How reporters Jodi Kantor, Irin Carmon, and Kim Masters exposed sexual harassment and started a national reckoning
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Ignition Irin Carmon, Jodi Cantor, Kim Masters, Alyson Shontell
Ignition Irin Carmon, Jodi Cantor, Kim Masters, Alyson Shontell

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  • Scores of sexual-harassment allegations have been reported in the media over the past few months. The allegations have targeted prominent men in politics, media, and entertainment.

  • Many journalists have investigated these stories, including New York Times investigative reporter Jodi Kantor, Washington Post contributor Irin Carmon, and Hollywood Reporter editor-at-large Kim Masters.

  • At Business Insider's IGNITION conference, Alyson Shontell, Business Insider's US editor-in-chief, spoke with the journalists about their reporting.




The national conversation about sexual harassment in the workplace started with the work of journalists whose reporting led to the sidelining of men like Pixar’s John Lasseter and the firing of powerful stars like Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer.

At Business Insider's recent IGNITION conference, US editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell spoke with three of the journalists who have been breaking these stories over the past few months: Jodi Kantor, Irin Carmon, and Kim Masters.

Kantor is one of two New York Times reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein harassment story. Rumors had been circulating about him for a long time, and she and Megan Twohey finally nailed it. Their investigation started a national reckoning.

"It was the moment when we said, as an organization, 'How many of these stories are out there, that are like this? How many other women have been quieted?'" Kantor said at IGNITION.

After their article published, the floodgates opened. Carmon is a contributor at the Washington Post, and she was first to report on the alleged harassment that led to Charlie Rose’s firing. She spent a lot of nights and weekends on the phone with the alleged victims.

“We spent hours talking to them like human beings, not being patronizing to them," Carmon said. "Being professional but also being responsible with the information that they told us, not pushing too hard too soon.”

Masters is editor-at-large at The Hollywood Reporter, and she’s been breaking harassment stories for years. Most recently, she broke the story of Pixar’s John Lasseter and she also told the story of abuses by Amazon Studios boss Roy Price.

We turned that conversation into a special episode of Business Insider's podcast, “Success! How I Did It.” They spoke about why they investigated these stories, how they navigated working with sources (and their nondisclosure agreements), and what they think will come next in their reporting.