Shitty Media Men
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Shitty Media Men was a
crowdsourced Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digita ...
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created in October 2017 that collected allegations and rumors of sexual misconduct by about 70 men in the media industry, particularly in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Moira Donegan, a former assistant editor at ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'', initially began the spreadsheet online anonymously. In October 2018, writer Stephen Elliott sued Donegan for defamation over his inclusion in the list. The lawsuit was settled in March 2023.


Initial creation

In October 2017, Donegan posted the spreadsheet, which allowed anonymous contributions to supplement existing " whisper networks" about allegations of sexual harassment and violence in the media industry. The list—in the form of a shared Google spreadsheet—was active for around 12 hours, during which time it quickly
went viral Viral phenomena or viral sensation are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the ter ...
within media circles. Upon learning that
BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...
intended to publish an article about it, Donegan took it down.


Reactions

On October 16, 2017, 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 withheld the rest. On October 25, 2017, after obtaining a copy of the list, ''
Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
'' contacted several publications with writers on the list. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' said that since there had been no internal complaints about its employees on the list, it had not investigated them. ''
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
'' 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." One BuzzFeed staffer said the names weren't a total surprise to many, and that the men's reputations preceded them. The list also contained the names of multiple ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'' and ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' employees who had multiple accusations against them, as indicated by their entries in the list being highlighted in red. Vox wrote, "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."


Impact and fallout

On October 27, 2017, ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' terminated the employment of prominent editor
Leon Wieseltier Leon Wieseltier (; born June 14, 1952) is an American critic and magazine editor. From 1983 to 2014, he was the literary editor of ''The New Republic''. He was a contributing editor and critic at ''The Atlantic'' until October 27, 2017, when the ...
, who was on the list, due to allegations of sexual harassment. In November 2017, BuzzFeed began an investigation of its employees on the list, including its White House correspondent, Adrian Carrasquillo. In December 2017, following a new complaint of inappropriate comments sent to a coworker, BuzzFeed fired Carrasquillo for violating its code of conduct. On December 6, 2017, Lorin Stein, the editor of ''
The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...
'', 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. He also resigned as editor at large of
Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...
.


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 list's creator's name in an article by Katie Roiphe, which elicited concern about doxing and the list's creator's safety. The rumors prompted Donegan to preemptively come forward as the list's creator.


Lawsuit

On October 10, 2018, Stephen Elliott, a New Orleans-based writer and founder of the literary site The Rumpus, filed a federal lawsuit in the
Eastern District of New York The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (in case citations, E.D.N.Y.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction spans five counties in New York State: the four Long Island counties of Nassau, Su ...
against "Moira Donegan and Jane Does (1–30)" seeking $1.5 million in damages. Donegan was represented by
Robbie Kaplan Roberta Ann Kaplan (born 1966) is an American lawyer focusing on commercial litigation and public interest matters. Kaplan successfully argued before the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of LGBT rights activist Edith Windsor, in ''Uni ...
, a co-founder of the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund. Elliott was represented by Andrew Miltenberg, a sexual assault defense attorney. Elliott's lawsuit sought to make public the identities of those who contributed to the crowd-sourced Google spreadsheet. Google reportedly told ''
The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'' that it would "oppose any attempt by Mr. Elliott to obtain information about this document from us." Donegan attempted to get the lawsuit dismissed on multiple grounds. In June 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 Section 230 is a section of Title 47 of the United States Code that was enacted as part of the United States Communications Decency Act and generally provides immunity for website platforms with respect to third-party content. At its core, Secti ...
, which affords providers and users of tech services fairly broad immunity for third-party content. Hall 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 Elliott's entry herself, and allowed the case to move forward to
discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...
on this issue. Elliott also argued that Donegan destroyed evidence related to the issue when she was advised she could face legal liability. In March 2022, Donegan lost another effort to have the suit dismissed. In March 2023, Donegan and Elliott settled the suit. According to ''
The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'', the settlement included a six-figure payment from Donegan to Elliott. While Elliott said he did not know who added him to the list, he told ''The Daily Beast'' that the settlement was "enough money that it's basically an admission of guilt, and it feels like a victory".


References

{{Weinstein effect 2017 in the United States 2017 controversies Sexual misconduct allegations 2017 in Internet culture Crowdsourcing