Lindsay Crouse (journalist)

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Lindsay Crouse
Lindsay Crouse (14408229605).jpg
Born 1984
Rhode Island
Occupation journalist and film producer
Known for shared a peabody award

Lindsay Crouse is an American journalist and film producer[1][2] who helped produce the 2017 documentary 4.1 Miles, an award winner at the 2017 Peabody awards. She is currently a senior editor at The New York Times.[2] Crouse grew up in Rhode Island and graduated from Harvard University, where she competed in both track and field and cross country sports events.[2]

Reporting on Nike's lack of maternity support for sponsored athletes

Crouse first wrote about the choices faced by female athletes who also wanted to become mothers in October 2014.[3] She wrote about how female athletes faced pressure to put their babies at risk and continue training and competing, while pregnant, and put their post-natal recoveries at risk.

"Maternity leave in professional running is rare. A pregnancy is still frequently treated as if it were an injury, and women can experience a pay cut or not be paid at all if they do not compete for six months. During that period, they often remain bound to sponsors in exclusive contracts that can last upward of six years. Because the athletes are independent contractors, they are not covered by laws that protect employed women in pregnancy."[3]

In May 2019 Crouse reported on Nike's lack of maternity support for the female athletes it sponsors.[4][5][6][7][8]

Reporting on Nike's pressure on young athletes to lose excessive weight

In November, 2019, Crouse produced a video interview, and wrote an op-ed, about Mary Cain, entitled I Was the Fastest Girl in America, Until I Joined Nike, that was critical of Nike, and its chief coach, Alberto Salazar.[9][10] 17-year-old Cain was courted to join Nike's team. In theory, Nike's sponsorship of athletes was encouraging youth to seek empowerment, through sport. Crouse helped Cain how she felt bad coaching, from Nike ruined her competitive prospects, and caused her considerable mental distress. Nike's coaches pushed the young athletes Nike sponsored to lose weight. Crouse wrote that the pressure Nike put upon Gracie Gold, "the only other female athlete featured in the last Nike video ad Cain appeared in", triggered an eating disorder so profound that Gold considered taking her own life. Following the publication of the article Nike suspended Salazar.[11]

KGW8 reported Crouse helped Cain report how Nike's weight loss campaign led to her developing RED-S Syndrome, which, in turn, eroded her bone density, which caused her to break five different bones.[12] She also developed amenorrhea, failing to menstruate for three years. They quoted Crouse saying the most disturbing thing about Nike's coaching excesses is that it was completely legal.

Reporting on the new generation of female marathon runners

In January 2020 she described being inspired by a new generation of female athletes, and deciding to begin training so she could compete for a spot on the USA's Olympic team.[1][5] She said she regarded Shalane Flanagan, the first woman to win a NYC marathon in decades, in 2017, and Des Linden, who won the Boston marathon in 2018, as her "team captains". Like Flanagan and Linden, Crouse made her renewed effort in her mid-thirties. She said she had never imagined she could reach the level she reached. She needed to run a marathon in under 2 hours and 45 minutes. Her best time was 2 hours and 53 minutes - better than her times in college, but short of making the team.

Her comments on an ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend were widely repeated and commented upon

Crouse published on op-ed on her reaction to being told her ex-boyfriend, Michael Polansky, was Lady Gaga's new boyfriend.[13] Marie Claire magazine quoted extensively from Crouse's op-ed, suggesting its readers could learn from her reaction.[14] Crouse described viewing paparazi pictures of Gaga and Polman, and feeling intimidated, before remembering being sent a candid photo another attendee had snapped of her dancing with her own fiance.[15] Many of the commentaries on her reaction ended with quoting her comparison between the paparazi pictures with her putting the candid snapshot of her and her fiance on her instagram.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Lindsay Crouse. I Am 35 and Running Faster Than I Ever Thought Possible, The New York Times, 2020-01-31, p. SR7. Retrieved on 2020-02-27. “Last year, it even trickled down to me. As I watched so many women qualify, I decided I would try, too. I had written about Flanagan’s catalytic effect on her teammates after she took New York. And I had reported on the women who persevered behind Linden in Boston. I thought of these women as my team captains, even if they’d never heard of me, and it was thrilling to watch them finally triumph. And I thought: Why not me, too?”
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 LINDSAY CROUSE IS CHANGING THE GAME FOR WOMEN’S SPORTS, Richroll, 2020-01-23. Retrieved on 2020-02-27. “Some of Lindsay’s most popular pieces include How The ‘Shalane Flanagan Effect’ Works, which examined the former podcast guest and New York City Marathon victor’s elevating impact on other women; she broke the story on Nike’s refusal to guarantee female athletes’ salaries during or immediately post-pregnancy; and she produced the piece in which Allyson Felix told her story around Nike and pregnancy.”
  3. 3.0 3.1 Lindsay Crouse. For Pregnant Marathoners, Two Endurance Tests, The New York Times, 2014-10-26. Retrieved on 2020-03-03.
  4. Pam Moore. After Speaking Out Against Nike, Alysia Montaño Expands Her Advocacy Platform, Runners World, 2019-11-15. Retrieved on 2020-03-03. “In a recent episode, the women interviewed Lindsay Crouse, a reporter and videographer for The New York Times who produced two powerful op-ed films about female track athletes this year: in May, a film about how pro athletes struggle to be compensated during and after pregnancy; and in November, one about former teen phenom Mary Cain’s experience being coached by Alberto Salazar, who allegedly weight-shamed Cain and created a toxic training environment that ultimately led to injuries and self-harm.”
  5. 5.0 5.1 Martin Fritz Huber. The Olympic Trials and the Value of an Impossible Dream, Outside Online, 2020-02-08. Retrieved on 2020-03-03. “Crouse, who is an accomplished amateur runner, describes how she just ran her best marathon at 35—an age where she “didn’t think it was still possible to improve significantly in anything.” This athletic achievement, Crouse goes on to note, was mirrored by successes in her professional life; in addition to the Cain/Salazar story, she was the driving force behind a viral Times story of former Nike runners taking the company to task for having no maternity policy for contracted athletes.”
  6. Allyson Felix: My Own Nike Pregnancy Story, The New York Times, 2019-05-22. Retrieved on 2020-03-03. “They told stories we athletes know are true, but have been too scared to tell publicly: If we have children, we risk pay cuts from our sponsors during pregnancy and afterward. It’s one example of a sports industry where the rules are still mostly made for and by men.”
  7. Lindsay Crouse. Nike and Pregnancy: Your Questions, Answered, The New York Times, 2019-05-14. Retrieved on 2020-03-03. “Nike’s contracts are essentially saying that women are susceptible to having to compete while pregnant or soon after childbirth. Otherwise, they risk giving up pay.”
  8. Jen A. Miller. Maternity Leave for Sponsored Runners, The New York Times, 2019-05-18. Retrieved on 2020-03-03. “On Mother’s Day, The New York Times’s Opinion section released a powerful video in which sponsored female runners say they risk losing their pay if they become pregnant. And it is already prompting announcements of policy changes at several companies.”
  9. I Was the Fastest Girl in America, Until I Joined Nike, The New York Times, 2019-11-07. Retrieved on 2020-03-03. “Instead of becoming a symbol of girls’ unlimited potential in sports, Cain became yet another standout young athlete who got beaten down by a win-at-all-costs culture. Girls like Cain become damaged goods and fade away. We rarely hear what happened to them. We move on.”
  10. Chris Chavez. Mary Cain Speaks Out Against Nike and Coach Alberto Salazar Over Emotional, Physical Abuse, Sports Illustrated, 2019-11-07. Retrieved on 2020-03-03. “'I joined Nike because I wanted to be the best female athlete ever,' Cain says in an Op-Ed video produced by the New York Times' Lindsay Crouse. 'Instead, I was emotionally and physically abused by a system designed by Alberto and endorsed by Nike.'
  11. Matthew Futterman. Shalane Flanagan Was Not Surprised by Alberto Salazar’s Ban, The New York Times, 2019-10-30. Retrieved on 2020-03-03.
  12. Lindsay Nadrich. Track star claims former Nike coach Alberto Salazar ruined her body and career, KGW8, 2019-11-08. Retrieved on 2020-03-03. ““But the outcome is, that she was driven to extreme eating and this is such a ubiquitous thing that happens all the time and I think it's again, why we don't just want to tell these stories, and be like, 'Oh that was a sad story'. We want to tell these stories and think about why things are the way they are, again, this is all legal, this is all fine, this is a really common practice in many cases,” Crouse explained.”
  13. Lindsay Crouse. My Ex-Boyfriend’s New Girlfriend Is Lady Gaga, The New York Times, 2020-02-27, p. SR4. Retrieved on 2020-03-03. “I don’t follow my ex on social media. We were “friends” on Facebook. Then we were “in a relationship” on Facebook. After we broke up, I noticed I was “blocked” on Facebook. And then we moved on. I hadn’t googled him in forever (I promise). But this month I knew everything about his new relationship status, within hours of when it was disclosed.”
  14. Elyssa Kostopoulos. What It’s Like Being Lady Gaga’s New Boyfriend’s Ex-Girlfriend, Marie Claire magazine, 2020-03-01. Retrieved on 2020-03-04. “Putting pen to paper, Crouse did what any good writer would do and wrote an essay for the New York Times titled, ‘My Ex-Boyfriends New Girlfriend Is Lady Gaga.’ The opinion piece, which has since gone viral explores the difficulties of learning of an ex’s new relationship in the digital age.”
  15. Ian Mohr. NYT opinion editor reveals her ex is Lady Gaga’s new boyfriend, Page Six magazine, 2020-02-27. Retrieved on 2020-03-04. “'How do you compare yourself with Lady Gaga?' she wondered, but finally figured, 'Recently someone sent me a photo of my fiancé and me dancing at a wedding, and I posted it on Instagram. I saw Lady Gaga’s boyfriend in the views, and I realized we’re actually all the same: strangers, smiling on a screen.'

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