Subject: MEDIAlert! ["A"] - 03.21.97
From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 23 Mar 1997 15:31:57 -0500 (EST)

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INDEX:  "MEDIAlert!" for 03.21.97 [PART "A" ONLY] 

-ITEM 1:  "Wronging Rights" [United Press International; Associated Press;
Traditional Values Coalition; Family Research Council; Orange County
Register; Life Lobby; Human Rights Campaign].

-ITEM 2:  "Learning To Tell Crime" [AP; National Coalition of Anti-Violence
Programs; UPI; Austin Chronicle; Village Voice; National Lesbian and Gay
Journalists Association].
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M  E  D  I  A  l  e  r  t  !
_______________________________

March 16-31, 1997   Al Kielwasser

[1]

W R O N G I N G  R I G H T S

In describing opposing factions, the major news services rely on a biased
style that favors heterosexual cohorts.  Homosexual collectives -- regardless
of their particular cause -- are typically lumped together as "gay rights"
groups.  Homophobes, on the other hand, are never identified as advocates of
"heterosexual rights."  Even worse, anti-gay groups -- no matter how blatant
their hate -- are described as "conservative," "pro-family," "religious" or
anything BUT "homophobic."

At best the mainstream press labels these bigots as did United Press
International (March 17), in an article about "gay rights" bills in
California.  For the entire article, the "Rev." Lou Sheldon of the
Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) is quoted -- without challenge or rebuttal
-- on a range of pending legislation, bills that he says would "open the door
for adoptions for homosexuals" and "force... the advocacy of their lifestyle
in public schools."

The UPI reporter identifies Sheldon as "a longtime foe of homosexual causes."
 With equal accuracy, the wire service could have described Sheldon as "a
longtime friend of homophobic causes."

However subtle, UPI's slant implies a coercive notion.  Homosexuality is
treated as the problematic stimulus -- to which homophobia, if it exists at
all, is somehow a responsive solution.

In reality, relentless TVC hate campaigns are not CAUSED BY -- nor even a
RESPONSE TO -- "gay rights."  Most "homosexual causes" are actually preceded
(and necessitated) by the efforts of homophobes.

The "gay rights" cliche is now common in most of the nation's leading
newspapers and magazines.  Used as a substitute for "civil rights," this
rubric panders to homophobic myths of "special rights" and "single
interests."  The right to fair housing is not especially "gay," after all.  

What homophobes oppose are basic civil rights for lesbians and gays -- equity
under law, accuracy in education, and redress for discrimination.  While
groups like the TVC have capitalized the media to propagate notions of
"special rights" and a "gay agenda," their own HETEROSEXIST AGENDA remains
hidden.

Last month, for example, the "Orange County Register" (February 3) reported
that "Gay-rights groups and religious conservatives are mobilizing to battle
over what promises to be the state Capitol's most explosive social issue this
year:  a proposal to ban discrimination against gays and lesbians in public
education."

The newspaper quotes sources from "a gay-rights group" (Life Lobby) and
"opponents of gay rights" (the TVC and California assemblyman Steve Baldwin).
 According to the "Register," these opponents "believe homosexual behavior is
a choice and thus deserves no special protection."  "I could create a
category of people who like to pick their nose," Baldwin said. "Should we
have special laws designed for nose-pickers?"

Another example of this jargon can be found in a recent article from the
Associated Press (March 12).  Reporting on U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli's
decision to extend domestic partnership benefits to his lesbian and gay
staff, the AP also quotes the opposing factions.  Comments are attributed to
"a homosexual-rights group" (Human Rights Campaign) and "a conservative
group" (Family Research Council).  According to the FRC spokesperson,
domestic partnerships "cheapen the meaning of family."

Significantly, even though both the FRC and TVC are committed to a blatant
anti-gay agenda, they are NOT identified by the press as "HOMOPHOBIC groups."
 Nor are such organizations EVER labeled as "heterosexual-rights groups" (a
construction that, however awkward, is nonetheless accurate).

Notably, the terms used by newspapers to describe homophobic groups (e.g.,
"conservative") are terms that those groups also use TO DESCRIBE THEMSELVES.
 By contrast, the "gay rights" catch phrase favored in the press is NOT
widely used by lesbian or gay organizations.  For example, the AP's
description of the Human Rights Campaign (as "a homosexual-rights group")
hardly echoes HRC's own billing -- as "the country's largest national lesbian
and gay political organization," which "envisions an America where lesbian
and gay people are ensured of their basic equal rights -- and can be open,
honest, and safe at home, at work, and in the community."

Perhaps, as some queer critics argue, various homosexual groups -- as
divergent as Digital Queers and Queer Nation -- DO share a basic commitment
to the common cause of "gay rights" (just as feminist groups are said to be
committed to "women's rights").  What is most significant, however, is the
media's absolute failure to consider, with stylistic parity, the cause of
"homophobe rights."  

The special rights demanded by organized homophobes (the right to take
children from lesbian mothers, for example, or the right to torture queer
youth with bogus "psychiatric cures") are seldom enumerated as such.  As a
matter of routine, heterosexist privileges are not articulated fairly -- and
are thus defended covertly -- by the mainstream press.

More than "just semantics," the consequences of this media habit are not
easily dismissed.  Because "gay rights" are nominalized in the press (and
"straight rights" are not), homophobia is normalized -- and becomes something
much harder to defend against.  In our popular culture, heterosexism is not
simply "a right," but SIMPLY RIGHT.

* * * *  ACTION ALERT!   Encourage the world's major wire services to adopt
non-heterosexist style guides and avoid biased "gay rights" cliches.
 Contact:  Associated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, 5th Floor, New York, NY
10020-1666, tel. 212-621-1600, fax 212-621-1500 or 212-621-7520, e-mail
[email-masked]; United Press International, 1400 I Street NW, Washington, DC
20005, fax 202-898-8057 or 202-898-8133.

Also, ask journalism associations and trade periodicals (as monitors of the
profession's quality and conscience) to investigate, report and promote
fairer and more-accurate coverage of homophobia...  and homophobes!  Contact:
 Society of Professional Journalists, 16 South Jackson Street, Greencastle,
IN 46135-1514, tel. 765-653-3333, fax 765-653-4631, e-mail [email-masked],
web http://spj.org/spjhome.htm; American Press Managing Editors Association,
604 Pine Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90844, web http://www.ptconnect.com;
"American Journalism Review," 8701 Adelphi Rd., Adelphi, MD 20783-1716, tel.
301-431-4771, fax 301-431-0097, web http://www.ajr.org/.

[Side Bar:  For more information about the Human Rights Campaign or Life
Lobby, contact:  HRC, 1101 14th Street NW, Washington, DC 20005, tel.
202-628-4160, fax 202-347-5323, e-mail [email-masked], web http://www.hrc.org;
Life Lobby, tel. 916-444-0424.  To monitor the "conservative" doings of the
FRC or TVC, contact:  Family Research Council, 801 G Street NW, Washington,
DC 20001, tel. 800-225-4008, tel. 202-393-2100, web http://www.frc.org;
Traditional Values Coalition, TVC, 100 S. Anaheim Blvd., #350, Anaheim, CA
92805, tel. 714-520-0300, e-mail [email-masked], web
http://www.traditionalvalues.org].

[2]

L E A R N I N G  T O  T E L L  C R I M E

Most of the major news media carried reports of the latest "gay bashing"
survey, conducted by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs
(NCAVP).  Indicating a significant rise in violence against gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgendered people, the new survey also prompted a number of
local reports -- tracking incidents of hate crime in several of the 14 cities
surveyed by NCAVP.

Despite some improvement, the recent coverage of hate crime is warped by an
old, salacious spin.  Again, national and local reporters skirted the vital
connections between hate violence and organized homophobia.  Even individual
homophobes are oddly missing from many news reports, which have tended to
dwell more on the VICTIM'S behavior (and much less on the VICTIMIZER'S).
 Victims might not be blamed, outright, any longer -- but they are implicated
nevertheless.

Typical of this subtle bias of "homophobe omission" is the NCAVP coverage
from United Press International (March 11), which reports that:  "Violent
crimes against gay communities caused 867 injuries or deaths nationwide...."
 Literally, of course, violent CRIMINALS (i.e., homophobes) were the
immediate cause.  Yet neither the word "homophobe" nor "homophobia" appear --
anywhere -- in UPI's story.

The UPI report does use the phrases "gaybashing" and "gaybashers," however.
 While common parlance among gays, these terms can prove misleading in the
mainstream press.

A style guide developed by the Seattle chapter of the National Lesbian and
Gay Journalists Association advises journalists to avoid the term "gay bash."
 As NLGJA explains:  "The choice is complex, because while the term focuses
on assaults on gays and lesbians, its overuse may also minimalize them.
 'Bashing' has become synonymous with light verbal jabs, such as 'lawyer
bashing.'"

Even the most war-like violence against homosexuals -- like blowing them up
-- still evokes vague and narrow assessments of homophobic hate.  In covering
the recent bombing of a lesbian club in Atlanta, for instance, the Associated
Press (February 23) reported:  "The mayor met with gay and lesbian activists
Sunday ordered extra police protection for nightclubs frequented by
homosexuals."  Again, a subtle bias emerges.  The AP did not report, as it
could have, that homosexual venues required extra protection FROM HOMOPHOBES.

Not surprisingly, the alternative press has edged out the wire services -- at
least qualitatively -- on the hate crime beat.  In a two-part feature for
"Austin Chronicle" (March 14-20), for example, staff writer Amy Smith
examines both the general problem of hate crime and a specific anti-gay
killing.

In her first article ("The Hate Crimes Debate"), Smith begins by describing
an incident in which a man was kicked to death, by "a trio of hooligans" who
shouted anti-gay epithets at their victim.  To her credit, Smith at least
acknowledges "the homophobic nature of the murder."  She even attempts to
connect that crime to a larger issue -- passage of a "stronger" hate crime
bill in the Texas legislature.

In her second feature, Smith fares less well.  The article's headline ("A Gay
Man's Search for Sex Ends in His Murder") and subhead ("Dangerous Liaisons")
foreshadow an unfortunate slant -- one that is common in both the mainstream
and alternative press.  The reporter's good intentions give way to a biased
emphasis on the murder victim's "risky" behavior.

Specifically, Smith focuses on "pick-up encounters," in which gay men have
"sex with strangers."  She treats "cruising" almost as if it were a co-factor
in hate crime.  The suggestion, that such encounters are a particularly
fertile medium for violence, is not backed up by any hard data -- at least
not in Smith's article.

Too easily missed in such coverage is that, in regard to any hate crime, the
VICTIM'S behavior is essentially irrelevant.  This point is well made by Guy
Trebay, in one of the better columns generated by the NCAVP survey ("Village
Voice," March 18).

Trebay challenges a remark made by Janet Reno, who -- in commenting on the
recent rise in hate crime -- had said that "federal hate crime statutes do
not now permit us to prosecute offenses motivated by a victim's sexual
orientation."  "It's probably worth noting... the oddly reflexive bias of the
attorney general's own formulation," Trebay points out.  "Can victims really
be said to 'motivate' hate crime?  Isn't irrational hatred the cause of
that?"

Perhaps because of such "oddly reflexive" bias, the "riddle" of anti-gay
violence has remained just that.  Expounding a measure of evasion in lieu of
prevention, "solutions" for hate crime are continuously vexed in their
reflection of the media's deference to homophobia.

It is far less effective, but apparently more acceptable, to reduce the risk
of hate violence by changing homosexual behaviors (advising gay men to avoid
"pick-up encounters," for example) instead of changing homophobic beliefs.
 Absent any diagnosis of homophobia by the press, hate crimes are treated
essentially as symptoms of homosexuality!

By way of remedy, the mainstream media could expand their coverage of hate
crime, to include a sustained and direct interrogation of homophobia.  Hate
crime statistics might be reported with reference to hate groups.  The
coverage of annual surveys, in particular, begs for an examination of
homophobes and homophobia -- the "who," "what" AND "why" that link these
disparate acts as crimes of hate.

While career homophobes are so often quoted for "balance" in ANY gay-related
story, they are typically left OUT of articles on anti-gay violence.  The
omission is ironic.  This might be the one story in which anti-gay
spokespersons DO play an integral part -- whether they admit it or not.

* * * *  ACTION ALERT!  Comments on the media's current coverage of hate
violence, and suggestions for improvements in the future, should be sent to:
 Associated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10020-1666,
tel. 212-621-1600, fax 212-621-1500 or 212-621-7520, e-mail [email-masked];
United Press International, 1400 I Street NW, Washington, DC 20005, fax
202-898-8057 or 202-898-8133. Amy Smith, Assistant Editor for Politics,
"Austin Chronicle," 4000 N. IH-3, Austin, TX, e-mail [email-masked], web
http://www.auschron.com; "Village Voice," 36 Cooper Sq., New York, NY
10003-7188, tel. 212-475-3333, fax 212-475-8944, e-mail
[email-masked].

Related Resources:  "Triangle - A Professional's Guide to Covering Lesbians,
Gays and Bisexuals in Washington State" is a publication of NLGJA/Seattle,
though its basic information is useful for any locale.  Contact:  National
Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association/Seattle, 1202 E. Pike, Suite 1175,
Seattle, WA 98122; NLGJA/National Headquarters, 1718 M Street NW, #245,
Washington, DC 20036, tel. 202-588-9888, fax 202-588-1818, e-mail
[email-masked].

[End of Part "A"; Part "B" (Ellen) and Part "C" (Media Briefs & Web Watch)
are posted separately]

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ABOUT MEDIALERTS!

Distributed as a community press service since 1992, "MEDIAlert!" [TM] is a
biweekly, advocacy-oriented column of media criticism, primarily focused on
lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender issues.  

Recipients may print, publish or post this material, in whole or part, under
this or any title, without prior permission.  When appropriate, attribution
can be made to "Al Kielwasser" and/or "MEDIAlert!"  File copies of
publications using all or part of any "MEDIAlert!" are always appreciated.  

Next "MEDIAlert!" = April 4, 1997.  [Regular subscribers, please note:
 Starting with this issue, "MEDIAlert!" will be sent out on the first and
third Friday of each month, rather than the second and fourth].

Contact:  A. P. Kielwasser, MEDIAction, 163 Park Street, San Francisco, CA
94110-5835, voice-mail/fax 415-826-5203, e-mail [email-masked].

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AUTHOR NOTES

Al Kielwasser is the editor of "Gay People, Sex and the Media" (New York:
 Haworth Press).  His media criticism and research have appeared widely, in
both mainstream and academic publications (including the "Journal of American
Culture," "Journal of Homosexuality," "Journal of Popular Culture," and
"Critical Studies in Mass Communication"); he was twice elected Chair of the
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation/San Francisco Bay Area.