The Print Media
Literally three-quarters of the people deciding what’s on the front page [of the New York Times] are not-so-closeted homosexuals. ~ Richard Berke, journalist
The above statement was made by New York Times national political correspondent, Richard Berke. He made the remarks in an April 12, 2000 National Press Club reception reveling about how much things have changed at the Times since he started 15 years ago. “[It is] a real far cry from what it was like not so long ago,” he exulted.
The Times is the nation’s most influential newspaper and what it places on its front page sets the agenda for other newspapers all over the country and in many parts of the world. It follows then, that not-so-closeted homosexuals determine what much of the country reads in its newspapers.
Richard Berke is an open homosexual and longtime member of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA)—a 1,200-member organization dedicated to providing “responsible gay coverage [for the] issues of same-sex marriage, gay families, parenting and adoption, gays in the military, sex education in the schools, civil liberties, gay-related ballot initiatives, gay bashing and anti-gay violence.”
The reach of the NLGJA goes far beyond the pages of the New York Times. Speakers, honored guests, or workshop presenters at NLGJA functions read like the who’s who” of media: Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, Harry Smith, Katie Couric, Lesley Stahl, George Stephanopoulos, Barbara Walters, Stone Phillips, Linda Ellerbee Armstrong Williams, and Linda Vester. Other participants have included New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Mark Rosenthal, president and chief operating officer of MTV Networks; Jim Kelly, managing editor of Time magazine; Walter Isaacson, chief executive officer of CNN; Anthony Marro, editor of Newsday; Caroline Miller, editor-in-chief of New York magazine; Andrew Heyward, president of CBS News, and John Huey, managing editor of Fortune.
The wide support for the NLGJA shown by the active participation by these media executives and personalities is a clear indication of the depth of homosexual influence in the popular media, and certainly arouses justifiable suspicion that an imbalance of reporting exists concerning issues of gay rights.
BTTT