By Kerry Eleveld
The New York Blade
Published: 11/20/2006
Excerpt:
Ken Mehlman, Chair-man of the Republican National
Committee (RNC), had a rough election week. Republicans ceded control
of Congress Nov. 7. He announced that he would step down from his post
at the RNC that Thursday. And sandwiched between those two events was
this bit on CNN's "Larry King Live": "A lot of the chiefs of staff, the
people who really run the underpinnings of the Republican Party, are
gay. I don't want to mention names…" said Bill Maher, host of HBO's
"Real Time."
Not a moment later, the name "Ken Mehlman" flew out of
Maher's mouth. Okay, the allegation was out on live TV, and Maher said
he would name others on his upcoming show last Friday. But to the great
disappointment of many (and, presumably, the relief of others) Maher
failed to make good on his promise to out more Republican leaders.
The following Monday, pro-gay blogs such as Queerty.com
declared, "Maher pussed out" even as the mother of mainstream
publications, The New York Times, ran a story about Maher's statements
on CNN that steered clear of mentioning Mehlman's name.
And so it was, the blogs of Generations X and Y going
head-to-head with the old guard's Grey Lady over the modern-day problem
of how to cover an "outing." ...
... The dilemma for mainstream news outlets is how to
remain relevant in cases where they are applying journalistic standards
to the information they disseminate while cyberspace and water cooler
chat is abuzz with questions of whether Ken Mehlman is gay.
No one is more aware of that challenge than Bill
Mitchell, editor of the web site for the Poynter Institute, a school
that teaches and promotes excellence in journalism. ...
... "The one thing that differentiates traditional media
from much of the blogosphere is the role of the editor," he said. "You
can characterize it pejoratively as censoring, but when it’s done well,
it has much more to do with intelligent selection and decisions that
are based on relevance, fairness and accuracy."
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