. It’s an important step. But when the ESPN story came out Monday night, female sports reporters across the country saw their own experiences reflected in that of the anonymous foreign correspondent – ESPN granted her anonymity because she said she feared backlash in her home country.

I haven’t experienced harassment quite so brazen at work, and I shudder to think about what she went through. But I have sat in a group of female sports reporters as we compared our go-to lines for shutting down flirting or sexual advances from sources. Because yes, it’s so common that we’d all tested several methods.

It’s so common that I prepare the young women who ask me for advice about the industry for these moments. “Reach out to other women,” I tell them. “You are not alone.” But I don’t tell them what I wish I could: that you should always report misconduct so these men can be held accountable. Because we both know that’s not necessarily going to work. We both know that the women in these situations tend to bear the brunt of the consequences. That he may just get a slap on the wrist. And even if the organization does everything right, you could lose a whole network of sources because you tarnished their friend’s reputation.

Never mind that you never did anything a male reporter wouldn’t have done. Never mind that you’d been cultivating your appearance and approach specifically so you wouldn’t have to deal with such situations — because somewhere along the way you’d internalized all that victim-blaming bullshit. But you learn quickly that no matter how high your neckline is or how firmly you shut them down, there will be men who say you gave them the wrong idea.

That’s what hurt me the most as I read about the woman who Porter harassed; she ended up leaving journalism altogether. According to ESPN, the effects of Porter’s texts (including 62 unanswered messages) weren’t the only reasons for her career change. But they did provoke reflection, and she decided she couldn’t stay in baseball long-term.

I applaud her bravery for coming forward now.

"My number one motivation is I want to prevent this from happening to someone else," she told ESPN.

Her story is already making a difference.

The backlash has also already begun.

I don’t recommend reading the Twitter comments under Mets owner Steve Cohen’s announcement of Porter’s firing. There are positive responses. But there are just as many men railing against the decision, calling for the team to give Porter a second chance, saying, “It was five years ago,” like that means anything. There’s also the person who chastised the reporter for not blocking Porter’s number and the commenter who accused her of digging for a story.

As misguided as those comments were, they were also all too predictable.  

This isn’t just a baseball problem, or even a sports problem.

No matter how many predators and enablers claim the Me Too movement and “cancel culture” have made this a “hard time” for men in positions of power, the rallying cry didn’t abolish sexual harassment or send offenders running for the hills.

It began a long overdue conversation. And still too few are ready to really listen to women.

 

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