Lesbians and Gays in the Newsroom - 10 Years later

  A report from the Annenberg School for Communication

  University of Southern California , 2000 

  A national survey of gay and lesbian journalists' perceptions of coverage of sexual-orientation issues.

  Our goal in the 2000 survey was threefold: to assess how lesbians and gays are treated in present-day newsrooms; to assess coverageof lesbians and gays by news institutions; and last, but notleast, to assess the degree of change over the past 10 years.

  In this landmark study, lesbian and gay print journalists were asked to assess their own workplace conditions as well as coverage of lesbian and gay issues.

Media Cover 'Hot-Button' Stories But Fail to Focus on Day-to-Day Gay & Lesbian Issues.

USC Survey Also Finds Anti-Gay Slurs Still Common in Newsrooms.

Most mainstream gay and lesbian journalists who responded to a national survey are "out" to their colleagues and managers, but many find serious shortcomings in the quality of their news organizations' coverage of gay and lesbian issues.

Rising expectations may be one reason gay and lesbian journalists say their news organizations have made spotty progress in covering the gay community, according to a University of Southern California survey, "Lesbians and Gays in the Newsroom - Ten Years Later." The survey gleaned the views of 363 print and broadcast journalists from a 65-question multiple-choice questionnaire and follow-up anecdotal interviews.

Major findings

1. Lesbian and gay journalists enjoy unprecedented freedom in their mainstream news organizations, with more than90% attesting they are out in their newsrooms.

2. While coverage of lesbians and gays has shown improvement over 10 years, these journalists say there is still a wayto go. They rate much of current coverage as just fair topoor, especially of local issues affecting lesbian and gay communities. The responses suggest mainstream mediareacts to stories that reach national consideration but isfalling short in its attention to its home turf gay and lesbian communities. Coverage of lesbians and lesbians and gays ofcolor is rated at the very lowest level.

3. Derogatory comments, while significantly lessened over the decade, are still heard far too often in newsrooms.

4. Health benefits have proliferated for same-gender couplesin many of these news organizations, but it is far fromuniversal.

5. Communication between lesbian and gay staff members and managers to discuss coverage of lesbian and gay issuesappears to have plateaued in these newsrooms compared tothe early ‘90s, and, in several cases, regressed.

6. Coverage of HIV/AIDS experienced a steep decline comparedto the early ‘90s.

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