Shitty Media Men

Shitty Media Men was a crowdsourced Google spreadsheet created during October 2017 that collected allegations and rumors of sexual misconduct against approximately 70 men^[1] in the media industry, particularly in New York City. Moira Donegan,^[2] a former assistant editor at The New Republic, initially began the spreadsheet online anonymously.

Initial creation[]

In October 2017, Moira Donegan posted the spreadsheet, which allowed anonymous contributions to supplement existing "whisper networks" about allegations of sexual harassment and violence in the media industry.^[2] The list—in the form of a shared Google spreadsheet—was active for around 12 hours, during which time it quickly went viral within media circles.^[3] Upon learning that BuzzFeed intended to publish an article about it, Donegan took it down.^[2]

Reactions[]

On October 16, 2017, alt-right social media personality Mike Cernovich tweeted that he was willing to pay $10,000 for a copy of the list. Cernovich later said that a source sent him the list but "…was insistent on not accepting anything." On October 21, Cernovich promised to publish the listed names, but after identifying two journalists he consulted his lawyer and held back the rest.^[4]

On October 25, 2017—after obtaining a copy of the list—Politico contacted several publications with writers on the list. The New York Times explained that since there had been no internal complaints connected to people on the list, there were no investigations. New York magazine's publisher, New York Media, said that in the case of its employees on the list, "We have reviewed whether any type of action is appropriate and have acted accordingly. It is New York Media's policy not to disclose publicly any findings or actions taken as a result of this process so as to preserve the confidential and sensitive nature of these matters." As for BuzzFeed writers on the list, one staffer said the names weren't a total surprise to many, and that the reputations of those men preceded them.^[4]

The list also contained the names of multiple employees at The New Republic and The New Yorker who had multiple accusations levied against them as indicated by their entries in the list being highlighted in red. As Vox pointed out "…none of the men who appear on the Shitty Media Men list, even those who were accused of multiple counts of rape, have faced criminal charges."^[5][6]

Impact and fallout[]

On October 27, 2017, The Atlantic terminated the employment of prominent editor Leon Wieseltier, who was among those named in the list, due to allegations of sexual harassment.^[7][8]

In November 2017, BuzzFeed began an investigation of employees from their staff named on the list, including its White House correspondent, Adrian Carrasquillo. In December 2017, following a new complaint of inappropriate comments sent to a coworker, Carrasquillo was fired by BuzzFeed for violating their code of conduct.^[9]

On December 6, 2017, Lorin Stein, the editor of The Paris Review, resigned amid an internal investigation into his behavior toward female employees and writers. He had informed board members that his name was on the list of anonymous allegations of harassment and misconduct by men in publishing and media. He also resigned as editor at large of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.^[10]

Purported Harper's article[]

In January 2018, while the list was still being discussed in the media, it was rumored that Harper's planned to publish the name of the list's creator in an article written by Katie Roiphe, which elicited concern of doxing and the general safety of the list's creator. The rumors prompted Moira Donegan to preemptively come forward as the list's creator.^[11][12]

Lawsuit[]

On October 10, 2018, Stephen Elliott, a writer based in New Orleans,^[13] and founder of the literary site the Rumpus,^[14] filed a federal lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York against "Moira Donegan and Jane Does (1-30)" seeking $1.5 million in damages.^[15][16][17] Donegan is represented by Robbie Kaplan,^[18] a co-founder of the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund. Elliott is represented by Andrew Miltenberg,^[19] a sexual assault defense attorney.^{[20][21][22][23][24]} Elliott's lawsuit seeks to make public the identities of those who contributed to the crowd-sourced Google spreadsheet.^{[14][25][26][27][28]}

Google reportedly told The Daily Beast that it would "oppose any attempt by Mr. Elliott to obtain information about this document from us."^[29]

Donegan has attempted to get the lawsuit dismissed on multiple grounds. In June of 2020 New York federal judge LaShann DeArcy Hall denied her motion for dismissal on the grounds that Elliott is a public figure who would need to show actual malice to prevail. Hall ruled “Plaintiff’s degree of involvement in a controversy surrounding sexual assault, sexual harassment and consent in the workplace, if any, is de minimis.[...]Defendant directed the Court to only a few tangential references to sexual harassment or lewd jokes in the workplace in Plaintiff’s writing and interviews. And the Court is not willing to find that Plaintiff’s more extensive writings and interviews about sex, BDSM, and sexual assault—unrelated to workplace issues—transforms him into a public figure with respect to the controversy here.” She then claimed she had immunity from liability under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which affords providers and users of tech services fairly broad immunity for third-party content. Judge Hall has preliminarily found that Donegan “qualifies as a provider of an interactive computer service,” but added, “Conversely, the Court is unable to find that it is evident from the face of the complaint that the allegations against Plaintiff included in the List were provided to Defendant by another information content provider.” Hall found it possible that Donegan created Elliot's entry herself, and allowed the case to move forward to discovery on this issue. Elliot has also argued that Donegan destroyed evidence related to the issue when she was advised she could face legal liability.^{[30] [31]}

References[]