Thread by @meredithshiner

I don’t often if ever grant on-the-record interviews to other reporters. But after being contacted for this story, I spoke at length in defense of @feliciasonmez and put my name to it. Lived experience should not be disqualifying and you cannot “both-sides” sexual assault.

https://twitter.com/carter_sherman/status/1442837799175086082

As @carter_sherman bravely shows through her disclosure here, her personal experience made her reporting better and more sensitive, not worse. Part of why political news is so broken is because privileged white men who have never needed govt protection or support guide coverage.

One anecdote I shared was how in 2009, when I was a new reporter on the Hill covering the ACA debate, I did not get employer insurance and was uninsurable because of a preexisting condition. A colleague chastised me for saying this aloud because people might think I was “biased.”

Ask yourself why not having insurance might be perceived as “bias” in covering a debate on health care but *having* insurance wouldn’t be? Why is being a survivor of sexual assault or harassment is disqualifying to covering it when being *a perpetrator* isn’t.

@feliciasonmez’s fight against the Washington Post is incredibly important for every reporter there. When asked what I hoped would come of her lawsuit, I said without flinching “I hope she wins.”