Reporting on trans folk accurately: case studies
I’m sure you’ve heard of this story by now.
A transgender woman [1] was filmed in a viral incident attempting to pry open a subway door somewhere in the north of Singapore. The exact details don’t matter; as do the state of her mind. She was charged with two counts of being a public nuisance and one count of assault.
Reading the coverage of her court charge, I couldn’t help but think: Is that what my colleagues think of people like me?
But as a journalist, I have to be a professional, and look at these through a professional lens. Here are The Straits Times’, Channel NewsAsia’s, and Shin Min’s coverage, edited and annotated.
I’ve also included and annotated another article from ST of the same incident before it went to the courts as an example of how things could be done.
Working with people in the news media industry, I’ve come to understand that the news media isn’t something that is monolithic. Editors and reporters have diverse opinions, and most are accepting of progressive journalistic practices; HR recruiters and practitioners follow standard non-discrimination guidelines.
A prior version of this article included the bylines of the people who’ve worked on these pieces. I’ve come to realise that this approach — of naming people — can be rather unproductive, and have hence retroactively changed that.
Man Passenger charged with being public nuisance after he allegedly tried allegedly trying to pull open MRT train doors
The Straits Times
SINGAPORE – A man said to be the person caught on video prising open the doors of a moving MRT train has been charged with two counts of being a public nuisance and one count of assault.
Rewrite: A 47-year-old was charged with two counts of being a public nuisance and one of assault.
The individual was said to be caught on video prising open the doors of a moving MRT train.
How do we know this person’s gender? Have you spoken to them?
Why use this person’s legal gender as a basis for this article? It would not be inaccurate to not mention this person’s legal gender.
Vanessa Wang Zi Qi, 47, who appeared in a district court on Dec 7, and has been ordered to be remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for a medical examination.
Court documents identified Wang as male, although videos of the train incident show a person dressed in a strappy black top and a skirt.
This section is unnecessary, as the penalties for assault or public nuisance do not involve caning (a punishment that is only given to legally male inmates).
On Nov 27, Wang allegedly caused annoyance to the passengers of an MRT train by pulling open the doors of one carriage at Braddell station.
He Wang is accused of committing a similar offence two days later, when he Wang allegedly annoyed MRT passengers by shouting and pulling open the doors of a train carriage at Ang Mo Kio station.
He Wang is also said to have kicked a man’s leg at the station that day.
Since you don’t know this person’s gender, use their surname as a second reference.
This ensures that your piece is accurate.
In videos circulating online, a passenger can be seen trying to push open the sliding doors of a moving train on the North-South Line. Other commuters are heard yelling at the person to stop.
According to an eyewitness, one door budged, briefly opening a crack before the other commuters stopped the passenger.
In an earlier statement to The Straits Times, SMRT president Lam Sheau Kai said SMRT staff were alerted to the incident in the train at around 1pm on Nov 29.
He added that the passenger was uncooperative and turned aggressive when the staff entered the train to investigate.
Online pictures after the incident show the passenger lying curled up in a foetal position on the platform of Ang Mo Kio station, surrounded by Public Transport Security Command officers and station staff.
Wang’s case has been adjourned to Dec 21.
Man Person seen in viral video trying to force open MRT train doors charged with public nuisance
Charge sheets listed Vanessa Wang Zi Qi as a man, with the The 47-year-old has been remanded at IMH for medical examination.
How do you know this person’s gender?
Have you spoken to them?
This person’s legal gender should not be in the standfirst. You put important things in the standfirst. The person’s gender is not at the core of the story.
Channel NewsAsia
SINGAPORE: A man commuter who was seen in a viral video trying to force open the doors of a moving MRT train was charged with public nuisance over the incident on Thursday (Dec 7).
Vanessa Wang Zi Qi, who is listed in charge sheets as a 47-year-old Singaporean man, was handed three charges including two of public nuisance and one of voluntarily causing hurt.
Simplify. There’s no need to explain to the reader that people who are legally male can wear dresses.
Wang is accused of causing "common annoyance" to commuters on a train at Braddell MRT Station on Nov 27 by pulling open the train doors.
He Wang is also accused of a similar act two days later, by shouting and pulling open train doors at Ang Mo Kio MRT Station on Nov 29.
According to charge sheets, Wang allegedly kicked a man at Ang Mo Kio station that same day.
Transport operator SMRT said last weekend that it was assisting the police with investigations over the incident on Nov 29.
SMRT Trains president Lam Sheau Kai also acknowledged there are "several videos circulating on social media showing the same commuter attempting to pry open a train door".
Wang was remanded at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for medical examination and will return to court on Dec 21.
If convicted of public nuisance, an offender can be jailed for up to three months, fined up to S$2,000 (US$1,496), or both.
The penalties for voluntarily causing hurt are a jail term of up to three years, a fine of up to S$5,000, or both.
Gao Le’s Shin Min piece has been translated and annotated here in English. The original piece is astonishingly transphobic; despite having spoken to Vanessa, Gao Le repeatedly emphasises that Vanessa is a “long-haired man” in his piece. He also requested for medical proof towards her mental illness, which borders on a breach of ethical reporting.
Long-haired man Commuter in viral incident claims to have a mechanical engineering degree; was prising open door to see if it is stable
Shin Min Daily News
A crossdresser on the train uses force to prise open a train door; the alleged long-haired man commuter filmed in the incident claims that he she has a mechanical engineering degree and was prising open the door to test if it is stable.
Is this entire piece even necessary? What was the point of the piece? Why attempt to reach out to someone who was in a vulnerable position?
Shin Min Daily News reported on Sunday (Dec 3) that this occurred on Wednesday (Nov 29) at around 1.07pm, on a train towards Ang Mo Kio.
In the video, a thin, long-haired man passenger had suddenly tried to open the carriage doors. After the train attempted to leave, the passenger tried to extend his her hand to prevent the doors from closing again. Two staff then forcibly drag him her away off the carriage. The man is seen lying down and throwing a tantrum.
Shin Min and Zaobao use the feminine 她 to refer to women, but use 他 to refer to Vanessa in text. 他 and 她 are homophonic (tā), but they are gendered pronouns. I’ve translated the misgendering as closely as I can (to show how egregious this was)
Our reporter repeatedly reached out to this lady, who calls himself herself Vanessa Wang Zi Qi. While our reporter was in contact, he she claimed to be undergoing treatment at IMH, and repeatedly said he she was a female. He She also emphasised that he she was worried that his her life would be affected after the viral incident.
The reporter clearly harassed someone in a vulnerable state. They should not be working any more. But this is Shin Min, and we can expect the bar to be on the floor.
Additionally — the Chinese version of this text implies that this woman “claims to call” (自称) herself Vanessa, which is simply inaccurate and highly offensive. You don’t say “I claim to be (name),”; you say “I am (name).” For someone to write that “this person claimed to be (name)” when they clearly use the name in every day contexts is fairly invalidating.
Wang claimed that he she had multiple personality disorder, mania and autism, but when our reporter requested that he she present medical proof, he she expressed that only relevant authorities can view records.
Is this a possible breach of journalistic ethics? Asking for proof is normal in journalism, of course. But when a person has been forcibly institutionalised, reporters should understand that they should not have been able to consent to an intrusive investigation.
Explaining his her behaviour in attempting to open the train doors, he she claims to have had a mechanical engineering degree, and repeatedly tried to emphasise that he she was testing if the doors were stable.
"I've had my umbrella and hand trapped before, so I've tried to pull the doors open, and realised it was very easy to do that. So I wanted to see if I could open the train doors while it was underway."
Police investigating passenger who prised open door of moving MRT train
The Straits Times
SINGAPORE - The police are investigating a passenger who was filmed prising open a door of a moving MRT train on Nov 29.
In videos circulating online, a passenger can be seen trying to open the sliding doors of what appears to be a train in transit on the North-South Line. Other passengers out of frame are heard yelling at the person to stop.
One door budged, briefly opening a crack, before the passenger was stopped by a couple of other passengers, according to an eyewitness.
In response to queries from The Straits Times, SMRT president Lam Sheau Kai said station staff were alerted to the incident on Nov 29 at around 1pm.
Other news reports cited Lam saying that the person in question was “a male commuter in a dress”, which Carmen did not do here.
MRT staff entered the train to investigate, but the passenger was uncooperative and turned aggressive, Mr Lam added.
The passenger resisted the staff’s advice to leave the train and TransCom, the police division that patrols train stations, was called in.
Were there questions asked about why the passenger had been uncooperative?
Pictures of the aftermath what happened after online show the offending passenger curled up in a foetal position on the platform of Ang Mo Kio station, surrounded by TransCom officers and station staff.
The same passenger was seen pulling a similar stunt in a video shared on Facebook on Dec 3.
ST understands that the latest video was of an earlier incident that took place at Braddell MRT station on Nov 27.
The video shows the passenger attempting to stop the train doors from shutting.
“This action endangers the safety of the commuter as well as others on the train,” said Mr Lam.
SMRT takes a very serious view of such behaviour and is assisting in police investigations, he added.
In response to queries, the police confirmed that a report had been lodged and investigations are ongoing.
It’s fairly difficult for me to say this, but Singaporean journalists have an extensive, troubling problem with reporting on minorities. Court documents do list Vanessa as legally male, but a painful reality for most of us is that we cannot afford to actually go through the various procedures needed to change our gender marker — from surgery to the medical examinations needed to confirm that one has had gender-affirming surgery done.
The ridiculous emphasis on someone’s legal gender and transgender status risks marginalising transgender people even further. Many trans people lead fairly normal lives. Cis people can be public nuisances and they do raise a ruckus, but journalists don’t advertise they’re cis.
Replace ‘male commuter in a dress’ with any other identity descriptor — Chinese, Indian, Malay, foreign — and you’ll understand why this is a problem.
Accurate reporting doesn’t just take facts into account. It’s a fact that I am transgender; but I present and interact with the world as a woman and am seen as one. It would be accurate to say that I’m a transgender woman, or just a woman. If it is not contextually appropriate to emphasise that someone is a straight, Chinese, Malay or Indian (for instance), it probably isn’t appropriate to emphasise that someone is transgender.
Can we do better?
[1] She spoke to Shin Min and repeatedly said she was a woman, a fact Shin Min dismissed. In a public quote post on Facebook, Vanessa says that “you can see how violent they (TransCom) treat me even though I am a lady”. This is why I am currently using she/her pronouns to refer to her.