SI's Julie DiCaro and ESPN's Sarah Spain recently created a PSA with digital outlet Just Not Sports titled #MoreThanMean, where male sports fans read actual tweets sent to DiCaro and Spain back to them, and DiCaro said the reaction to the video has "blown up beyond anything that any of us expected." She noted the response to the video, which includes many vulgar and profane tweets, has "gone much further, much faster than we thought it would." DiCaro: "People are somewhat shocked by (the tweets) and I think people are sharing it for that reason. But I also think there is a pretty strong contingent out there of people that are tired of seeing this kind of thing happen." Spain said she is "so used" to seeing tweets like these that "when people are shocked by it, I want to say, 'This is how it is.'" Mashable.com's Sam Lord said the idea of people sending "mean tweets" to female sports journalists is not new, but it is "something that's definitely gotten worse the last several years with the proliferation of social media." Adam Woullard, who produced the PSA, said, "It has already started a dialogue and we also have luckily not seen the trolls chime in on this topic as much as we initially thought we would so maybe it's already making a bit of a difference" ("OTL," ESPN2, 4/27). DiCaro on Friday posted a first-person piece on SI.com about her participation in the project.
CHANGING MINDS: Spain said the way the video came out was "super powerful." She said, "You see our stoicism in comparison to the fragility of the guys who didn’t know what was coming. ... Every single one of them apologized after reading the comments." USA TODAY's Christine Brennan noted the idea for the PSA "was the brainchild" of Just Not Sports co-Founder Brad Burke. The PSA has "gone viral, and Spain's hope is that it will help show 'mid-range troll types who have the tendency to approach things with vitriol and anger' that they don't have to use awful language." Spain: "I'm not saying this is stopping me from doing anything. It's not. But we decided that we shouldn't just throw up our hands and accept this, we should try to do something about it" (USATODAY.com, 4/27). DiCaro said that she "recorded the video of the mean tweets with the hope that it would change some people's minds about harassing others on social media." In N.Y., Juliet Macur notes DiCaro "has two teenage sons, and she wants them and the younger generation to know what's acceptable -- and what's not." DiCaro and Spain said that 90% of the response on Twitter to their video "has been positive," but the remaining 10% "didn't get the point" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/29). ESPN's Jemele Hill said, "We all receive varying degrees of it. It's part of the profession. However, there is an extra layer to it. ... I hate telling younger women who get into this business that it is just something you have to deal with because that is just giving an excuse to the people who do it" ("Mike & Mike," ESPN Radio, 4/27).
DIFFERENT SIDE OF THINGS: In Chicago, Phil Thompson noted Chicago-based One Tree Forest Films last week shot the video, and Chap Cooper, who directed the PSA, in an email wrote, "The tension was palpable on set. Everyone in the room could feel it. Suddenly these vulgar, hate-filled comments were real and it was evident how difficult it was to read these things to a real person's face, rather than being protected by the anonymity of the Internet. That was the struggle we tried to capture." Burke said, "We just told them they'd be reading 'mean' comments to reporters but left it at that. They figured it would be like a (Jimmy) Kimmel 'Mean Tweets' sketch -- funny and amusing -- and that's why they were so emotional when comments turned ugly" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 4/27). ESPN Radio's Mike Greenberg said, "It took a lot of guts for them to do it, I thought it was extremely well-executed. ... It makes a difference." Greenberg added, "That was an impactful way of generating a discussion on a topic that is very real, and I think has significance" ("Mike & Mike," ESPN Radio, 4/27).
IT DOES NOT GO BOTH WAYS: In DC, Katie Mettler noted reaction to the video online "has been both uplifting and infuriating." Fox' Erin Andrews "tweeted the video and said it brought her to tears," while actor Jared Leto shared the video and urged his Twitter followers "to take a stand." Male and female sports journalists "joined in solidarity with Spain and DiCaro" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 4/28). In Boston, Chad Finn writes there "has been some backlash to the video," as Spain and DiCaro have "been accused of self-aggrandizement." Finn: "Everyone on Twitter has mean-spirited interactions at one time or another, the argument goes, so why shouldn't they?" But what men "endure is not anything like this." What men "endure is never of a sexual nature, and rarely so ferociously personal" (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/29).
