From: al715@yfn.ysu.edu (Tina M. Wood) Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 12:06:26 -0500 Subject: GLAAD News Analysis of Gay Rights March/ Mil. Man March For Immediate Release Contact: William Waybourn Monday, November 6, 1995 Ben Boyd Aviva Goldfarb Eric Hauser (202) 986-1360 Gay Rights March and Million Man March Equal in Participants, Not News Coverage Washington, DC ae Two marches. Both were historic. Both drew hundreds of thousands of supporters--African American to one, gay and lesbian to the other. Yet Americans were five times more likely to read about the 1995 Million Man March in major national and regional newspapers than the 1993 Gay Rights March on Washington, according to a new survey by a gay and lesbian media watch group. "The expansive coverage of the Million Man March shed light on the lives, hopes, and dreams of the African-Americans who participated. Equal coverage of the April 1993 Gay Rights March On Washington would have given Americans a similar understanding of our community," said William Waybourn, Managing Director of GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. GLAAD recently completed a comparison of the newspaper coverage of both historic events and found striking differences. According to official National Park Service estimates, both marches drew roughly 400,000 participants; however, organizers of both events put the number of attendees much higher. Yet, while attendance was comparable, the GLAAD survey revealed a tremendous disparity in the number of stories in major newspapers that each march generated. In the one week period before and after each event, the Million Man March was the subject of over 1,650 stories, while the March On Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Rights was the subject of only 349--a five to one ratio. "We found that for each story written on the Gay Rights March, the Million Man March generated five," Waybourn said. "GLAAD views the coverage given the Million Man March with both envy and disappointment. Had the lesbian and gay community been viewed as equally newsworthy and received comparable coverage, the country would have had the opportunity to receive a tremendous amount of information regarding the vitally important contributions gays and lesbians make to every facet of our society," according to Waybourn. "In story after story, readers learned about the feelings of the Million Man marchers, about their desires to end discrimination and bigotry, and about their collective ambitions for the African-American community. It was impressive coverage. Equal coverage for our march could have benefited the gay and lesbian community and the nation as a whole," Waybourn said. GLAAD, a national organization with offices in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, and Portland, serves as a voice for the gay and lesbian community. GLAAD works to promote, fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of individuals and events in all media as a means of combating homophobia and all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity. GLAAD's survey was conducted using Lexis/Nexis, to identify stories that appeared one week before and after each event. Newspapers surveyed by GLAAD include: Arizona Republic, Asbury Park Press, Business Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Daily News (NY), Financial Times, Miami Herald, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Newsday, Orlando Sentinel, Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Rocky Mountain News, San Diego Union-Tribune, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Petersburg Times, Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, The Baltimore Sun, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Dallas Morning News, the Detroit News, The Hartford Courant, The Houston Chronicle, The Houston Post, The New York Times, The Phoenix Gazette, The Sacramento Bee, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Seattle Times, The Tampa Tribune, The Washington Post, USA Today, USA Weekend, and Wall Street Journal. MARCH STORIES Million Man March 1,698 Event Date: October 16, 1995 National Park Service estimate: 400,000 March On Washington for Gay Civil Rights 349 Event Date: April 25, 1993 National Park Service estimate: 400,000 NEWSPAPER MMM MOW New York Times 61 28 USA Today 67 18 Washington Post 137 54 ** Based on news outlets on-line with Lexis/Nexis service.