Last November, 11 states voted on proposals to ban same-sex marriages. Those proposals passed by wide margins in all 11 states. Mississippi's margin was the greatest, 86-14 percent for the ban. Oregon's was the closest 57-43 percent. Michigan's proposal passed 59-41 percent.
On June 26 there was a gay pride gathering on the Capitol steps in Lansing. A major theme of the gathering was legalization of same-sex marriage. The event staged pseudo marriages - "commitment ceremonies" - complete with "commitment certificates."
So here's how The State News covered the story: It dominated Page One and two ("United pride" SN 6/27). You couldn't miss the top of Page One, a huge closeup of two obviously loving females showing affection after their "commitment ceremony." There were a total of five pictures of the event. Four of those showed affection - one of two men about to kiss, of which one man appears naked, at least from the waist up. Now I'm no prude, but not very often have I seen such one-sided coverage in the news section.
It appears the reporter interviewed only three people, all of them event supporters. The article has 18 paragraphs, 17 of those either direct quotes or paraphrasing the three supporters. In the 18th paragraph the reporter describes what that Pride Weekend is about. The word protester occurs eight times in the article (gay occurs only four times, lesbian twice). But the reporter neither quotes nor paraphrases any protester. Personally, I wouldn't have protested this rally, but I am interested in their point of view. Instead we learn about the protesters through the words of three supporters.
The article states, "In an effort to make a personal political statement, thousands of people marched to the Capitol, said Dawn Broderick, co-chairwoman of Michigan Pride Weekend."
The Lansing State Journal covered the same event with the headline "Gay pride rally attracts 1,000." I suspect the Lansing State Journal reporter looked out over the crowd and estimated the turnout (counting heads in a section, then estimating the number of sections, or using some other reasonably accurate method). It seems The State News reporter trusted the co-chairwoman's "thousands" count. Maybe at next year's rally, The State News can just let the co-chairwoman write all 18 paragraphs. The 41 percent of Michigan's voters and smaller percentages from other states would like that, unless they were looking for fair and balanced reporting.
Richard Ivans
Academic Computing & Network Services staff member
