It Took MSNBC 8 Days To Fix Report That Misgendered Nonbinary Journalist

Here’s the story of how two brave souls proved no good deed goes unpunished, and the inexplicably tortuous time it took one of the networks of Comcast NBCUniversal to fix what it referred to as an “inadvertent” mistake.

This all started with MSNBC’s April 1 episode of its Meet The Press Daily program. Correspondent Morgan Radford spoke to anchor Chuck Todd about sexual harassment online, including female journalists. For the segment, Radford presented an edited interview with two reporters: the Washington Post’s Taylor Lorenz and The 19th’s Kate Sosin, whose Twitter handle is @shoeleatherkate.

Sosin identifies as trans nonbinary and uses “they” and “them” pronouns. To refer to them or any nonbinary individual as a woman or using “she” or “her” pronouns is known as misgendering.

Ironically, their interview appeared on TV just one day after the Transgender Day of Visibility, an occasion celebrated around the world in hopes of spreading awareness and acceptance of trans identities, including nonbinary individuals. Sosin took note on Twitter.

Based on my experience working in television network news, it’s likely that an unnamed producer, writer or production assistant at MSNBC chose the words in Todd’s scripted introduction, “1 in 3 women under 35 experience online harassment” for the banner that appears over the lower one-third of the TV screen. Another banner said, “Online threats: Women in journalism targeted online with harassment, threats & attacks.” The director of the episode or their technician superimposed those banners on the screen while the recording of Radford, Lorenz and Sosin speaking played. Those banners are often called a “super,” a “chyron” or a “Deko,” depending on the equipment used to generate the characters on the screen. Whatever MSNBC calls them, Sosin called them wrong.

They complained to MSNBC that the banner clearly misgendered them as a woman; Even if it only implied this, even if it were not intentional, the mistake caused Sosin harm and they took steps to prevent it from happening. Sosin shared with her followers on Twitter that “to be clear, the team making this was briefed on my gender and pronouns by PR folks and me. I gave them guidance on how to talk about me. And I spoke for two hours about being a trans reporter in the interview.”

Since the video from the MSNBC show was posted to its website and YouTube, the error did not go away, and was in fact viewed all around the world.

Sosin, their employer and their fellow journalists repeatedly asked MSNBC to correct its mistake, but they were met with silence, for days. Reluctantly, Sosin tweeted her plea.

The absolute worst part of this tale is that by speaking publicly about being harassed online, and then by complaining about being misgendered in the televised report about that act of bravery, the nonbinary journalist has come under even greater fire by trolls, bullies, TERFs, transphobes and those who oppose LGBTQ+ rights. The bigots and even other news outlets have followed MSNBC’s lead in misgendering Sosin. Plus, they’ve been ridiculed and invalidated, and their lived experience is being dismissed.

Both Sosin and Lorenz tweeted about how they’ve seen an even greater spike in harassment for daring to talk about being harassed. Lorenz went so far as to tell MSNBC “you fucked up royally.”

Sosin also noted that in their two-hour-long conversation with Radford, Lorenz briefly let her guard down and allowed herself to be vulnerable about the PTSD she’s suffered as a result of online sexual harassment. But through the magic of video editing, Lorenz was made to appear weak and overly emotional in discussing the terrible price she has to pay, simply for doing her job.

A full week passed, and aside from Twitter, the only reporting on this appeared in the Los Angeles Blade and on Fox News, with several stories, almost daily beginning April 4, targeting its liberal-leaning rival, MSNBC. Two Fox News reports referred to Sosin with the inflammatory phrase, “prefers ‘they/them’ pronouns,” which the Anti-Defamation League rightly explains is “problematic because a person’s pronouns are not just ‘preferred’—they are the pronouns that should be used.”

On Friday, eight days after its original report appeared on Todd’s program, YouTube and social media, MSNBC finally pulled down its video and shared an “updated” version without misgendering chyron banners, as well as a note that a spokesperson for the network told me was a “clarification” of Sosin’s nonbinary identity.

A source within Comcast NBCUniversal told me the network has sent responses to both The 19th as well as Sosin, addressing their concerns and explaining the response. According to other sources, I confirmed NBC said in their messages to Sosin and their outlet that they absolutely agree that the segment misgendered Sosin and assured them the updated segment does not misgender them and clarifies that they are nonbinary.

My network source had this to say when I asked about training for its editorial staff on best practices to report LGBTQ issues and to respect diverse identities and pronouns:

“NBC News training for its journalists includes guidance on covering race, class and gender topics. NBC Out, the network’s LGBTQ news vertical, also plays an important role in providing guidance on terminology, language, tone and image use.”

But there was no official answer to my question directed to the spokesperson, as to whether MSNBC would be disciplining or retraining the individuals involved in the production of this segment.

One final note on the “news” that MSNBC reported: That “1 in 3” statistic isn’t even news. The statistic is buried deep in a study by the Pew Research Center released in January 2021. The news, as Todd reported, is that President Biden issued a proclamation on March 31, citing that stat in proclaiming April 2022 to be “National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.”

Full disclosure: I am a former employee of NBCUniversal, and I, too, am one of those three women cited by the Pew Research Center, because I am a transgender woman and maintain an online presence on social media, and I refuse to allow bullies online or in person to stop me from doing my job.

There is a resource for those who, like Sosin, Lorenz and me, are victims of online harassment. Click here for the link to the Online Violence Response Hub, which is a project of the International Women’s Media Foundation with the International Center for Journalists, and is the work of the Coalition Against Online Violence.