Oshega Music Festival Harassment Incident: Why Aren’t Women Journalists Safe?

Assault on female journalists on live TV are not unheard of, and they have been carried out several times even after the women have been extremely clear about not finding the act either amusing or flattering.

The latest incident of such an assault happened when an unidentified man kissed a Radio-Canada reporter on the cheek without her consent during a live broadcast from a music festival in Montreal.

Journalist Valerie-Micaela Bain later posted a video of the incident on her Facebook page, which showed how the disagreeable moment unfolded

As she was reporting live from Osheaga music festival last Friday, an unidentified man approached her from behind and kissed her on the cheek. Bain quickly shoved him aside and resumed her report.

The journalist later asked for help on social media to identify the miscreant, posting a scathing message against the assaulter.

"Don't worry, I trust the power of social networks and the police to find you. You wouldn't kiss me if you saw me on the street, it's not suddenly acceptable because I'm a woman in front of a live camera on TV... Kissing someone without consent is a no,” she wrote on her Facebook wall.
She added," In the end, I would like him to understand why his gesture is unacceptable."

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After receiving much heat, the man delivered his apology to Bain, which she posted on her account.

"I wish I could find the best words to express the regret and the shame that I have been feeling following yesterday's events. I crossed the line with reprehensible conduct," the apology read.

"I would like to tell everyone, man or woman, that if they are being touched without consent: you have the right to say no," Bain later wrote and closed the matter.

Similar cases of female journalists being assaulted while reporting have been reported earlier too.

At this year's Osheaga festival itself, a man yelled a vulgar phrase at a CBC journalist when she was reporting on the safety measures used at the festival.

Lat week, reporter Carolyn Stokes filed a police complaint about a young man who came up behind her and yelled "f--k her right in the p---y" into the camera when she was recording an interview at the 199th Royal St. John's Regatta in Newfoundland, Canada.

Though the person was caught on camera, CBC News refused to identify them (the one who yelled the phrase and the one who recorded it) as they found the young men were underage.

Later, however, CBC management filed a complaint about the incident with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and the young man who had yelled the obscene phrase submitted an apology.

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It would be interesting to know that this unacceptable practice of yelling crude phrases on live TV first came to light in 2014 after it was featured in a fake newscast blooper that went viral on Reddit. It has since spawned its own hashtag, #FHRITP.

In April, NTV reporter Heather Gillis posted a photo of a truck, the driver of which allegedly yelled the same obscenity at her. She tweeted, “A man in this truck just yelled FHITP at me while during an interview at the landfill. #notokay #growupPublicly shaming you.”

The man, later identified as 27-year-old Justin Penton, pleaded not guilty by not appearing in a provincial court last Thursday to face charge of causing disturbance in the April incident. After an appeal, his trial date was set for Nov. 8.