Almost seven years ago, longtime sideline reporter Erin Andrews was victimized by a series of nude videos recorded by a peeping Tom who was staying in an adjoining room of a Nashville hotel. Now comes word that celebrity gossip mega-site TMZ had enough information to save Andrews years of humiliation–and did absolutely nothing until the videos went viral.
Back in 2008, Andrews was staying at a Marriott in Nashville while covering a football game between Vanderbilt and South Carolina for ESPN; she now works as Fox Sports’ top NFL sideline reporter and also co-hosts “Dancing With The Stars.” Unknown to Andrews, Michael Barrett had booked the room next to her after convincing hotel staff to disclose her room number. Barrett slipped into her room, and used a hacksaw to alter the peephole. He then recorded several videos of Andrews in the nude.
Once he returned to his home near Chicago, Barrett uploaded the videos to the Internet. The videos went viral in the summer of 2009. However, Barrett wasn’t able to enjoy the spoils for long. He was arrested in October 2009. After prosecutors amassed evidence that Barrett had not only videotaped Andrews at hotels in Milwaukee and Columbus, but had victimized a dozen other women in similar fashion, he pleaded guilty to felony stalking and was sentenced to just over two years in prison.
Just before Barrett was due to be released, Andrews sued both him, the hotel’s owner, the hotel’s management company, and Marriott for invasion of privacy. The case went to trial last week; Andrews is seeking $75 million in damages.
Now here’s where this story gets hideous. In January, Barrett emailed his videos to TMZ reporter Dennis Broad and offered to sell the videos to TMZ. Even though TMZ should have known that Barrett’s actions were despicably criminal, neither Broad nor anyone else bothered to notify Andrews or the police. Indeed, TMZ twiddled its thumbs until July, when links to the videos started popping up like weeds.
It was only then that TMZ reported that “a pervert” was trying to sell the videos, and self-righteously declared that it would not aid and abet “a clear invasion of privacy.” Never mind that TMZ had known about the videos’ existence since January. To his credit, TMZ editor Harvey Levin provided the full headers of Barrett’s emails to Andrews’ legal team, which revealed that Barrett had been brazen enough to send the videos from his work computer at an insurance company in Chicago. While Barrett thought he was covering his tracks by sending them with a Yahoo! Mail account, he forgot that his real IP was hidden in the headers.
The significance of this? When Andrews first learned of the videos, she feared that her career was over. Her father testified that to this day, his daughter is “full of anxiety.”
Indeed, she’s still being victimized today. According to Penn State computer scientist Bernard Jansen, some 16.8 million people have viewed those videos–including 376,000 in the last six months. And all because TMZ didn’t have the decency to notify Andrews’ legal team sooner. Had Broad, Levin, or someone else done so, the videos would have been scrubbed from the Internet long before they could have done any lasting damage.
When I saw this on Friday night, I was literally shaking with anger. By slow-walking this, TMZ breached every standard of media ethics that is known, and may have also broken the law. Levin is an attorney, so he should have known that TMZ should have alerted Andrews, and possibly the police, right away. When you know about a crime this egregious, you go to the police. Period, full stop.
Given the ramifications, TMZ needs to answer for its foot-dragging. I hope that Los Angeles County prosecutors are at least looking into whether TMZ committed a crime. I also wouldn’t be surprised if TMZ were added to the civil lawsuit at some point. If I were Andrews, the only way I would even consider not suing TMZ is if Broad were fired.
It’s entirely possible that TMZ may have escaped legal trouble by cooperating in July. But given the ramifications of its slow-walking, it would be a gross disservice to Andrews and to women everywhere unless TMZ’s (in)actions are investigated. Regardless of whether someone is ultimately charged or sued, someone at TMZ needs to answer for this–under oath.
