Maddow
Columnist Howard Kurtz profiled the openly gay MSNBC news anchor, paying close attention to how her sexual orientation impacts her treatment of guests like Lt. Dan Choi, who came out on The Rachel Maddow Show last March, and who was recently called back to duty with his Army National Guard unit.
From the Post:
As one of the few openly gay television anchors, Maddow has kept the spotlight trained on the contentious issue of whether service members known to be homosexual should face discharge proceedings, as Choi did after that interview. But she doesn't view herself as mounting a crusade.
"I was an activist before I went into the media," Maddow says. "It is useful for me to tell my opinion on some things I cover. But I'm not trying to get people to march in the streets or call their congressmen. I don't believe that's my role."
"We don't really treat gay issues differently than other issues," Maddow says. The controversy, she says, is just "a great story."
Maddow, the first openly gay anchor to be hired to host a prime-time news broadcast on U.S. televison, said she accepts that some critics believe she's biased on gay issues, and offers no apologies:
"I can't do the show as a non-gay person. I don't have that option," Maddow told the Post.
Read the full article at The Washington Post.
Filed under: Newsmakers
It's so cool how- while the assumption is always that a gay person covering a gay issue/story will be biased- it's never conversely assumed that a straight person covering the same story would be unbiased. *Apparently* heterosexuals are the only ones capable of dealing objectively with anything. Following that logic, I guess we should only have white reporters deal with racial issues, male reporters deal with women's interests, etc?
Oops- previous post used a double-negative. I meant to say that it's never assumed a straight person would also be biased by their orientation.
Good for you Miss Maddow. And you shouldn't have to.