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Boston Reporter Stands Up To Stalkers; Seeks Change In State Stalking Law

Arthur J Pais in Boston

Seven years ago she was featured in Cosmopolitan as one of the 20 young success stories in America. Four years ago she was named as one of the Top 10 philanthropists in the area by the Boston Tab. Two years ago she was nominated for an Emmy award for her work as a broadcast meteorologist.

Today, Mishelle Michaels is using her fame -- and personal nightmares -- to fight for a change in Massachusetts law that would be make it easier to arrest and convict stalkers.

For four years, Michaels -- who was born in Calcutta and was named Anuradha Mukherjee -- has endured stalking and threatening letters (see profile).

A weather forecaster and meteorologist for WHDH-TV (Channel 7) in Boston, Michaels says she has been harassed by a number of people -- and she has heard similar harassment stories from other women television personalities.

She has received sexually explicit phone calls from one viewer. Another viewer appeared at her apartment building several times and began asking other tenants where she lived, forcing her to move to an apartment complex with more security. "But the man has repeatedly showed up at my 'live-shot' locations," she says.

''Because we [on television] are more visible and, in essence, in your home, often people who are isolated or are mentally disturbed might perceive us as part of their lives,'' Michaels continues. ''So we are subject to their whims.''

One viewer sent her lewd drawings and objects from prison, followed by pictures of himself and his son, claiming Michaels, who is unmarried, was the child's mother and adding: ''We need you home.''

"I don't know how long he is going to be in the prison," Michaels says. "I am scared."

Another viewer waited for her outside Channel 7 studio after leaving a gift for her at the front desk. Another there was another man who kept showing up at the station, offering to ''save her soul.''

It could be the soul of her tormentors, Michaels could be saving.

"I want to put myself and others - including the stalkers - from harm's way," she says.

"By joining hand with other television people, I am trying to do what is right, what is honest," she continues.

She knows while the proposed amendment to the state's current anti-stalking law suggested by the local chapter of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is designed to address a problem that is a frequent source of private anxiety will face a uphill fight. Civil libertarians and defense lawyers may argue that it is too broad based. But she will contribute her time and name for the cause.

Security consultant Norman D Bates, who drafted the amendment for AFTRA says the anti-stalking law was designed to keep away vengeful ex-spouses or others with whom the victims had a relationship. Consequently, he said, it is inadequate to protect people harassed by strangers.

The state law requires that two conditions be met: the stalker ''willfully and maliciously'' engage in a pattern of acts that ''seriously alarms or annoys that person and would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress'' and that the stalker threaten a person with ''imminent'' bodily harm. The amendment would change the wording from ''and'' to ''or'' so that either offense would constitute stalking and be subject to criminal penalties.

''Somebody shouldn't have to be literally threatened with death to get a restraining order,'' said Ashley Adams, AFTRA's broadcast director. In addition to opening the stalking definition, the amendment would allow a person being stalked to seek a restraining order and to seek monetary damages from the stalker.

Michaels says she has filed numerous complaints with police, and that officers ''reprimanded'' the man who showed up at her apartment building -- he has been ordered to stay away from her. But she says she has still encountered the ''limitations'' of the anti-stalking statute, and wishes she had the ''leverage'' of a stronger law.

"Our fight is not confined to television reporters or celebrities ," she continues. The laws have to be broaden the definition of stalking so that, proponents hope, public figures and private citizens alike who are targeted by strangers will have more protection.

The campaign began in the wake of the murder last year of Kathryn Louise Dettman, a reporter for KWTX-TV in Waco, Texas, and the slaying last month of BBC host Jill Dando, Britain's most popular female television personality, The Boston Globe reported. A former neighbor of Dettman's was convicted last year of her murder. The slaying of Dando, who had been stalked by a man last year, has not been solved, though a man who identified himself as a Serb recently claimed he committed the murder, the newspaper added.

Fighting for the amendment with Michaels is Gailf Hull, a Channel 5 reporter. They convinced the state Senator Pamela P Resor (D-Acton) to sponsor it. The reporters said that a meeting of Boston television journalists convened last year by AFTRA after the union identified stalking as a major issue.

Huff told the media that female reporters are often faced with forms of harassment that include the receipt of lewd objects, photos, and messages. Having people show up at their workplaces demanding to see them is yet another form of harassment, she said. And in the past five years the amount of obscene e-mail female television reporters receive has increased tremendously. ''The Internet has opened up a whole new arena for stalkers,'' she said.

"What Michaels and have colleague have done in standing up to the stalkers is more than defending their honor," said Narain Bhatia, a family friend of Michaels for over a decade. "They have also taken a big risk. There are surely people in the corporate world who might perceive them as trouble makers," Bhatia, co-chairperson of the Democratic Party in Lexington, continued. "There is indeed beneficial possibilities for everyone in this."

''People say part of the price you pay for working in television is that you gain unwarranted attention,'' Huff told the Globe. ''But there's a big difference between unwarranted attention and stalking.''

As for Michaels, she simply wants to do her job without harassment in a city she loves. "I have been here for seven years," she says. "I find the city and the people very stimulating. I get job offers from many other cities but I have been turning them down. If nothing else, could the weather be so dramatic in Arizona or Tennessee as in Massachusetts?

''There's a lot of pressure being a meteorologist in this market,'' she continues. ''I want to provide the best forecast I can to the public, "she continues, adding that she spends most of her free time to help social causes. "This kind of harassment is taking away energy from the job I'm trying to do. It's very frustrating.''

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