Female sports reporters talk about ‘nightmare’ harassment in industry on ‘Real Sports’
.jpg "Popular Bay Area sports reporter Jessica Kleinschmidt speaks with Andrea Kremer on “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” about obstacles she faces in the male-dominated industry on Tuesday’s episode of the HBO show.")
Trail blazing through the complex world of sports journalism is a path that a great deal of aspiring young female reporters aim to conquer.
However, that path for a lot of women already making a name for themselves in the world of sports sometimes turns into a male-dominated rabbit hole filled with harassment and abuse.
On Tuesday’s episode of the Emmy Award winning HBO series “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel,” Andrea Kremer speaks with female reporters who have endured such obstacles.
The promo for the episode focuses on Rhiannon Walker, a reporter who covers the Washington Football Team for The Athletic, and Jessica Kleinschimidt, an NBC Bay Area reporter, as they both talk about specific instances where they were sexually objectified by men in power.
Walker spoke candidly about one incident where she said she was sexually harassed by an executive when covering the NFL Combine.
“There’s a lot of good access to be had if you just go there and can work the room and for everything along those lines,” Walker said about working the Combine, where NFL prospects showcase their skills and talents. “And for a young reporter who is really competitive that’s enticing.”
Kremer explained that Walker was propositioned by a man who worked for the Washington Football Team. He had approached her while she was at dinner and proceeded to ask her if she “wasn’t dating (her) girlfriend, would he be (her) boyfriend,” Walker said.
Last year, The Washington Post published a bombshell report that detailed allegations of sexual harassment from 15 Washington Football Team employees, and Walker, one of the two reporters who went on the record about the harassment she endured while covering the team, wrote her own piece about what she experienced with The Athletic.
“I’m opening up about how it feels to be sexually harassed,” Walker wrote. “I’m opening up about what it was like after I was sexually harassed and what it felt like to have one of the worst things that have ever happened to me dredged up. And I’m doing so because I pray to God that someone else doesn’t have to go through what I experienced.”
Kleinschimidt covers sports teams in the Bay Area and is also popular on sports Twitter, with her candid takes on Major League Baseball and sharp wit. Kleinschimidt opened up in the promo with Kremer about being sent “inappropriate” photos by a baseball minor league team’s communications manager during her first year in the business.
“He was the guy that I had to approach and say ‘can I talk to this player or to the manager or set up an interview’ anything like that,” Kleinschimidt said and expressed her concern that he could “ice her out” if she didn’t comply.
“Real Sports” can be seen monthly on HBOMax.
This story was originally published May 25, 2021 at 7:11 PM with the headline "Female sports reporters talk about ‘nightmare’ harassment in industry on ‘Real Sports’."