Why would a reporter invade the privacy of Olympic athletes?
Perhaps one of the more disturbing reports coming out of the 2016 Summer Olympic games happening in Rio is the apparent outing of closeted gay athletes.
Hard to imagine but a straight Daily Beast Reporter, Nico Hines, decided to take it upon himself to cruise for sex using Grindr, Jack’ d and Tinder and then report his findings to the world.
As reported by Gay Star News, Nico Hines used gay dating apps to convince athletes to hit on him in the Olympic village.
Here are some examples of his “reporting”. You can visit his article online by clicking here however, be aware that the original story has been edited due to the outcry (see “Editor’s Note” below from Daily Beast’s Editor in Chief).
“Armed with a range of dating and hookup apps—Bumble, Grindr, Jack’d, and Tinder—your distinctly non-Olympian correspondent had scored three dates in the first hour.
Athlete profiles on the various apps during my short exploration included a track star, a volleyball player, a record-holder in the pool, a sailor, a diver, and a handball player from a notoriously homophobic country.
One athlete left a drop pin in the heart of the village for me to follow, another said they would be waiting, dressed in black, near the coffee machine in the athletes’ restaurant. A friendly gentleman even volunteered the address of his building straightaway.”
Many people reading the story find the reporter’s behavior to be homophobic and irresponsible – not to mention an invasion of the Olympic athletes’ privacy. This makes sense when you consider that just recently, a study was published that examined just now NOT private electronic conversations are.
Here is more from Hine’s piece.
“There were dozens of eligible bachelors listed on Grindr within a few hundred yards of where I was standing at the entrance to the athletes’ village. One posed in his full team kit. Others referred to their elite sporting status more furtively, but they included one of the world’s top equestrians and a track and field athlete a few days away from competing.
One Olympian wanted to commiserate over his sixth-place finish. Another had very different things on his mind: “In village ready for action! Let’s make an athletes orgy!” he wrote in his profile.”
And then there was this little gem:
“Some athletes on Grindr made it clear that they were only interested in other sports stars. “Muscular Athlete for meets in Athlete Village ONLY. Be prepared to prove you’re here for a face to face meet.”
One has to wonder why a straight, married reporter would find it necessary to take to gay hookup and dating apps to find out who is doing what at the Olympics. Surely, there must be more interesting things to report on than the private affairs of those taking up temporary residency at the Olympic Village.
And perhaps more troubling is how this reporter provided easily identifiable information about these athletes. Sure, he never actually mentioned their names but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who some of the people he wrote about are.
In the article, Hines shared the following with readers:
“For the record, I didn't lie to anyone or pretend to be someone I wasn’t—unless you count being on Grindr in the first place—since I’m straight, with a wife and child. I used my own picture (just of my face…) and confessed to being a journalist as soon as anyone asked who I was.”
It appears that the editors of Daily Beast heard from a number of readers about Hine’s piece and published the following at the end of the original post:
“Editor's Note: A number of readers complained to The Daily Beast after the publication of the original iteration of this story. We take such complaints seriously because a central part of The Daily Beast's mission is to fight for full equality and equal treatment for LGBT people around the world. Publishing an article that in any way could be seen as homophobic is contrary to our mission.
There was some concern that the original version of this story might out gay male athletes, even by implication, or compromise their safety. This was never our reporter’s intention, of course. No names were ever used and some of the profiles described were of straight women. But there was a concern that even mentioning the home nation of some gay athletes could compromise their safety. As a result, we have removed all descriptions of the men and women’s profiles that we previously described.
The concept for the piece was to see how dating and hook-up apps were being used in Rio by athletes. It just so happened that Nico had many more responses on Grindr than apps that cater mostly to straight people, and so he wrote about that. Had he received straight invitations, he would have written about those. He never claimed to be anyone he was not, did not offer anything to anyone, and immediately admitted that he was a journalist whenever he was asked who he was.
Some readers have read Nico as mocking or sex-shaming those on Grindr. We do not feel he did this in any way. However, The Daily Beast understands that others may have interpreted the piece differently.
Accordingly, we have made some editorial changes to the article, responding to readers' concerns, and are again sorry for any upset the original version of this piece inspired.”
—John Avlon, Editor in Chief
What do you think of Hine’s story? How do you feel about this?
Update: It appears that Daily Beast has removed the original article and offered an apology. Here is a link to Out Sports that examines the issue in detail.
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By: John Hollywood
h/t: Gay Star News
