When Maria Bartiromo refused to be intimidated

Maria Bartiromo

Fox Business Network anchor Maria Bartiromo writes for Forbes about how some men tried to intimidate her when she covered the stock market from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Bartiromo writes, “Independent broker and then director of the NYSE board Mike Robbins comes to mind (may he rest in peace). He did eventually apologize to me for harassing me for so many years with his offhand comments and screaming at me in the middle of the floor of the NYSE for even approaching the GE post where he traded because none of his business was for ‘my little TV show so I better run along.’

“He was one of my bigger problems because not only did he hate the idea of me being there and yelled sarcastic comments at me each time I walked by him, but he was on the NYSE board and he didn’t like anyone talking to me. So it ruined my credibility with others for a little while.

“I will not name the sick individual who decided to bump into me and ram his huge electronic trading device into my back while I was on the air live talking about AIG in which he had a position.

“This later sent me to the NYSE medical office and him to a suspension. He was suspended for a few weeks. Again, he simply didn’t want me there making change.

“These stories of harassment were about power. I knew it at the time but it was a way of life.

“Women were a minority and you better just have been grateful for being there. And that is how I felt at the time. I was grateful for the opportunity. But, I also understood the importance of my work, not only for empowering the consumer, but for showing the world a woman had a place in business, and in finance. And that drove me to succeed.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.