Journalists write on how to be "fair" to homophobes


Original article: here. Begin with the assumption that the individual with whom you are talking is not an idiot ...



30 years ago: Billie Stanton says her journalism profs at the University of Arizona 30 years ago were relentless about balance and objectivity. “Every angle must be covered, and if you had any bias, it better not show,” she writes. “This credo served me well for many years. When some talented Denver Post reporters covered an anti-gay referendum later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, their bias showed. Repeatedly I demanded rewrites to give the homophobes’ side equal credence.”

Today: Objectivity — never a great idea in journalism in the first place — posits that we shouldn’t make value judgments as to the people involved in the story or their views. But I think we can, and should. It may not be universally accepted, but homophobes’ views are NOT equally as legitimate as the views of those who preach tolerance, just as segregationist views are not equally as legitimate as those who preach racial harmony.

The GetReligon writer notes that polls of media professionals’ opinions show that they are out of the mainstream when it comes to issues surrounding homosexuality. Many readers who oppose extending marital rights to homosexuals probably wish someone in the newsroom truly understood why they believed that way. The truth of the matter is that in many papers they’d be lucky to get someone as tolerant of their view as Stanton, who thinks they’re sick in the head but reports on their views fairly anyway.

As Steve Taylor once sang
In a 90 floor Manhattan address
Lives a watchdog called the "National Press"
Around his collar's written the lines
The protector of our hearts and minds


The question of what views are and are not legitimate is certainly relevant, but when that decision is made by a homogeneous body of journalists, perhaps a group who cannot imagine that they are wrong, the resulting censorship serves only to stifle intelligent debate. Many of my favorite conversations have been with people who disagree with me, but who in turn were willing to discuss things with respect.

Posted: Thu - May 18, 2006 at 07:37 AM           | |

©