BY DAN
KENNEDY
Serving the reality-based community since 2002.
Notes and observations on
the press, politics, culture, technology, and more. To sign up for
e-mail delivery, click
here. To send
an e-mail to Dan Kennedy, click
here.
For bio, published work, and links to other blogs, visit
www.dankennedy.net.
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
Bullying language and a
publisher's prerogative. Bad as the Vatican's recent statement on
homosexuality may be, it does go out of its way to assert that
lesbians and gay men must be treated with dignity (see
"Rome
Casts Its Ballot," News and
Features, August 8).
Quoting from earlier Church doctrine,
the
statement says that "men
and women with homosexual tendencies 'must be accepted with respect,
compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in
their regard should be avoided.'" This may amount to little more than
hypocrisy -- and as
the saying goes, "Hypocrisy
is the homage vice pays to virtue" -- but at least it's better than
the bishops' sitting around telling homo jokes over a few
brewskis.
Unfortunately, they didn't get the
message over at the Pilot, the official weekly newspaper of
the Archdiocese of Boston. An editorial
this week on the Vatican statement (second item), headlined
"Courageous Document," begins with this sneering lead: "The GLBTQ (Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) agenda is advancing quickly these
days."
Like the N-word among
African-Americans, the Q-word is sometimes used in a joking manner
among gays and lesbians themselves. But for an official publication
of the Church to invoke it is insulting, degrading, and utterly
lacking in "respect, compassion and sensitivity."
As archbishop, Seán O'Malley
is publisher of the Pilot. He should call editor Antonio
Enrique in for a chat about appropriate language at the first
opportunity.
The definition of a conflict of
interest. A freelance reporter for the Globe's Globe West
section wrote "about 300 articles" about the Newton Public Schools
while serving on the state-mandated advisory board of her children's
elementary school, according to this
story by Sarah Andrews, in
the Newton Tab.
Writes Andrews: "Newton
conservatives say they have been complaining for three years that
writer Gail Spector's work for the Globe's West Weekly section
has been biased." It looks like they had a legitimate
beef.
Ellen Clegg, the Globe
editor who runs the regional news sections, called Spector's dual
role "a violation of Globe policy," and said Spector would no
longer cover Newton.
Newton conservative Tom Mountain
gloats here.
posted at 12:00 PM |
|
link
MEDIA LOG ARCHIVES
Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
