The writer hasn’t been heard from since August.
From:
OutSports
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Olympic photographers in Rio
Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images |
It’s broken record time:
The Daily Beast and its (former?) writer
Nico Hines are still silent about this article that ran Aug. 11 during the Olympics:
Since I am getting sick of typing the same litany,
here is the background:
Hines, who is straight, posed as a gay man on Grindr and connected with closeted gay athletes in Rio's Olympic village. His first version of the article contained enough personal information about some gay athletes that they could be identified (A Slate writer said he could ID five). By Hines' admission, some of these athletes were from countries where being gay is illegal, putting them at risk should they be identified. It's the nightmare of any LGBT person who is not yet able to come out.The article was journalistic malpractice of the highest order. Who thought this was a good idea? Which editor OKd the idea? Which editor(s) read the first version and OKd it for publication? Were any LGBT Daily Beast editorial staff consulted before the story ran? Why did the story stay up the entire day, with only modest changes and a different headline? Why has the Daily Beast not been transparent about any investigation? What has happened to Hines — was he suspended? fired? He is still listed on the website as its London editor, though he has not written any story since the Grindr one was spiked.
I wrote the above in October and Hines has still not
tweeted anything since Aug. 10 and his editors — who had promised an investigation — have said nothing. Hines has never apologized and it’s not clear if he is still employed by the
Daily Beast.
Outsports hasn't forgotten (Hines and the Daily Beast were our
2016 Assholes of the Year) and neither have other LGBT people indignant that this has been swept under the rug.
We’re not going away and we won’t forget.