The New Civil Rights Movementâs David Badash is slamming The New York Times for neglecting to mention that the American Family Association is a Southern Law Poverty Center-certified hate group in an article Erik Eckholm published about the AFA today. Mr. Eckholmâs brushes aways the SLPC by calling them âliberal criticsâ, but his the article does mention that the AFAâs spokesman Bryan Fisher has said that all Nazis were gay, that Muslims should never get citizenship, and that welfare recipients ârut like rabbits.â
But why do mainstream media organizations continue to legitimize hate group leaders like Fisher and Tony Perkins by covering them without mentioning their SLPC hate group designation in the first place? Is it out of laziness? A sensationalist grab for ratings? A desire to placate their conservative financiers? Truth Wins Outâs Wayne Bensen has some thoughts:
His entire column, entitled âJournalists Must Stop âRightwashingâ Realityâ is worth reading, but hereâs the heart of it:
Iâm willing to bet that the well educated NPR reporter and producers knew that science says that âex-gayâ therapy is hokum. Yet, thanks to the Foxification of news, professional journalists eschew truth and accuracy for the false God of âbalance.â
It seems to me that too many news reporters appear terrified of the fire breathing right and will compromise their professional standards to avoid their wrath. It was always a problem, but the timidity has only intensified since the rogue Teabaggers spooked members of Congress and the press over healthcare reform at town hall meetings. Now, it seems much of the cowed media bends over backwards to appease âconservative correctness,â even if they know that they are helping to promulgate known falsehoodsâŚ
It seems [New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof] conveniently forgot how evangelicals played a key role in bringing America the nightmare of George W. Bush. It appears that Kristof hasnât watched the GOP presidential debates either, where the candidates desperately compete for the evangelical vote by disavowing science and realityâŚ
Instead of licking the boots of evangelicals, why doesnât Kristof ⌠ask these evangelicals why their overseas missions sometimes bring us legislation like the âKill the Gaysâ bill in Uganda?
The truth is, itâs much easier for journalists to âRightwash,â than ask the tough questions that would engender a vicious conservative backlash.
Weâve asked the question here at Queerty as well and it astounds us that almost no television journalists covering Marcus Bachmannâs ex-gay clinic and discussing the National Organization for Marriage have ever brought up the American Psychological Associationâs debunking of âex-gay therapy.â So whatâs really going on and how can we force news outlets to have a higher standard instead of just passing off far right talking points as news?
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Cam
Because every single time they report something accurately they are accused of being biased and liberal. So now they whitewash everything because they would rather cover up than report the truth and have one crazy person claim that reporting the truth means they are biased.
It’s a clever game and the papers fell for it.
The crustybastard
There used to be regulations that prohibited the concentration of media ownership.
As in other industries, those regulations were attacked by corporations, politicians rushed to accommodate those corporations, deregulation ensued, ownership was promptly consolidated through mergers, buyouts and bankruptcies permitting those few politically connected megacorporations the leverage to increase prices, cut services, and destroy the unions thereby eliminating most good jobs (and most of the good workers.)
Neither politicians nor corporations benefit from a strong, diligent Fourth Estate. That’s why they worked so closely to destroy it, why current American media thinks “unbiased” means “uncritical,” and why there are 400 channels of programs like “Hillbilly Handfishing.”
Thom Watson
“Mr. Eckholmâs brushes aways the SLPC by calling them âliberal criticsâ, but his the article does mention that the AFAâs spokesman Bryan Fisher has said that all Nazis were gay…â
That not only doesn’t mitigate the original statement in my opinion, but makes it worse, because Eckholm calls that theory by Fischer, which not just says that all Nazis were gay but that they were “homosexual thugs”, merely a “disputed” one. Respected historians agree that this “theory” is not “disputed,” but completely discredited and a lie. For Eckholm to even hint that it might be valid, because it’s in dispute, is sloppy journalism at a minimum, and unconscionable.
Jewed Law
Huh? Seriously? The media is slanted to the RIGHT? Wow. Has anyone here ever READ the NY Times? Ever? If you folks have truly convinced yourselves of something so conspicuously untrue—that the NY Times and the media in general are openly conservative organizations—then, well, there just isn’t any hope for rational discussion with you. You’ll convince yourselves that the sky is green and the grass is blue and start the name-calling against anyone who disagrees with you. Again: wow.
Armand
We know The New York Times (NYT) will soon become fish wrap.
I mean really, NYT worked 14 months developing a paywall that cannot help a sinking ship as its subscribers drop like flies at bad disco ball.
Goodbye NYT, parochial beacon of pseudo intellectuals and radical Muslim sympathizers.
Armand
We know The New York Times (NYT) will soon become fish wrap.
I mean really, NYT worked 14 months developing a paywall that cannot help a sinking ship as its subscribers drop like flies at a bad disco ball.
Goodbye NYT, parochial beacon of pseudo intellectuals and radical Muslim sympathizers.
LOL
The New York Times, “renowned” for journalism, referred to gay people as “perverts” and “deviants” in its news stories well into the seventies (and occasionally afterwards, well into the 1980s). I wouldn’t expect them to understand why a hate group is a hate group, when they’ve been so adept at hate themselves over the years.
Just wait another few years… the NYT is dying and won’t be around in much of any form to worry about by then.
Libertarian Larry
@Armand: Well said.
WillBFair
None of Besen’s reasons are correct. Like many with connections to journalism, he is too close to the subject to see correctly.
This is a well used strategy, an offshoot of the southern strategy, to use us as a wedge issue to frighten the public into voting for fiscally disastrous republicans. It is used by the entire media, left, right, and center, because they are all owned by the same multinationals.
There’s not much we can do about it as long as we listen to the excuses from Besen and others. Not to be hypercritical. Besen has been excellent on other issues. But on the media, he’s just too close to be objective.
We first have to see clearly what they are doing. Then we might be able to invent a strategy to counter it. Off hand, I think a PR campaign against the wedge issue media could work.
Steve
There is a gaping hole in the “news” market, that is just begging to be filled. We have lots of news papers and news channels, but there is something missing.
The new news channel, and/or the new news paper, should be named “TRUE NEWS”.
:)
@Steve:
Al Jazeera just started airing in NY
skzip888
Nobody reads print anymore except your Grandma, and she has nothing but time to watch televangelists and vote.
DannyB
Balance is important. Cover both sides.
Some people say the sun rises in the East.
But other people say it rises in the West.
It is important to give both views equal consideration. Fair and balanced. đ
DannyB
@skzip888
Grandma also sends money to the televangelists and whatever candidates the televangelists say that God officially supports.
Abirdwillingtobeitself
I’m glad that Bensen is speaking out about this. News is about accurate reporting, and accuracy requires a definite point of view. We expect “balance” in the court room, which is so often a circus, not in the news room.
xander
@QUEERTY : Wayne’s last name is BESEN.
@DannyB. : Sorry to hear about your grandma…There’s often someone like her in so many US families.
The sun ‘rises’ in the East, however.
There’s no “two sides” on some issues: the AFA and NOM consistently put out information which is not factual. The Hate Group designation comes not from the opinions per se, but from the lies and falsehoods.
jason
There is no such thing as balance. There is right and wrong, love and hate. The AFA is a hate group, we aren’t. Nuff said.
Timmmeeeyyy!!!`
“Yet, thanks to the Foxification of news, professional journalists eschew truth and accuracy for the false God of âbalance.â
The truth does not lie half way between right and wrong.
Sad
Please look at how the media has been treating racist, homophobic and antisemitic Pat Buchanan for decades. He and his GOP cohorts have gotten a free pass on their bigotry for years because they represent the GOP elite.
Buchanan can appear on a Neo-Nazi radio station promoting his book and the next day appear on MSNBC or CNN where he’s treated as a serious, respected conservative.
It’s all sick.
Look around at the complete abdication of responsibility over the failed economy. The GOP caused this mess. But they refuse to take responsibility.
The GOProud idiots are only too happy to defend Ann Coulter, a monstrous bigot who has spouted racist, homophobic, and anti-Muslim crap for years. GOProud has no problem being part of party that sees them as second class citizens.
PTBoat
@Cam: You are absolutely correct. The sad thing is that the pendulum has swung so far right that these SS type hate groups actually get to be featured as if they are anything but fringe. America has yet to understand that their actions and speech are very similar to those of the neo-nazis and the KKK. Articles, like Times, and radio stories, like NPR’s, only help to further obfuscate the reasons that the SPLC designated them as hate groups along with their brethren.
Jim
Is the SPLC the hate-group-labeler of record?
DannyB
I hope it was obvious I was sarcastic about fair & balanced. I did put a smiley.
DannyB
@xander
That there are no two sides on some issues was my point.
That televangelsts lie was another point.
xander
@DannyB : (23) My fault, not yours….I’m terribly literal at times. And those televangelists know how to fire up those telespectators, like rock stars getting fans in a mad frenzy.
/\
I’m still disappointed in NPR’s including the ‘ex-gay’ people on the programme without tough(er) questions on the ethics, success or reality of ‘changing’ orientation.
Armand
@đ: Al Jazeera?
Are you serious? Al Jazeera promotes fundamentalist Islam (disseminate pictures and videos of Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, and Hezbollah, not to mention hate speech toward homosexuals) in arabic in the Middle East.
However, the english Al Jazeera caters to the Western society by excluding fundamentalist Islam mentalities but under the surface promotes anti-Western feelings.
I would rather swallow my pride and be caught reading New York Times than watch and listen to Al Jazeera.