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Associated Press Says Story Celebrating Lesbian Students Is ‘Fair’ 1/16/2003 AP Reporter Is Member of Homosexual Journalists Group Associated Press is defending as “fair and balanced” an article about two lesbian high school students that quotes only pro-homosexual viewpoints.
The December 15 article by AP national writer Martha Irvine—a member of a national “gay’ journalists group—was headlined, “Students Name Two Girls 'Cutest Couple,' Say It's a Sign of the Times.” It contained six approving quotations from sympathetic students and school administrators, and no remarks from critics.
When questioned about imbalance in the story, Jack Stokes, a spokesman for AP, told C&F Report that Irvine’s “Cutest Couple” article is fair.
“The story speaks for itself … We consider it fair and balanced,” Stokes said. “You may disagree, but it covered everything as far as we’re concerned.”
Tim Graham, director of media analysis at the Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog group based outside Washington, D.C., responded, “It’s silly on its face to say that a story that has only one viewpoint is fair.”
The AP story involves two unnamed girls in a lesbian relationship—Irvine describes them as “longtime high school sweethearts”—who, as she writes, “were voted ‘cutest couple’ by their fellow seniors at Crete-Monee High School in the suburbs south of Chicago.”
The only allusion to critics of the students’ vote is this 19-word sentence:
This sentence follows: “But others are supportive—a sign, students say, that times are changing.” The article concludes by giving the Web site for a homosexual activist student group, the Gay Straight Alliance Network.
Were All Students Supportive?
One of the supportive students interviewed by Ms. Irvine is 17-year-old Crete-Monee senior Rachel Urban, who said:
Irvine quotes another student, 17-year-old senior Danielle Cheatom, as saying, “I think people voted for them because they’re so open about their relationship—and how good it is. … They’re actually in love and care about each other.”
Still another student, 17-year-old Nick Renfroe, is quoted saying, “They really are the cutest couple.” Irvine also quotes a letter from a district superintendent, Roberta Berry, who lauds the Crete-Monee students: “We have a student body that not only accepts each others’ differences, but also celebrates them.”
In one interesting angle to the story that might have been plumbed by a more neutral reporter but was left undeveloped by Irvine, the lesbian couple goes unnamed in the story. The AP writer, based in Chicago, reports:
At Crete-Monee, officials and even students have chosen not to reveal the names of the “cutest couple” girls, whose parents didn’t know they were dating until the vote.
Lesbian Culture Reference
Irvine begins her article with a gushy lead that references a movie that, although widely known in lesbian circles, is probably obscure to most Americans: She writes: “Their story has played out like the name of a popular lesbian movie: ‘The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love.’”
Tim Graham, with the Media Research Center, said Ms. Irvine clearly was not objective or dispassionate, and that the article’s opening paragraph “gives her away.”
“This story reads more like a promotional brochure than a news report,” Graham said. “This is a common reporter's tactic: give one side 20 paragraphs to make its case, and then feign balance by adding a brief, generic characterization of the opposition.”
Robert Knight, Culture and Family Institute Director and a veteran journalist, agreed.
"This goes beyond the usual liberal bias that we have come to expect from many major news organizations. We're looking here at a total whitewash of an important issue," said Knight, a former news editor at The Los Angeles Times. "Where were the editors who should have been asking this reporter, 'So, where's the rest of the story?'"
He said Irvine’s membership in the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association is further evidence that the organization “is more concerned with promoting the acceptance of homosexuality” than encouraging fair and balanced journalism on the homosexual issue. The NLGJA has a special caucus for AP employees, as well as caucuses for members of other news corporations.
Irvine’s article “begs the question of whether some homosexual journalists have too much invested in their own sexuality or the ‘gay’ cause to report fairly on this issue,” Knight said.
Graham said the “Cutest Couple” story is further evidence that some reporters who are NLGJA members operate in the same way as activists with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a pressure group with wide influence in newsrooms and Hollywood. GLAAD spokesmen assert that media stories on homosexuality do not necessarily need to quote both sides because “anti-gay” groups are too “extreme.” Indeed, every year at the NLGJA conference, activist-minded members raise the question of whether it is necessary to quote conservatives on homosexuality-related stories, whom they often liken (as does GLAAD) to racist fringe groups.
Graham noted that straight reporters who are firmly committed to “gay rights” are also guilty of pro-homosexual bias in the media.
Violates AP Ethical Code?
Irvine’s story appears to violate the ethical code of the Associated Press Managing Editors (APME), an organization that “works in partnership with AP to improve the wire service's performance.” Under “Integrity,” the APME code states (emphasis added):
The newspaper should report the news without regard for its own interests, mindful of the need to disclose potential conflicts. It should not give favored news treatment to advertisers or special-interest groups.
The following were among the questions asked to Irvine and AP Media Relations Manager Jack Stokes:
· Did you try to interview any local or national pro-family organizations, since you cite GLSEN [the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network]? Also, weren't there any students at Crete-Monee [High School] who found it offensive? Did you try to locate and interview them?
· Does AP require reporting both sides of controversial issues like abortion and homosexuality? (In fact, homosexuality among young people is one of the most hotly contested issues in our culture.)
· Do you believe the time has changed when stories about homosexuality should include equal comments from both sides?
Ms. Irvine declined to respond to the questions and instead passed them on to Stokes. He did not answer a question about a possible violation of the ethical code except to repeat that the “Cutest Couples” story was “fair and balanced.”
Stokes said having homosexuals cover “gay”-related issues is “part of journalism.”
In a related story, the homosexual lobby Human Rights Campaign reports on its Web site that “hundreds of AP staffers” have returned “diversity” key chains to their bosses to protest the company’s failure to provide “domestic partner” benefits for its homosexual employees.
“In Washington D.C., the AP's largest bureau, more than 50 staffers handed in their key chains,” the Web site states.
Take Action
The following is the address and contact information for Louis Boccardi, the President & Chief Executive Officer of Associated Press, at AP’s international headquarters in New York City:
Phone: (212) 621-1666
Fax: (212) 621-5456
Louis Boccardi, President & CEO, Associated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020
The main phone number at AP is (212)621-1500.
You Decide: Was AP Biased?
So you can make a fair judgment, the following is the full text of the Associated Press article by Martha Irvine, published December 15:
BYLINE: By Martha Irvine, AP National Writer
DATELINE: Crete, Illinois
Their story has played out like the name of a popular lesbian movie: "The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love."
It started last month, when the girls — longtime high school sweethearts—were voted "cutest couple" by their fellow seniors at Crete-Monee High School in the suburbs south of Chicago.
Administrators balked, at first. Then several students walked out of class to support the girls. It is a drama that, for a time anyway, awakened this sleepy town, lined with antique shops, churches and cafes, and still surrounded by corn fields.
In the end, the girls' parents — though a bit shell-shocked — agreed to let a photograph of the couple appear in the school yearbook.
And last week, district superintendent Roberta Berry wrote a letter praising the students at Crete-Monee High: "I am proud to say that while other schools continue to address issues such as alienation, bullying and hate crimes, we have a student body that not only accepts each others' differences, but also celebrates them."
Upset, some parents and community members have called to complain and written letters to the editor of local newspapers.
But others are supportive — a sign, students say, that times are changing.
"This isn't 1952 anymore. I think people need to realize there are different people everywhere," says Rachel Urban, a 17-year-old Crete-Monee senior. "If 15- and 17-year-olds are mature enough to handle this, the rest of the country can."
There are other examples of students supporting their gay, lesbian and bisexual peers. In 1999, an openly gay high school student in San Anselmo, Calif., was elected homecoming king. Last year, a lesbian from Ferndale, Wash., was elected king at her prom.
Meanwhile, students at an increasing number of schools are forming gay-straight alliances to support one another — and more school districts are training teachers to work with gay students.
That's all happened at Waltham High School in Waltham, Mass., where school nurse Nancy Ryan oversees the gay-straight alliance. Still, she says, the school has a long way to go in helping its lesbian and gay students feel safe.
"I don't think they fear for their physical safety," she said. "But I think they still are hearing things that make them uncomfortable and make them afraid to come out."
It is, for example, still common for students at many schools to use the word "gay" to describe something they don't like. And "fag" remains a common slur, teachers and students say.
A 2002 report by the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, a nationwide group of students, parents and teachers, notes that only nine states and the District of Columbia have some form of protection for students, based on sexual orientation and gender identity — California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
The lack of protection, students and others say, makes it that much harder to come out.
At Crete-Monee, officials and even students have chosen not to reveal the names of the "cutest couple" girls, whose parents didn't know they were dating until the vote.
"The girls are understandably overwhelmed and so are their families," school district spokeswoman Sue Rossi said.
Choosing senior "bests" is a long-standing tradition for Crete-Monee seniors. Each year, they cast their votes for everyone from the "most likely to succeed" to "most likely to shock us at our reunion."
While there were three or four senior couples who'd been together through a good chunk of high school, the majority voted for the girls.
Classmates say it was done with sincerity.
They say the girls — popular students who are active in sports and other extracurricular activities — can often be seen holding hands in the school's hallways.
"I think people voted for them because they're so open about their relationship - and how good it is," says Danielle Cheatom, a 17-year-old senior. "They're actually in love and care about each other."
Adds Nick Renfroe, another 17-year-old senior: "They really are the cutest couple."
Renfroe was among about 60 students who protested last month outside the school, fearing that administrators would withhold the girls' photo from the yearbook.
Several students were suspended for two days for taking part in the protest.
Maris Formas, a 17-year-old senior, says the issue brought students to the forefront who'd never been class leaders before.
"The teachers are amazed at our dedication," she said. "I was, too."
On the Net: Gay Straight Alliance Network [Web link provided]
Martha Irvine can be reached at mirvine@ap.org |
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