MediaWatch: May 1993
Table of Contents:
- MediaWatch: May 1993
- CBS Stands Apart from Other Networks In Promoting Clinton Stimulus
- NewsBites: Eleanor and Evidence
- Revolving Door: Stern Justice
- Networks Ignore Protest Platform, Explicit Sex Talk, and Hate Speech
- Today's Double Standard
- Eye on School Choice
- Save Papers by Making Them Liberal
- Janet Cooke Award: CNN's Ken Bode Throws Allegations At GOP Without Airing Response
Networks Ignore Protest Platform, Explicit Sex Talk, and Hate Speech
Gay "Civil Rights" March Sanitized
The networks, which focused on the supposedly "extreme" and "divisive" speeches during the Republican convention, had a clouded lens when covering the April 25 gay march. Instead of examining its content and demands, reporters emphasized the mainstream elements and adopted the liberal view of it as a "civil rights" march.
Indeed, ABC World News Sunday anchor Carole Simpson called it "one of the biggest civil rights demonstrations ever staged in the nation's capital." On MacNeil-Lehrer, Judy Woodruff said they gathered "to demand freedom from discrimination." NBC's Linda Vester echoed the official line on Nightly News: "Organizers had a long list of demands. The top three: civil rights protection, an end to the ban on gays in the military, and more funding for AIDS research."
Among platform demands the networks ignored: "The re-definition of sexual re-assignment surgeries as medical, not cosmetic, treatment," and in schools, a "culturally inclusive Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies program ...at all levels of education."
Those watching C-SPAN saw the "diversity" of march-sanctioned entertainers. A male duo, one wearing a dress, sang about the Army. "It's as if they're afraid we're going to be demanding blow jobs in the showers...It's blow dryers we want" asserted one as the other sang: "Obey orders, and be disciplined!" A "big dyke" comedian had a deaf translator sign an orgasm, and another imitated cunnilingus. All but CNN Prime News, which showed a man in drag, ignored this.
But what about the bigotry that came from speakers? Akiko Carver, an ACT-UP activist, offered this invective: "This is the military that...killed, raped, and tortured thousands in Vietnam, as well as Korea and Grenada, and bombed and placed inhumane sanctions on Iraq that killed over 200,000 people. So if this is your country, it's because you're white." Racist? As for "extremism," she exulted: "We won't fight for true liberation because that would mean fighting against capitalism."
Gay activist Urvashi Vaid attacked "Christian supremacist leaders" like Bill Bennett, Pat Buchanan, and former Quayle aide William Kristol (who's Jewish): "On one side are the values that everyone here stands for. You know what those values are? Traditional American values of democracy and pluralism. On the other side are those who want to turn the Christian church into the government....Our opponents believe in monotheism. One way, theirs....One nation supreme, the Christian white one."
ABC's Jack Smith conveniently found: "What brought homosexuals to Washington...was the gay-bashing at last year's GOP convention."
