Date: Sat, 21 Jan 1995 21:20:00 -0500 From: GLAADSFBA@aol.com MEDIA WATCH for January 20, 1995 by AL KIELWASSER Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, San Francisco Bay Area ASSES OF THE AIRWAVES KSFO (560 AM) -- a Bay Area radio station owned by ABC -- recently introduced its new "HotTalk" format. "HateTalk" would be a more accurate description of the all-day, all-conservative, all-bigot format, which has already sunk to new lows. During his January 18 broadcast, J. Paul Emerson -- KSFO's morning host -- argued that persons with HIV/AIDS should be forcibly quarantined. Emerson also toyed with the notion that HIV is an airborne contagion, and that a person could become infected through a cough. Such contempt for the facts suggests that Emerson's only intention was to promote AIDS-phobia. Bearing no resemblance to journalism, his broadcast can best be described as hate speech. If there's an airborne disease to worry about, it's J. Paul Emerson. Emerson's hysterical broadcast seems especially out of place in San Francisco, a city that has lead the way in understanding HIV. Moreover, his fascist designs are an incredible insult to the many Bay Area residents living with HIV/AIDS. Despite requests from GLAAD/SFBA, ACT-UP Golden Gate, and San Francisco Supervisors Ammiano and Alioto, the station's management has refused to release transcripts or tapes of Emerson's program. Calls to general manager Mickey Luckoff have, so far, gone unreturned. According to the station's own press releases, KSFO is "unabashedly unafraid to be politically incorrect and speak the damn truth . . . yes, to be conservative. The majority voice is screaming for leaders and citizens to show some guts, take responsibility and speak the truth." But as journalist Emil Guillermo asks: "Since when does it take guts to give in to the mob?" (As part of its format change, KSFO fired Guillermo -- probably the only Asian American talk-show host on mainstream radio in the U.S.) Actually, KSFO isn't concerned with guts, civic leadership or responsibility. And the station is hardly interested in speaking the "damn truth." KSFO's singular interest -- to be had by any means -- is profit. If promoting hatred and spreading lies can earn a buck, then KSFO appears eager to deny the mandate of its broadcast license. Granted by the FCC, KSFO's license requires the station's owners to serve "the public interest" -- not just the interest earned by their bank accounts. As spelled out in the Communications Act of 1934, radio and TV stations are expected to make responsible use of the "public airwaves" (or broadcast spectrum), a limited natural resource belonging to the people. Clearly, KSFO's use of the airwaves has been less than responsible. And in true First Amendment style, the station's offensive speech should now be confronted by more speech. KSFO's record of "service" must be challenged on every front, local as well as national. The public's concerns should be shared with KSFO's owners, management and (perhaps most importantly) advertisers. Write to Mickey Luckoff, General Manager, KSFO, 900 Front Street, San Francisco, CA 94111, tel. 415-398-5600 or 415-954-8100, fax 415-391-2795; Robert Iger, President and CEO, Capital Cities/ABC, Inc., 77 W. 66th Street, New York, NY 10021, fax 212-456-1419. Copy your correspondence to the Board of Supervisors (Room 235, City Hall, San Francisco, CA 94102, tel. 415-554-5184), the S.F. Human Rights Commission (25 Van Ness, Suite 800, San Francisco, CA 94102, tel. 415-252-2500, fax 415-431-5764) and the FCC (Federal Communications Commission, Mass Media Bureau, Enforcement Division, Washington, DC 20554). Finally, contact KSFO's advertisers directly; let them know that sponsoring bigotry is bad for business. DON'T CALL US, WE'LL CALL YOU Concerned Women for America (CWA) is one of the nation's wealthier cult of homophobes. Though claiming to be a non-political, non-profit (and thus tax-exempt) organization, CWA regularly lobbies for anti-gay legislation and promotes homophobic hatred across the U.S. In a recent issue of CWA's newsletter, the postal and e-mail addresses of The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund were published. As a result, The Fund was deluged with hate mail. Anyone wishing to respond in kind may do so at CWA's expense. CWA can be reached, toll free, at 800-323-2200. If you want to keep an eye on the right, ask for a complimentary subscription to "Family Voice," the CWA "news" magazine. MEDIA MYTHOLOGY Paul Weyrich, founder of NET ("National Empowerment Television"), claims that his cable network is dedicated to countering the "far-left political bias" of the media. According to Weyrich, the mainstream media are riddled with news about "gender-norming, racial quotas, global warming, gays in the military" and other "unacceptable" ideas. This notion -- that the media exhibit a pervasive liberal bias -- is a common myth. It is also a dangerous one. The myth of media liberalism is touted routinely by right-wing critics in an effort to censor all but their own, hateful speech. Media analyst Michael Parenti explores that effort in "The Myth of a Liberal Media," his cover story for the January/February 1995 issue of "The Humanist" magazine. In his article, Parenti carefully exposes the hypocritical arguments of right-wing critics who complain that they are shut-out by the mass media. To make their case, such critics routinely use the very media they claim are so "biased." As Parenti notes: "To complain about how the media are dominated by liberals, (Rush) Limbaugh has an hour a day on network television, an hour on cable, and a radio show syndicated by over 600 stations." "Then there are the well-financed right-wing media-watch organizations like Reed Irvine's Accuracy in Media (AIM)," Parenti continues. "In a syndicated column appearing in over 100 newspapers and on a radio show aired on some 200 stations, Irvine and his associates complain that conservative viewpoints are frozen out of the media. Many left critics would like to be frozen out the way AIM (and) Limbaugh are." Parenti further explains that "religious" media enterprises in the U.S. also manifest a "gross imbalance of right over left." He writes: "The fundamentalist media -- featuring homophobic, sexist, reactionary televangelists like Pat Robertson -- comprise a $2-billion-a-year industry, controlling about 10 percent of all radio outlets and 14 percent of the nation's television stations. In contrast, tens of thousands of liberal and often radically oriented Christians and their organizations lack the financial backing needed to gain media access." Parenti also examines the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), and his points are especially relevant given the PBS funding debate now taking place in Congress. "A favorite conservative hallucination is that the Public Broadcasting System is a leftist stronghold," Parenti writes. In fact, he points out, most PBS programming is "politically nondescript or centrist" at best. Moreover, a clear right-wing perspective dominates a number of PBS programs, such as "One on One" (hosted by John McLaughlin) and "Firing Line" (hosted by William F. Buckley). Parenti reports that, according to at least one exhaustive study of PBS news/public affairs programming, corporate representatives far outnumber activists as sources or guests. (Actually, there is a wide and growing research literature demonstrating the falsity of the "liberal bias" myth; unfortunately, such research seldom crosses over from the academic to the mainstream press.) Parenti concludes his article with this question: "If news and commentary are so preponderantly conservative, why do rightists blast the press for its supposed leftist bias?" His answer is chilling. Parenti suggests that the myth of media liberalism is used (or abused) as "a way of putting the press on the defensive, keeping it leaning rightward for its respectability, so that liberal opinion in this country is forever striving for credibility within a conservatively defined framework." Thus, Parenti concludes, "the media limit public debate to a contest between right and center . . . . Meanwhile, real liberalism and everything progressive remains out of the picture." This framework fully supports the conservative's censorious objectives: "Their goal is not partial control but perfect control, not an overbearing advantage (which they already have) but total dominance of the communication universe." Certainly, the "liberal media myth" continues to be used -- often to great effect -- in the effort to censor fair and factual reporting on gay, lesbian and bisexual issues. Consequently, journalists must be encouraged to aggressively challenge that myth, and do what they do best -- seek out the truth. Right-wing pundits must not be allowed to make sweeping generalizations about "pro-homosexual" bias in the media. Instead, and at every turn, they should be asked to supply rigorous research in lieu of empty rhetoric. They should be asked for systematic rather than anecdotal evidence to support their ridiculous claims. They should, quite simply, be asked for the facts. And -- if they are asked for often enough -- the facts will ultimately surface, putting an end to the myth of media liberalism. Michael Parenti's article is a useful contribution to "asking for the facts." Comments or compliments can be directed to Frederick Edwords, Editor, "The Humanist," 7 Harwood Drive, P.O. Box 1188, Amherst, NY 14226-7188, tel. 800-743-6646 or 716-839-5080, fax 716-839-5079. THE SUBJECT IS: OMISSION Though public broadcasting is often accused of promoting homosexuality, evidence of this "promo-homo" bias is hard to find. Unfortunately, in fact, public broadcasters frequently omit lesbian/gay/bisexual subjects from relevant news reports. On January 17, National Public Radio (NPR) featured an installment of a series on sex, hosted by New York correspondent Joe Richmond. "This week on NPR the subject is sex," the announcer said, "Today, we focus on youth." Remarkably, the well-intentioned 15-minute report never once mentioned lesbian, gay or bisexual youth. This gross omission only perpetuates the invisibility of queer kids, who are systematically ignored by the mainstream media. Through so many films, books and TV shows -- the popular culture in which they live as strangers -- queer youth are treated as if they do not (and thus should not) exist. The stigma that attaches to such cultural annihilation partially explains why lesbian and gay teens suffer disproportionately from verbal and physical harassment, forced homelessness, and suicide attempts. Send feedback to Delano E. Lewis, President, NPR, 635 Massachusetts NW, Washington, DC 20001, tel. 202-414-2000. MEDIA BRIEFS * Riggs Remembered . . . As part of African American History Month, the Berkeley Public Library will present "Marlon Riggs Remembered," a free program recalling the man and his ground-breaking contributions to lesbian/gay media. In addition to Riggs' films, the program will feature live music, poetry, and commentary. The event takes place on Feb. 10, 8:00 PM, Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge at Shattuck. For more info., call 510-644-6100. * Spreading the Word . . . "Censorship Hurts Women" is a new flyer produced by the Working Group on Women, Censorship and "Pornography" of the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC). To order quantities in bulk, contact NCAC, 275 Seventh Ave., NY, NY 10001, tel. 212-807-6222. # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # WE MUST CONFRONT THE MEDIA'S HOMOPHOBIA IN ORDER TO CURE IT! TO NOTIFY GLAAD/SFBA OF ANY DEFAMATORY OR AFFIRMATIVE MEDIA COVERAGE CALL OUR 24-HOUR MEDIA WATCH HOTLINE AT 415-861-4588, OR WRITE TO "MEDIA WATCH," GAY & LESBIAN ALLIANCE AGAINST DEFAMATION/SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, 1360 MISSION STREET, SUITE 200, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103; tel. 415-861-2244, fax 415-861-4893, e-mail GLAAD SFBA@AOL.COM. FOUNDED IN 1988, THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA CHAPTER OF GLAAD IS A MEMBERSHIP-BASED COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION DEDICATED TO CULTURAL ADVOCACY AND MEDIA ACTIVISM. GLAAD/SFBA PROMOTES THE FAIR, ACCURATE AND DIVERSE REPRESENTATION OF LESBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL LIVES IN ALL FORMS OF MASS MEDIA. ------------------------------------------------------- "MEDIA WATCH" is a weekly report that may be reprinted or posted without prior permission, provided that, when appropriate, attribution is made to Al Kielwasser and/or GLAAD-SFBA. We greatly appreciate copies of any publications that use all or part of the "MEDIA WATCH." Thank you for your participation in GLAAD's vital work!