Topic: Media Research Center
Richard Nixon had his Jew-counters. The MRC's Culture & Media Institute has its gay-counters.
We've previously noted CMI's obsession with quantifying the Washington Post's coverage of gay-related issues; for instance, it used a very narrow definition to declare that the Post "[q]uoted supporters 10 times more often than opponents" on the subject of gay marriage. That obsession continues in a May 27 article by Alana Goodman:
In an effort to remain politically correct, The Washington Post has bungled the coverage of two major murder cases in Washington, D.C. – all because of a squeamish editorial policy regarding when it’s appropriate to mention an individual’s homosexuality in a news story.
Just weeks after coming under fire for hiding slain principal Brian Betts’ sexual orientation from readers, the Post has been caught similarly downplaying or ignoring the fact that the three defendants in the Robert Wone murder cover-up trial are gay.
Since Wone’s murder in August, 2006, more than half of the Washington Post’s articles and columns on the case – 61 percent (22 out of 36) – have neglected to mention the sexuality of the accused parties.
Many of the Post articles on the case refer to defendants Joseph Price, Dylan Ward, and Victor Zaborsky as simply “housemates.” In fact, the three were engaged in a romantic polyamorous relationship when their friend Robert Wone was stabbed to death one night at their Dupont Circle home.
While it may be irrelevant to many news stories, it is impossible to fully understand the Wone case without information on the sexual orientation of the three defendants. It establishes the prosecution’s main argument: that Price, Ward and Jaborsky were intimate, romantically linked lovers who would protect each other at any cost – even if that meant covering up their friend’s murder.
Goodman also references CMI's previous gay-counting efforts, huffing that "the Post extensively covered the legalization of gay marriage in D.C., with some critics referring to the paper’s coverage as celebratory."
Of course, under the same argument or relevance, it would be equally essential for Goodman and CMI to fully and factually states their hatred for gays in every gay-related story they publish -- but then, it is pretty self-evident.
