Generally speaking, newspapers shouldn’t be newsmakers. You want your story subjects to be the ones in the headlines, not the stories themselves.
But a couple of publications have found themselves on the wrong side of the headlines recently, with The Wall Street Journal fending off criticism over an op-ed regarding incoming First Lady Dr. Jill Biden’s use of the title “doctor.”
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Now, The New York Post is also in hot water for an article it ran on a paramedic’s choice of a side hustle.
Lauren Kwei’s main gig involves saving lives.
She makes about $25 an hour working with SeniorCare EMS, a private ambulance company, as an EMT, she told the NY Post .
It’s her second career, after a first attempt at showbiz, backed by a degree in musical theater from The American Musical and Dramatic Academy. However, soon after graduating in 2017, she went back to school, this time to train as an EMT, saying she “didn’t like showbiz” because she “wasn’t giving back to the community.”
Rent and cost of living in New York being what they are, however, Kwei felt the need to moonlight.
And so the 23-year-old paramedic started a racy OnlyFans account, in which followers could see her in more adult situations for a fee, starting at $11.99 per month.
“The bottom line: I don’t get paid a lot. I’m just trying to make ends meet,” Kwei told the NY Post in defense of her choice. “I truly don’t think this has anything to do with being a paramedic.”
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t affect how I treat people,” she added. “What I do in my free time is my business. It has no effect on how I care for my patients. I know when I’m working, I’m a paramedic. I think I’m pretty good at my job.”
The article received almost immediate backlash online.
Among those taking issue with the NY Post’s article were Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who wrote , “Leave her alone. The actual scandalous headline here is ‘Medics in the United States need two jobs to survive.'”
“As a patient, I would MUCH rather my healthcare workers make $ by selling nude pics than picking up extra shifts,” wrote another person. “When that exhaustion hits, mistakes WILL be made.”
Other EMTs chimed in as well.
“I’m a medic. I have two full time jobs, I work 72+ hours a week. Trust me. We don’t make enough,” one wrote on Twitter. “Literally 90% of Fire and EMS workers in the US have more than one job to make ends meet.”
In the NY Post article, another unnamed medic confirmed that the job doesn’t come with a very encouraging salary in the early going. “The pay is pretty crappy,” they said, referring specifically to work with private companies. “It’s where you go to get experience.”
Like AOC, many took the NY Post to task simply for angling the article as anything other than a condemnation of EMT pay.
“Let me get this straight: this woman is risking her life during COVID to save the lives of others during the day and otherwise supplements her income by engaging in an activity in which literally no one is being hurt and no laws are being broken, and you’re publicly shaming her?” wrote activist and veteran Charlotte Clymer.
“Alternative headline: medical professional utilises alternative way of making money to fund her survival due to terrible pay and her body is her choice so she can do what she wants with it,” Dr. Benjamin Janaway wrote .
And as many others pointed out, the fact that Kwei isn’t a public figure is particularly troubling.
“You shouldn’t have written this. It isn’t news, it’s one person who clearly didn’t want the story written and isn’t remotely a public figure,” one person commented . “This young woman sounds like she’s really helping people and trying to make ends meet. This story is making a controversy of her job.”
“There may be someone in her life who uses this info as an excuse to do something horrible,” wrote another . “Could be a family member, partner or just some random guy who rings up her purchases at starbucks.”
Kwei has since deleted her OnlyFans content and taken her social media accounts private.
And in a fundraiser set up for her by a friend, Kwei explained that she doesn’t know yet if she’ll lose her job over the NY Post article as she has been busy at her home out of state caring for her father following a cardiac arrest.
“I never once spoke of my pictures at work or used my job as a paramedic to solicit subscribers. I know I did nothing wrong and I have nothing to be ashamed of. Most of the quotes in that article are me defending myself to this reporter. He did not include that I begged him to remain anonymous (which was never agreed to) and that I told him my safety and job were going to be at risk if he posted this article. He truly did not care. He went on to call my employer and my mother.”
Neither the NY Post nor Kwei’s employer, SeniorCare, have commented on the article so far.
However, Kwei still fears for her job. As the article explained, SeniorCare has a policy forbidding “inappropriate conduct, on and off duty.”
“I know SeniorCare would deem this ‘inappropriate’ so I took it down in the hopes that I won’t lose my job in the middle of a pandemic and three weeks before Christmas,” she told the NY Post.
h/t: The New York Post
