Subject: GLAAD MEDIA WATCH, Nov. 4
From: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 5 Nov 1994 01:16:54 -0500

GLAAD MEDIA WATCH
November 4, 1994
by Al Kielwasser

A CHEER FOR THE JEER

The "Cheers 'n' Jeers" column in "TV Guide" has once again sounded the call
for lesbian and gay visibility.  This time (in the November 5-11 issue), the
magazine gave a jeer "to the whole darn U.S. TV industry, for failing to give
us more 'Tales of the City.' "  "TV Guide's" editors further explained:
 "Even though the Emmy-nominated PBS miniseries was both a critical and a
popular fave, and Britain's Channel 4 promised $4 million for a
co-production, public TV decided against a sequel.  Undaunted, the producers
sought funding elsewhere, but the worth-while project eventually died.  Could
it be that no one was willing to take the political heat surrounding
Armistead Maupin's 'Tales,' which feature prominent gay characters?"

"TV Guide" should be commended for giving yet another thumbs-down to
homophobia in the television industry (and you might also want to encourage
the editor to devote a whole feature story to the issue).  Send your comments
to Althea Disney, Editor-in-Chief, "TV Guide," Radnor, PA 19088 or e-mail
[email-masked] (if you want your correspondence considered for
publication, direct it to the Letters Department).

BAD TIMES

In a recent ad campaign, "The New York Times" has teamed up with talk-show
bigot Rush Limbaugh.  The new television spot "shows a smug Limbaugh reading
'The Times' and endorsing it."  The newspaper's decision is -- to say the
least -- ironic.  While "The Times" has editorialized against anti-gay
bigotry and violence, they've now hired a man whose career is built around
the aggressive promotion of such evils.  Moreover, Rush Limbaugh's one-sided,
misleading and utterly deceitful books and talk-shows hardly exemplify the
responsible, quality journalism to which "The Times" purportedly aspires.

To protest the paper's association with Rush Limbaugh, write to Arthur Ochs
Sulzberger, Jr., Publisher, "The New York Times," 229 West 43rd St., New
York, NY 10036, tel. 212-556-1234.

GOOD FOR US

Juliann Garey writes "US" magazine's 'Essentials' column ("what you need to
know this month"), and in the November '94 issue she encourages readers to
rent the video version of "Silverlake Life:  The View From Here."  Says
Garey:  "All the devotion and commitment that are supposed to be implicit in
the phrase 'to love and honor, in sickness and in health, till death do us
part' are contained in 'Silverlake Life:  The View From Here.'  Most
marriages do not last as long as the 22-year relationship shared by filmmaker
Tom Joslin and his lover, Mark Massi, before both died of AIDS."  Garey
further described the documentary as "graceful," "intensely moving,"
"frequently witty" and "sometimes harrowing."

Direct comments to Juliann Garey, "Essentials," and/or 'US' Letters,  "US"
magazine, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104-0298, tel.
212-484-1616, fax 212-767-8214.

DILLER PICKLE

Last week's "Media Watch" column included QVC's Barry Diller amongst those
media mega-moguls who have finally come out.  Alas, it seems that Diller is
still swinging from the back hanger of the closet.  In his career as a
closeted gay man, Diller has promoted such notorious homophobes as Eddy
Murphy and Andrew Dice Clay, leading Michelangelo Signorile to label him "the
supreme self-hater."

Ironically, Diller -- who wants to keep his own homosexuality an invisible,
dirty little secret -- is being touted as one of the sponsors of an awards
ceremony that will honor lesbian and gay visibility in the entertainment
industry.  At its 23rd Anniversary Gala (Nov. 19), the L.A. Gay & Lesbian
Community Services Center will give a Corporate Vision Award to HBO for the
company's enlightened broadcasting.  The gala's "Corporate Sponsorship
Committee" includes the eminently disqualified Barry Diller.

Over five years ago, Armistead Maupin reminded us that "certainly we
shouldn't continue to lionize those among us who are making a success of
themselves in the mainstream while remaining so determinedly in the closet .
. . even if they are doing all the benefits and everything."  Perhaps those
involved with the upcoming gala might heed the advice of lesbian comedian
Robin Tyler, who was quoted recently in  San Diego's Gay & Lesbian Times:
 "What would you think of people in South Africa, black people who passed for
white in order to gain acceptance from a society that was systematically
destroying and murdering those people under apartheid?  If they did that
they'd be called traitors, only we call it 'the closet' and somehow we seem
to be understanding -- and we shouldn't be."

Comments or inquiries can be directed to The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Community
Services Center, 1625 North Hudson Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90028-9998, tel.
310-996-1188.      

MEDIA BRIEFS

* Check out the Nov. '94 issue of "Wired" magazine, which includes the
article "We're Teen, We're Queer, and We've Got E-Mail."  You can reach the
slick glossy at 520 Third St., S.F., CA 94107, tel. 415-222-6200, fax
415-222-6209.  Online:  [email-masked] (editorial) or [email-masked]
(other). 

* Actress Valerie Harper (of one-time "Rhoda" and "Mary Tyler Moore" Fame) is
keeping sleazy company these days.  Harper was a guest on one of TV's most
homophobic shows, Pat Robertson's "700 Club".  On the Nov. 3 broadcast she
gleefully schmoozed with the hate-mongers in order to promote her own
prime-time series "The Office,: which is currently in production.  Also
slumming on recent episodes of "The 700 Club:"  Deborah Norville and Hugh
Downs.  

WE MUST CONFRONT THE MEDIA'S HOMOPHOBIA IN 
ORDER TO CURE IT!  TO NOTIFY THE GAY & LESBIAN 
ALLIANCE AGAINST DEFAMATION OF ANY DEFAMATORY 
OR AFFIRMATIVE MEDIA COVERAGE CALL OUR 24-
HOUR MEDIA WATCH HOTLINE AT 415-861-4588, OR WRITE 
TO GLAAD/SFBA, 1360 MISSION 
STREET, SUITE 200, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103; FAX, 415-
861-4893; E-MAIL GLAAD [email-masked].

SEND ITEMS FOR THIS WEEKLY REPORT TO THE 
ATTENTION OF "MEDIA WATCH" AT GLAAD/SFBA OR E-
MAIL TO GLAAD [email-masked].  WHEN APPROPRIATE, 
ATTRIBUTIONS FOR ITEMS USED SHOULD BE 
MADE TO AL KIELWASSER AND/OR GLAAD/SFBA.  AS 
ALWAYS, WE GREATLY APPRECIATE COPIES OF ANY 
PUBLICATIONS THAT USE ALL OR PART OF THE "MEDIA 
WATCH."  

THANKS FOR YOUR CONTINUING INTEREST IN GLAAD'S 
WORK!
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