IS GAY-MARRIAGE COVERAGE SLANTED?: Terry Mattingly

Media-beat scribe Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post is getting knocked around a bit these days in the kingdom of Romenesko at Poynter. ...

...The crucial question seems to be this: Are there two sides to the gay-marriage story? Is this a case in which mainstream journalists -- as opposed to reporters at places such as Salon.com, Out and some sections of the New York Times -- should attempt to find some kind of balance between those in favor and those opposed? Or, in the view of the press, is this officially a battle between the enlightened and the bigots?

The key letter at Poynter.org came from Ron Kampeas, who is concerned that Kurtz is concerned that waves of celebratory news coverage in Massachusetts might be a sign of liberal bias. Here is the money paragraph:

"How do you avoid upbeat wedding coverage? The May 17 spot story was essentially that these people who could not previously get married were getting married. It was an event story, and demanded on the scene color. Was there a bias in the political story in the weeks and months that preceded it? I'm not sure, that's best left to the people who pick through the miles of newsprint. But as last Monday’s story was not the conceptual, political for-and-against story. Everyone interviewed at the events -– the couple, the licensed marrier, the guests, the family -– are naturally going to be happy. Does the 'Vows' column in the New York Times have a bias toward weddings? Should a wedding be covered like a campaign rally, with every second graf a reminder of 'why this might be wrong'[?] How do you fact-check a wedding? How many people, even among the opponents of gay marriage, could be counted on for pertinent nay-saying quotes in wedding coverage? Who, aside from the God Hates F**s guy, is going to say Bob and Steve or Millie and Joan should NOT have had fun today?"

That's one perspective. The key, however, is whether newsrooms contain journalists with the skills and the commitment to cover both sides of this highly complex and highly divisive moral, political, legal and even theological story. Can anyone find articulate voices on both sides? This may even be an issue that requires what I call a "visual fairness" strategy, with newspaper editors assigning reporters to cover developments on both sides of the debate and write stories that are played side by side.

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posted by Eve at 2:34 PM | link

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