Chicago Tribune criticised for 'Wife of a Bears' lineman' Olympic medallist tweet
The Chicago Tribune has landed itself in a spot of bother on Twitter for referring to an Olympian medalist as a "wife" in its headline, sparking allegations of sexism.
Chicago Tribune tweet
Women’s trap shooter Corey Cogdell-Unrein won her second bronze medal in Rio over the weekend, having picked up the same medal in Beijing 2008, but the newspaper received flak for the following tweet: "Wife of a Bears' lineman wins a bronze medal today in Rio Olympics."
Some Twitter users queried as to why an Olympic medalist had to be defined by her husband. Others wondered why the limited 140-character space was used to make that point – rather than naming her.
One Twitter user supposedly corrected the tweet sparking a debate.
Hey @chicagotribune, I fixed your tweet. (p.s. Maybe edit the article to focus on her achievements?) #Olympics pic.twitter.com/edtoExBua4
— Laura Keeney (@LauraKeeney) August 8, 2016
Other commentators pointed out however that the headline did feature the athletes name ‘Corey Cogdell, wife of Bears lineman Mitch Unrein, wins bronze in Rio’. Despite taking home two medals, the article did however focus on how Corey’s husband Mitch was unable to attend the Games.
One Twitter user adapted the headline style in respect to Michael Phelps’ 19th gold medal victory.
"Son of middle school principal Debborah Sue wins Olympic gold"
-#TweetLikeTheChicagoTribine@chicagotribune https://t.co/NpNR1DDdnO
— SidneyKidney (@SidneyKidney) August 8, 2016
A case of sexism or was the publication merely trying to make the story more accessible to Chicago Bears unlikely to have heard of a Bronze-winning trap shooter?