Gawker Editor Fires Parting Shot

Yesterday Gawker's two top editors resigned in protest of the removal of their homophobic hit piece against a previously unknown executive. But not before one of them apparently expensed a $546 lunch on the way out the door.

Huffington Post Moves Donald Trump Coverage To Entertainment Section

CNN reports:

The Huffington Post will continue to cover Donald Trump, but the popular news site is done treating him like a legitimate presidential candidate. In a note to readers on Friday, two top editors for HuffPost said that coverage of the brash billionaire's campaign will be a part of the site's entertainment section. "Our reason is simple: Trump's campaign is a sideshow," wrote Washington bureau chief Ryan Grim and editorial director Danny Shea. "We won't take the bait. If you are interested in what The Donald has to say, you'll find it next to our stories on the Kardashians and The Bachelorette." In a separate statement, Grim said that the site had "erroneously been covering [Trump] as an actual presidential candidate."

The teabaggers are ever so pissed.

Time Travel With Charisma News

Remember back in 2013 when wingnut media went nuts about two street preachers being "brutally beaten by a gay mob" at Seattle Pride? Remember how it turned out that the preachers were actually attacked by a 29-times arrested drunk heterosexual multiple felon who was in the park with his wife and baby? Remember how it turned out that the attack was stopped by nearby gays? Well, those pesky details and the fact that the incident happened two years ago mean nothing to the anti-gay team at Charisma News, who are running the 2013 story by Todd Starnes this week as "breaking news." Because SCOTUS, probably.

Gawker Media Staff Votes To Unionize

Via Gawker:

Yesterday, more than 100 Gawker Media editorial employees voted on the question of whether to be represented by the Writers Guild of America, East for the purpose of collective bargaining—that is, whether we want to form a union. The results are in. Yesterday’s votes were cast electronically and tallied by VoteNet, an independent online voting system. Out of 118 eligible voters, 107 cast votes. The results are: Yes: 80 votes—75% No: 27 votes—25%. The next steps: determining what we want to bargain for; forming a bargaining committee; and negotiating a contract. We are unionized.

Gawker Media includes its namesake site, Deadspin, Jezebel, Lifehacker, I09, Jalopnik, and Gizmodo. The Writers Guild has issued a statement:

“As Gawker’s writers have demonstrated, organizing in digital media is a real option, not an abstraction. People who do this work really can come together for their own common good,” said Lowell Peterson, Executive Director of the Writers Guild of America, East. “The WGAE, Gawker’s writers, and the company’s management share a commitment to journalistic integrity and creative freedom. We are eager for Gawker’s editorial staff to join our creative community, and we are eager to negotiate a fair contract.”

From the New York Times:

The Gawker effort is unusual in numerous ways, starting with the fact that its supporters say Gawker is currently a good place to work. Many say they want a union as a sort of insurance policy in case the next generation of managers is not so nice. “We’re in a very good place right now,” wrote Anne Merlan, a Jezebel writer, in an online debate about unionizing. “But we also exist in a bubble. When it bursts, I’d like us to have fair labor practices in place to protect everyone and provide for them in the event of ‘downsizing.'” In another twist, the company has not opposed the unionization drive; indeed, Gawker’s founder, Nick Denton, said he was “intensely relaxed” about it. The company and the Writers Guild East even issued a joint statement: “We believe the cumbersome and often fractious process of unionization is premised on an assumption of complete antagonism between management and labor. Nothing of the kind exists at Gawker Media.”

Fox News Ignores Duggar Scandal

Read more at Media Matters.

George Stephanopoulos Pulls Out Of GOP Debate Over Clinton Foundation Donations

Via Politico:

George Stephanopoulos says he should not have donated money to the Clinton Foundation and that he will not moderate the ABC News-sponsored Republican primary debate in February after failing to disclose those contributions. In an interview with the On Media blog on Thursday, Stephanopoulos said that while he made the donations "for the best reasons," he now realizes he should not have given. "In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have, even though I did it for the best reasons," he said. Stephanopoulos also said that he has given a total of $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation. That figure represents charitable contributions of $25,000 in 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively. ABC News initially said that Stephanopoulos had given a total of $50,000 to the foundation. The "Good Morning America" co-anchor and host of "This Week" said that he would not moderate ABC's GOP debate, which is scheduled to take place in February in New Hampshire. Republican Sen. Rand Paul said Thursday that Stephanopoulos should be prohibited from moderating any debates during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Stephanopoulos was the communications director for the 1992 Bill Clinton campaign, later taking the same role at the White House. This morning he issued an apology on the air:

I want to address some news you may have seen about me. Over the last several years I’ve made substantial donations to dozens of charities, including the Clinton Global Foundation. Those donations were a matter of public record but I should have made additional disclosures on-air hen we covered the Foundation. And I now believe that directing personal donations to that foundation was a mistake. Even though I made them strictly support work done to stop the spread of AIDS, help the children, and protect the environment in poor countries, I should’ve gone the extra mile to avoid even the appearance of a conflict. I apologize to all of you for failing to do that.

Foreign Press Reports On Proposed Death Penalty For Homosexuality In California

It took the news that the Sodomite Suppression Act will go to the petition-gathering stage for the international press to sit up and take notice.

SCOTUS Urged To Televise Marriage Case

A coalition of journalism organizations and NGOs today urged the Supreme Court to allow cameras in the courtroom during the coming landmark same-sex marriage case.

In a letter to U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, the Coalition for Court Transparency today requested “that audio-visual coverage of oral arguments in the same-sex marriage cases be broadcast live, enabling the world to witness history as it happens.” “We hope that the Court takes this historic moment as an opportunity to move into a new era of openness by permitting live audio-visual coverage of the arguments in the same-sex marriage cases,” said Mickey H. Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association.

In addition to the historical nature of the cases, the Coalition highlighted how this act of transparency could burnish the Court’s reputation. “In our modern era, an institution’s legitimacy is often driven by the public’s perception of its openness and transparency,” the letter said. “When decisions are made in cases that provoke strong emotions, transparency allows the public to be assured that the process was fair and that the institution is functioning properly. Simply put: televising the oral arguments will ultimately strengthen the public’s perception of the Court by imbuing its result with greater legitimacy.”

“Recent polling shows three-quarters of Americans support televising Supreme Court proceedings,” said Alex Armstrong, spokesperson for the Coalition. “Oral arguments in the upcoming marriage cases will be historic, and the whole nation will be eager to follow along. There’s no better time to turn on the cameras.”

Read their letter. Just two days ago Justice Antonin Scalia dismissed the idea.

GLAAD Unveils Media Awards Nominees

Via press release:

The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBT community and the issues that affect their lives. The GLAAD Media Awards also fund GLAAD's work to amplify stories from the LGBT community and issues that build support for equality.

Among the nominees: Amazon Instant Video's smash hit Transparent; ABC's How to Get Away with Murder; HBO's Game of Thrones, Looking, and The Normal Heart; Academy Award nominee The Imitation Game and Golden Globe nominee Pride; Love is Strange, starring John Lithgow and Alfred Molina; Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word and True Trans with Laura Jane Grace, both documentaries about transgender people; Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel for Nick News with Linda Ellerbee and Good Luck Charlie respectively; To Russia with Love, Oprah Prime, and Outsports.com for interviews with out athletes; MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry; and Sam Smith for his critically acclaimed album In the Lonely Hour.

This year, GLAAD expanded the Outstanding Comedy Series and Drama Series categories from five nominees to a maximum of 10 nominees each. In 2005, GLAAD considered for nomination eight comedy series and 17 drama series with regular LGBT characters. This year, the pool of shows with regular LGBT characters considered for nomination included 52 comedy series and 83 drama series. With over 100 shows including LGBT characters as part of the cast, the number of shows worthy of nomination has also increased. Expanding the number of nominees in these two categories allows GLAAD to recognize more of these outstanding series.

The full list pf nominees is here.

Paris Mayor To Sue Fox News

Via Politico:

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is planning to sue Fox News for its inaccurate reports on Muslim "no go zones," she told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday. "When we're insulted, and when we've had an image, then I think we'll have to sue, I think we'll have to go to court, in order to have these words removed," Hidalgo told Amanpour in an interview. "The image of Paris has been prejudiced, and the honor of Paris has been prejudiced." When asked to clarify which network she planned "to take to court and sue," Hidalgo replied: “Fox News, that’s the name.” Hidalgo's remarks come after Fox News ran multiple reports describing areas of Paris (and England) that were governed by Sharia law and off-limits to non-Muslims. The network has since apologized for making "regrettable errors on air regarding the Muslim population in Europe—particularly with regard to England and France."

French hate speech laws include forbidding the incitement of hatred based on religion, ethnicity, and national origin. It's not yet clear on what grounds the Paris mayor's suit might be based.

Fox Apologizes For Birmingham Claims

Via CNN:

Fox News took time out of four broadcasts on Saturday to apologize for four separate instances of incorrect information that portrayed Muslims in a negative light. Several of the cases involved incendiary comments about "no-go zones" in Europe, where Islamic law supposedly supersedes local law and where non-Muslims fear to go. Other media outlets have accused Fox of exaggerations and falsehoods, and even British Prime Minister David Cameron mocked one of the assertions. On Saturday, Fox apologized morning, noon and night. Jeanine Pirro issued the final correction of the day, at 9:10 p.m., for something her guest Steve Emerson said a week earlier: that Birmingham, England is a "totally Muslim city where non-Muslims don't go in." Emerson was ridiculed for his comments, and he subsequently apologized.

(Tipped by JMG reader Alan)

Hasidic Paper Photoshops Female World Leaders Out Of Paris Solidarity March

Via Mediaite:

Yesterday’s historic march across Paris included over 40 world leaders expressing solidarity for France after the Charlie Hebdo massacre., but if you read this Haredi newspaper, you’d believe that none of them were women. The image that ran on the front page of the Israeli newspaper edited two female world leaders out of the image, originally provided by wire service GPO: Denmark Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. A third woman in a blue scarf who we can’t identify was also cut out.

Fox News "Terrorism Expert" Claims That Birmingham, England Is Totally Muslim

Via the Guardian:

An American "terrorism expert" on the right-wing Fox News channel has declared that Birmingham is "a totally Muslim" city "where non-Muslims just simply don't go". Steve Emerson made the claim, which may come as a surprise to the hundreds of thousands of non-Muslim residents of Britain's second-largest city, during a television discussion about no-go zones in Europe where Muslims are apparently in complete control. "In Britain, it's not just no-go zones, there are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim where non-Muslims just simply don't go in," he said. Mr Emerson, who describes himself as "an internationally recognised expert on terrorism", did not stop there. "Parts of London, there are actually Muslim religious police that actually beat and actually wound seriously anyone who doesn't dress according to Muslim, religious Muslim attire," he proclaimed, without giving examples. He described Birmingham as one of a number of European cities "where sharia courts were set up, where Muslim density is very intense, where the police don't go in, and where it's basically a separate country almost, a country within a country."

Emerson's claims immediately spawned the #FoxNewsFacts hashtag on Twitter. Click over and enjoy. The Mirror has compiled some of the best ones here.

Tweet Of The Day - Catholic League

Despite what Donohue claims above, it is Hewitt who destroys in a segment that aired nationwide today on the Salem Radio Network. (Salem is the parent company of Twitchy, Townhall, and other far-right sites.) Hewitt, perhaps obviously, is himself a far-right Christianist, which only makes his truly brutal evisceration of Bill Donohue much, much more enjoyable. Hit the link and listen - it will make your day. Infighting is funny, y'all.

Viral Video Of The Day

3.8M views for this year's news bloopers.

Media Coverage: AIDS Vs Ebola

New York Times writer David Dunlap compares the US media's reaction to ebola to what followed after his own paper's Lawrence Altman made the first notable mention of AIDS in 1983:

I can easily imagine the metro desk of 2015 jumping in to follow up on Altman’s account: “Find out who’s died. Call Larry [Kramer]. Reach out to the families. Speak to neighbors. Try to talk to the patients. What hospitals are they in? Who are their doctors? Learn everything you can. When did they get sick? Where do they live? How old are they? And we’ve got to be clear about possible risks.”

The metro desk of 1981, to which I also belonged, did nothing.

The next article in The Times appeared in August. It was by The Associated Press. By then, more than 100 cases of Kaposi’s sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia had been reported, overwhelmingly among gay men, almost half of whom had died. Readers waited four months for the next report, on page D24, by United Press International, as five or six new cases were appearing each week.

The Times was “setting the tone for noncoverage nationally,” Randy Shilts wrote in “And the Band Played On” (1987). “There was only one reason for the lack of media interest, and everybody in the [Centers for Disease Control] task force knew it: The victims were homosexuals.”

To date only one person has died of ebola in the United States and President Obama has made numerous nationally televised speeches on the issue. We all know how Ronald Reagan handled AIDS.

WaPo Profiles Signorile & Griffin

The Washington Post today published a lengthy profile of SiriusXM radio host Michelangelo Signorile and Human Rights Campaign head Chad Griffin. Here's a setup:

In 2004, 38 percent of respondents supported same-sex marriage, according to a Washington Post-ABC poll. Ten years later: 59 percent. And today, only a decade after Massachusetts ushered in same-sex marriage, Freedom to Marry says that nearly 44 percent of Americans live in jurisdictions that have legalized it — 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Even observers who welcome the gains often seem pleasantly puzzled: How did that happen so fast? But the changes are the result of decades of struggle, from early gay-marriage efforts in the 1970s along with AIDS and anti-discrimination activism in the 1980s and ’90s, to challenges at the Supreme Court in the new millennium. In Lawrence v. Texas, Lambda Legal, another major gay-rights group, won a huge victory in 2003, as the justices struck down state laws that criminalized sodomy.

Gay-rights activists — including the “Let’s get this done NOW!” camp and those who proceeded more methodically in order to build support — kept pushing. In a way, Mike Signorile and Chad Griffin framed a remarkable generation, each each representing a different historical moment, Signorile at the start and Griffin at the close. Here are their stories.

Hit that link, it's an interesting piece.

Advocate Issues Top 50 LGBT Media List

The Advocate today issued a ranking of the "50 most influential LGBT people in media." On the list are many familiar names including Andrew Sullivan, Frank Bruni, Josh Barro, Dan Savage, Suze Orman, and Glenn Greenwald. (Tipped by JMG reader Kyle)

Porno Pete Is Very Upset There Were No Anti-Gays At Gay Journalism Convention

"Even the NLGJA panel on religion and 'gay rights' was bereft of a traditionalist perspective, while the two openly homosexual speakers—former Episcopal Church bishop V. [Vicky] Gene Robinson and new Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ECLA) Bishop Rev. Doctor Guy Erwin—were heralded in the program as leaders of 'this next wave of the civil rights movement.'Both Revs. Robinson and Erwin compared opposition to homosexuality and Christian businessmen’s principled refusal to participate in 'gay weddings' to racist bigotry. Perhaps it is asking too much of  'mainstream' journalists who consider homosexuality part of their intrinsic identity (“who they are”) to cover LGBT-related issues impartially. Nevertheless, intellectual diversity and ‘opposing’ viewpoint inclusion—the watchwords of this conference and pro-LGBT advocacy in general—were in short supply at the NLGJA convention. That is a peculiar and glaring deficit for a profession that ideally is supposed to cover 'both sides' of controversial issues." - Peter LaBarbera, who paid $330 to spend a day glowering from the audience.

RELATED: The Evangelical Press Association will hold its annual convention in Denver on Oct. 1st thru Oct. 5th. And somehow, I'm not finding anybody on their list of speakers that will provide viewpoints that oppose the Christianist agenda. Somebody should totally write an outraged post about that.

CANADA: Magazine Apologizes For Publishing Letter From Matt Barber

The managing editor of the Newfoundland Herald is profusely apologizing after a hate speech complaint was filed against the magazine for publishing a two-page letter from hate group leader Matt Barber. She says that she is an ardent supporter of LGBT rights and is mortified that Barber's vicious screed made it into her pages. Barber is playing the martyred victim, of course, and is lying that he is now personally sought by Canadian authorities. According to the (not embeddable) video report by Canada's NTV, Barber has sent the magazine over 100 letters, but this was the first one they published. We can presume that Barber is also blanketing countless other outlets with his hateful diatribes in the hope of creating exactly the situation that resulted in Newfoundland. Hit the first link and watch the apology.