Have you ever been harassed while working? If so, why? How did you handle it?

Harry Weaks · November 13, 2015

While filming for a job, have you ever been heckled, harassed, attacked, or undesirably bothered by bystanders, young people, loud mouths, or awful strangers? Ever been touched inappropriately? Without your permission? Struck? Cursed at? Have a shot blocked? Equipment broken?

Stolen? Mishandled? Anyone make lewd gestures towards you? If so, how did you handle it? What occurred? Why did it occur? Did the person ever stop? What made them stop? Know anyone who has gone through anything mentioned? How did they handle it? Did anyone harassing them ever stop? If so, what made them stop?

I decided to ask this question because while I watch "live shots" on news airings, I see bizarre behavior like the following from time to time:

Example:

and wanted to know if anyone here has experienced similar behavior/if anyone here knows of someone who has experienced similar behavior.

Dino Giammattei · November 22, 2015

Two situations come to mind. One I handled well the other not so much.

(The Good) Shooting in a mall in front of a restaurant. We had full permission from the mall management. The owner of the restaurant angrily confronted us to say we were going to ruin his business. I pointed out that our being there was attracting a crowd of people and that we would recommend that folks check out his establishment. By the time the day was half over, his business was so good he fed the crew for free.

(The Bad) In my younger days as a newsie, while covering a County Council meeting where a group of protesters were present. One of the protesters became physically abusive to my camera operator. I bull rushed the guy and explained that if he touched anyone of my crew again I was going to remove his intestines through his left nostril. He screamed in terror and called the cops (At six foot, 214lbs and ugly, my friends say I'm quite scary when angry). What I "should" have done was to calmly explain that we were there to cover the event and then ask if he wanted to express his his point of view on camera. It would have surely diffused the situation and possibly gotten me a couple of good sound bites for the evening broadcast. You live and learn...