Bob CollinsBrianna Wu, best known for calling attention to misogyny in the gaming industry — and being crucified for it — has a new campaign. She’s running for Congress and she’s calling out the misogyny of the media, specifically the Boston Globe.
She tweeted on Wednesday that the Globe made her look less dignified than her opponents when it chose her picture.
Angry. @BostonGlobe publishes a guide to the election.
They choose pictures of my opponents wearing suits. They pick one of me from Gamergate where I’m wearing a t-shirt and have bright anime hair.
I literally did a photo shoot with them wearing a dress and heels a week ago. pic.twitter.com/6Wtlrfluz7
— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) August 29, 2018
She’s got a right to be upset; she doesn’t think it’s a respectful photo compared to two white guys looking like two typical white guys running for office.
But it’s only part of the story.
The picture she presents isn’t what the Globe published in its primary guide. It’s what some social media editor chose for a Facebook post. Still outrageous, for sure.
But the suggestion that the Globe editorial staff assembling the primary guide used the photo while ignoring the professionally-shot photographs to depict her is incorrect.
The collage she presents wasn’t used in either the online or printed versions of the paper’s primary guide. On the cover, she’s shown in the very dress she wanted to be shown in. However, it’s a TV screen grab where the other candidates are depicted with photos they provided.
Why? A reporter at another newspaper in Boston says that’s the one Wu has been providing, although she didn’t use it because the candidate doesn’t own the rights to it.
I'm a reporter at a different publication (not the Globe or Channel 7), and this photo is what the candidate provided when I asked for one. We didn't use it because it's property of WGBH. Just giving some context to the use of this photo.
— Jessica Trufant (@JTrufant_Ledger) August 29, 2018
As for the profile itself, she looks like a serious candidate in it and the tweets that promoted it.
Unconventional newcomer candidate Brianna Wu has quickly learned there’s a reason for some traditional campaign strategies, such as hiring seasoned political operatives. https://t.co/ipPkRHwsEQ pic.twitter.com/Frdvu8pjoC
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) August 25, 2018
Brianna Wu, best known for speaking out against misogyny in the gaming industry, is taking on the most conservative member of the state’s congressional delegation, US Representative Stephen Lynch. https://t.co/NZXYFJJGh5 pic.twitter.com/U3LeAbG69m
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) August 25, 2018
Why the social media editor originally decided to use the picture in the collage on Facebook (since changed) is open to debate.
The Globe isn’t talking.
