He Said, She Said, Let's Hear What the Data Say: Sexual Harassment in the Media, Courts, EEOC, and Social Science

Abstract

We examine whether two national newspapers (The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal) provide a realistic representation of sexual harassment in the workplace by comparing media coverage to empirical evidence on sexual harassment drawn from three distinct sources: reports of workplace sexual harassment that emerge from employee self-reporting through a sexual harassment survey of government employees, charges of sexual harassment gathered through Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge data, and federal district court complaints recorded by the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system. Whether intentional or inadvertent, the national media influences attitudes and subsequent behavior. We find that the national media presents a highly sanitized version, but fairly accurately reflects the demographic characteristics of both accused individuals and individuals who claim sexual harassment in the workplace.