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November 6, 2006
What’s in a name? Reporting on the same-sex marriage debate
On Nov. 7, eight states voted on legislation to decide whether or not couples of the same sex could marry. In some states, voters created a statewide definition of marriage as between one man and one woman. In others, voters eliminated the possibility of civil unions and domestic partnership agreements. Seven states passed such amendments, with Arizona the first to turn down a ballot measure on the subject.
Public discussion about this issue is sure to continue. As we continue to cover the debate, the words we choose matter.
When writing or reporting on this issue, many journalists and news organizations have adopted the phrase “gay marriage.” But what does that communicate? Does it really address the issues being debated? Does it accurately describe what is at stake for everyone?
The phrase “gay marriage” implies that voters or legislators are deciding on a new set of legal and social benefits for same-sex couples. That’s not quite true. Legislators generally have debated whether to extend to same-sex couples the same rights as those already enjoyed by opposite-sex couples that have been granted a marriage license under state laws. In other words, the individuals for whom the rights are available might be changing, but the legal construction of the institution is not.
And what about this word, “gay”? This has become the standard modifier for same-sex issues like “gay adoption” and “gay families.” On its own, however, “gay” generally refers to gay men. So the phrase “gay marriage” leaves out a lot of people.
“Marriage for same-sex people” or “same-sex marriage” encompasses both male and female couples and more accurately describes how the law might be changed. Try it out and see how the meaning of your sentences becomes more concrete.
Here are some other points to consider when covering the debate of marriage for same-sex couples.
Repeat yourself. When writing about same-sex marriage, or any piece of legislation, don’t assume that your readers or viewers have been following the debate from the beginning. Don’t assume that they know about the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act or how that federal definition of marriage will continue to affect same-sex couples in your state. Summarize critical points that quickly bring your audience up to speed so you can provide them with new information.
Widen your source base. When reporting on same-sex marriage, avoid the stereotypes trap. Just because someone is LGBT does not mean he supports same-sex marriage. Just because someone represents a community of faith does not mean she is against same-sex marriage. Talk to the activists in your area and talk to the people next door. Go beyond your area and contact legislators from other states on various sides of the issue. What effects have they seen? What did they learn?
Be creative. Part of a journalist’s job is to make sure audiences have the facts they need to participate in the public discourse. This means giving them as many angles and perspectives as possible. Go beyond pro versus con. Don’t be afraid to dig into the gray areas and to ask fresh questions. Where might same-sex marriage laws have an effect outside of households — such as hospitals and public schools? What about the unobvious stories that aren’t yet part of the public discussion? Think about relationships in which one or both partners are transgender. If someone changes sex from male to female, whom can they legally marry? Courts have ruled both ways. What if one person changes sex after marriage?
Keep the playing field level. While you want to include as many perspectives and voices as possible, avoid mixing fact and opinion. Don’t pit an “expert” against an “everyman” interview. If you open your piece with a legal expert discussing the negative effects of extending marriage to same-sex couples in your community, for instance, don’t play it against a man-on-the-street quote on the benefits.
Election Day is over, but the story isn’t. Whether or not legislation has already passed or the courts have handed down decisions in your, the debate is likely to continue. Develop a few key areas to keep an eye on in the coming months. Keep your Rolodex up to date and think about what story your readers or viewers might benefit from six or eight months from now. Check out the SPJ Rainbow Sourcebook and Diversity Toolbox for national sources and for more ideas about accurate and sensitive coverage of all of the communities we cover. https://www.spj.org/divsourcebook.asp?
More information about terminology and resources for covering the LGBT community can be found at the newly redesigned nlgja.org, the Web site of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association.
Contributed by the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association
What challenges have you faced as you cover the same-sex marriage issue? Share your questions and solutions at http://www.spj.org/mb-topic.asp?res=7
The SPJ Rainbow Sourcebook is an online database of qualified experts on key news topics, with an emphasis on sources from populations historically underrepresented in the news: people of color, women, gays and lesbians, and people with disabilities. This valuable tool makes it easy for journalists to improve accuracy and quality by broadening the perspectives and voices in coverage.
A companion Diversity Toolbox provides a comprehensive set of links to journalism diversity resources and institutions. Accompanying essays offer principles and strategies for improving stories from conception on through to reporting and writing.
Your suggestions and comments welcome. Contact Sally Lehrman, your national diversity chair, at slehrman(at)bestwrit.com.
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Diversity Committee
On both chapter and national levels, SPJ provides an open forum for the discussion of diversity issues in journalism. This committee's purpose is to promote a broader voice in newsrooms across the country and expand the depth and quality of news reports through better sourcing. Its ongoing project is the compilation of experts — primarily women, gays and lesbians, people of color and people with disabilities — through the Society's Diversity Source Book. The Society's relevance to its member is based on inclusiveness.
Diversity Committee Chair
Pueng Vongs
E-mail
Bio (click to expand)
Ms. Pueng Vongs has two decades of experience in journalism. She is a online producer/editor for Bay Area News Group (MercuryNews.com, InsideBayArea/OaklandTribune.com and ContraCostaTimes.com), where she edits content for the web and leverages social media, multimedia, mapping and mobile tools. She has also worked in financial news at CBS.Marketwatch.com and Money magazine. Vongs’ stories have run in the Chicago Sun-Times, San Francisco Chronicle and NPR among other outlets.
She serves as the diversity chair for SPJ and has spent more than a decade reporting on minority communities, mainly at Pacific News Service/New America Media, the largest association of U.S. ethnic media.
Maria O. Alvarez, vice chair
Freelance journalist
San Francisco, Calif.
Bio (click to expand)
Maria Alvarez has over 15 years of professional experience in broadcast journalism working in different countries and the US. Since 2007, Maria has been working with media non-profits and helping them to understand and reach effectively the Hispanic community in the US. She enjoys being in touch with the community and is very passionate about issues affecting the Latino community.
Her academic degrees include a B.A. in Journalism from the Central University in Venezuela, and a M.A. in Communications from the Catholic University in Santiago, Chile. Once she moved to the US, Maria has continued her professional development. In 2008, she received a Certificate in Non-Profit Management at Cal State University in Oakland, CA. Maria loves traveling with her three year old son, especially to Latin America Countries. Her favorite and most frequent destination is Venezuela, her birthplace and where the majority of her family currently lives.
Diversity Committee Members
George Daniels
Assistant Professor
University of Alabama
Box 870172
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
(205) 348-8618
E-mail
Bio (click to expand)
George L. Daniels is an associate professor of journalism at the University of Alabama’s College of Communication and Information Sciences. He joined the UA faculty in 2003 after completing his master's and Ph.D. degrees at The University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
As a graduate student, Daniels participated in the University of Georgia’s SPJ Campus Chapter. But, his first experience with SPJ came when he received a scholarship from the Washington DC Chapter of what was then Sigma Delta Chi (SDX) in the early 1990s. In 2006, Daniels was a 2006 SPJ Diversity Leadership Fellow and 2007 Scripps Institute Fellow.
In addition to serving as co-adviser for the Univesity of Alabama SPJ Chapter, Daniels previously served as chair of the SPJ Journalism Education Commitee.
Certified in 2009 by the Journalism Education Association as a "Master Journalism Educator," Daniels teaches classes in media management and cross-media reporting and writing. Before moving into the academic arena, Daniels worked as a news producer at WTVR-TV in Richmond, Va., WLWT-TV in Cincinnati, Ohio and WXIA-TV in Atlanta. He is a cum laude graduate of Howard University in Washington, DC.
Bonnie Davis
Associate Professor Journalism
Virginia Commonwealth University
Holly Edgell
University of Missouri
Columbia, Mo.
Sandy Frost
Online Investigative Journalist
Newsvine.com
Tacoma, WA
Bio (click to expand)
Sandy Frost, Online Investigative Journalist. Publishes on Newsvine.com. Writing online since 2001. Professional experience includes daily news, daily copy editing, radio news, techincal writing and magazine writing. Nine years experience investigating issues of nonprofit compliance, transparency and accountability. Served term as director for Western Washington Pro Chapter. Instrumental in our chapter being awarded National Diversity award for 2008 as well as being named Best Pro Chapter in 2007 and 2008. Four SPJ awards. Author, "Shriners' Shame: The Dark Side of the World's Greatest Philanthropy."
Ray Hanania
The Media Oasis
Chicago, Ill.
Leo Laurence
Editor, San Diego News Service
Linda Jue
New Voices in Independent Journalism
San Francisco, Calif.
Bio (click to expand)
Linda Jue was president of SPJ-NorCal for two and a half years and vice president for three. She is director of New Voices in Independent Journalism, a national initiative dedicated to building a diverse pool of independent investigative journalists and public intellectuals who can bring the emerging perspectives of the country's changing demographics, as well as the next generation of youth, to public interest reporting. She is the former associate director and founding staff member of the Independent Press Association, where she directed several cutting-edge national journalism programs.
Before going to the IPA, she directed San Francisco State University's Community Press Consortium, the first professional training program20in the country for journalists working in the community and ethnic press. She was a member of the founding collaborative of New California Media, now called New America Media, and directed the judging for the first two years of the New California Media Awards.
Linda is a former associate of the Center for Investigative Reporting and a former editor at San Francisco Focus magazine. She also worked as the Northern California correspondent for C-SPAN. Her work has appeared in San Francisco Focus, Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Toronto Globe and Mail, GEO, MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, PBS Frontline and other outlets. She was a longstanding member, board director and president of Media Alliance during its years as a professional journalism and media watchdog organization. Linda is well-known in national media reform and media diversity circles. She is also a contributing member of a Bay Area travel writing group that has published three collections of travel essays through Traveler’s Tales.
Linda has won two Thomas Moore Storke International Journalism Awards and a Maggie Certificate of Excellence for Feature Writing.
Curtis Lawrence
Journalism Faculty, Columbia College Chicago
Bio (click to expand)
Curtis Lawrence joined the Columbia College Chicago faculty in 2004 after working for nearly 20 years as an urban affairs reporter. Since 1980 he has worked at six daily newspapers and at the Chicago Reporter, a monthly publication that focuses on issues of race and poverty. Most recently, Lawrence worked at the Chicago Sun-Times where he covered a number of urban issues, including extensive coverage of the Chicago Housing Authority’s plan to replace its high-rises with mixed-income housing.
Lawrence earned a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Mass Communications from Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill.
Lawrence has been active with diversity issues for the past two years. He is involved with recruitment and retention issues at Columbia with a special focus on diversity. He and Nancy Day, the Journalism Department chair, were instrumental in securing a grant from the McCormick Tribune Foundation to direct an outreach and journalism education program for Chicago Public Schools students and teachers.
Sally Lehrman
Santa Clara University
Montara, Calif.
slehrman(at)bestwrit.com
Bio (click to expand)
Sally Lehrman is an award-winning reporter and writer for some of the top names in national print and broadcast media. Her byline credits include Scientific American, Nature, Health, the Washington Post, Salon.com and the DNA Files, distributed by NPR. She specializes in medical and science policy reporting, with an emphasis on genetics, race and sexuality. Distinguished honors include the 1995-96 John S. Knight Fellowship; a shared 2002 Peabody award, Peabody/Robert Wood Johnson Award for excellence in health and medical programming, and Columbia/Du Pont Silver Baton (for the DNA Files); and reporting and writing awards from SPJ, Case, and other organizations.
Besides SPJ, Lehrman is active in several organizations that promote diversity in the media. Her volunteer work in diversity has been recognized by the 2003 Wells Key, a 2002 SPJ President’s Award, the 1998 Howard Dubin Outstanding Pro Member Award and an award for service to the NorCal SPJ chapter. She is author of News in a New America, a fresh take on developing an inclusive U.S. news media, and is a USC Annenberg Institute for Justice and Journalism Expert Fellow. Lehrman also serves as SPJ’s Diversity Committee chairperson.
Aiesha D. Little
Associate Editor
Cincinnati Magazine
513/562-2772
E-mail
Bio (click to expand)
Aiesha D. Little is the associate editor for Cincinnati Magazine, a glossy city/regional publication covering Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Chief among her duties are writing features and departments, assigning and editing the calendar section, and managing the magazine's editorial internship program.
Little started her journalism career in newspapers before switching to magazines while pursuing a master's degree at Xavier University. Her daily news work has appeared in The Saginaw (MI) News, The Detroit News, and The Poughkeepsie (NY) Journal. After interning with both the special sections and editorial departments of Cincinnati Magazine, she headed to Chicago to work as the associate editor for EdTech Magazine, an education technology quarterly. She returned to Cincinnati Magazine as the associate editor in 2004.
Little's involvement in the Society of Professional Journalists goes back to her undergraduate years at Central Michigan University, where she served as the chair of her chapter's diversity committee. She is also a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and professional advisor to the University of Cincinnati Association of Black Journalists.
Ray Marcano
Dayton Daily News
Dayton, Ohio
Rebecca Tallent
University of Idaho
Moscow, Idaho
E-mail
Venise Wagner
Associate Department Chair, San Francisco State University
Bio (click to expand)
Venise Wagner is an assistant professor of journalism at San Francisco State University. She spent 12 years as a reporter for various California dailies, including the Hearst-owned San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle. While at the Examiner, she covered Education and issues in the Bay Area's various black communities. She also was a religion and ethics reporter for The Orange County Register and The Modesto Bee. Her work has been published in Mother Jones, Parade and Hope magazine. Her interest in improving diversity in the news and giving voice to marginalized communities has led her toward the practice and instruction of public journalism. At San Francisco State, she developed a public journalism course that has sent students to the Bayview Hunters Point and the Mission districts and Oakland's San Antonio district to write about undercovered issues in those neighborhoods.
Wagner graduated with a bachelor's in chemistry from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and a master's in Latin American Students from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. She is currently working on a content analysis of the coverage of slave reparations in the mainstream print media. She is also working on an historical novel about the rise and fall of black colony in Southern California called Allensworth.
Georgiana Vines
Retired Associate Editor
Knoxville News Sentinel
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