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This past September, Portland was subject to a crisis of journalistic integrity.
Maggie Vespa, a KGW-TV news anchor with nearly a decade of experience, dared to report her weekend news segment in a pair of high-waisted pants. And Jeffrey just had to take a stand.
Over Instagram DM, the viewer informed Vespa that her "crazy pants" were "not cool looking, in any way" and that she was "way too pretty to look so foolish."
"Try dressing like a normal woman," he continued. "Doesn't KGW pay you enough for a wardrobe makeover?"
But people who work in broadcast news are a tough breed.
Vespa saw Jeffrey's DM and raised him an on-air rebuttal, speaking to the uniquely female pressure to present an image of physical attractiveness at all times.
"We put ourselves out there for the purpose of spreading valuable information," Vespa says. "But it's a vulnerable position because often people use you as their punching bag if they don't like the information."
The segment landed Vespa in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and a flurry of other national news outlets. She also decided to report every show of the weekend in a different pair of high-waisted pants.
"Not every person has people around them saying, 'Screw the critics,'" Vespa says. "So many messages came in of people saying, 'I needed this,' or, 'I know someone who needed this.' It reminded me that if you're in a position of strength and you're feeling confident, the best thing you can do with that is share it."
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