SEPTEMBER 2009 (Vol. 11, No. 6)
A Publication of Rivendell Media

Celebrating 10 years of serving our community of journalists

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Feature: Proud Out coverboy or dangerous stereotype?: Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Brüno” gives LGBT media much to report and ponder
In The News: “CBS News on Logo” is LGBT media’s latest economic casualty; St. Louis publisher asks readers: Should paper fold?; Dallas paper turns 25 while city celebrates “Dallas Voice Day”
Pressing Questions: Chicago Free Press of Chicago, Ill.
Transitions and Milestones
Bulletin Board
Staff
Contributors to This Issue
Contact Us

Is a recently released comic film meant as satire really effective at exposing homophobia? Or does it misfire?

No matter what any individual who sees the movie thinks, Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Brüno” traversed the summer landscape of pop culture, raising the hackles of some gay-rights groups while prompting editors, film critics and arts writers in LGBT media to deal with the film’s artistic merits, as well as the controversy its release generated.

Just how did “Brüno” play out in “our” media? What did reviewers of the film think? How widespread was the controversy and media stir surrounding “Brüno,” the fictional story of a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion journalist who is intent on finding fame? And what about the film caused two national gay organizations to decry “Brüno”?

Before considering reactions to the movie and its subsequent newsworthiness, Loren King, an arts writer and film critic for the Provincetown Banner and Boston Spirit magazine, provided some artistic context. “It’s fun, enjoyable, and what he’s known for,” she said, referring to Cohen. “It’s a crazy, unpredictable, guerilla style of comedy created by going in and making a comedy out of blindsiding people who don’t know what to make of him.”

Unlike his 2006 blockbuster “Borat,” which earned high marks from critics, Cohen’s latest is “a bit of a mixed bag,” explained King. She also serves as president of the Boston Society of Film Critics.

Yet, "you would expect mixed reviews,” she said, given that Cohen’s flamboyantly gay character behaves so outrageously and is at times way “over the top.” For King and other critics, “Some parts work better than others.” Still, the movie is “provocative, edgy and unique,” she said. “I appreciate that.”

A small sampling of entertainment reports and reviews in LGBT media, including Bay Area Reporter (BAR), Gay City News, Washington Blade and Windy City Times among others, bear out King’s mixed-bag assessment.

And yet one review perhaps strikes at the core of the movie’s appeal for some and offense of others. The movie “employs a brand of desensitizing comedy [and] shock-therapy, using in-your-face penis and ass shots to do nutty battle with the dark forces of religious bigotry and sexual prudery,” writes David Lambie in San Francisco’s BAR.

Representatives of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) voiced concerns over the film’s potential to perpetuate anti-gay stereotypes as well as fuel homophobia.

“Some people in our community may like this movie, but many are not" going to, Rashad Robinson, GLAAD’s senior director, told the New York Times. “Sacha Baron Cohen’s well-meaning attempt at satire is problematic in many places and outright offensive in others.”

Jarrett Barrios, incoming executive director at GLAAD, offered another assessment. “It’s unfortunate that ‘Brüno’ ultimately misses the mark, particularly when there are still far too few positive images of gay people in major studio films.”

In a similar vein, HRC spokesperson Brad Luna suggested the movie’s producers provide a disclaimer. “We strongly feel that Sacha Boron Cohen and Universal Pictures have a responsibility to remind the viewing public right there in the theater that this is intended to expose homophobia.”

And as Matt Schaffer’s April 10 piece in Southern Voice makes quite clear, LGBT organization Alabama Equality expressed its own doubts. The regional group's chairman, Dr. Bob Palmatier, told Schaffer that “Brüno” does more to set back gay causes than advance them.

Such outcries, however, did not dissuade national glossy Out magazine from featuring Cohen’s latest character on the cover of its August issue, an editorial decision that is perhaps one indicator of the film’s appeal in the LGBT community.

Out editor in chief Aaron Hicklin explained his rationale for playing up Cohen and the film. “Out is not an extension of HRC or GLAAD,” he told Press Pass Q. “Our role isn’t necessarily and always to advocate an orthodox gay position on what is good or bad for us. Our goal as a magazine is to be relevant and to approach gay culture from a gay perspective. I felt strongly that ‘Brüno’ was a movie that we should acknowledge” insofar as “it’s resonating with gay and non-gay audiences at some levels. To ignore it would have been silly.”

Like Cohen’s earlier blockbuster, his latest also held out the possibility of “creating a conversation,” Hicklin said. Although “Brüno” has not enjoyed the same box-office success as “Borat,” “that in itself is very interesting,” he said.

Hicklin said he understood why gay-rights advocates felt the need to speak out. “I think one of the concerns of some gay organizations was that ‘Brüno’ would perpetuate certain stereotypes of gay men,” he said.

Or feed the homophobic myth of all gay men as sex-obsessed.

Sure enough, a très gay Brüno likes sex – and lots of it. For instance, a rather nonchalant Brüno spreads his cheeks for a matter-of-fact anal bleaching. In another scene, he simulates performing fellatio. All the while, Brüno is neither embarrassed nor cagy about his antics or sex drive. On and off screen, Brüno is certainly not apologetic.

While some viewers may like this refreshingly radical film perspective devoid of puritanical prudishness, others in the audience may well take offense. And “Brüno” offers plenty of fodder for offense.

And yet for Hicklin, “It’s patronizing to make assumptions about the audience.”

New York City’s Next magazine, which also ran Cohen as Brüno on its cover, ran two opinion pieces side by side – one praising the film as a vehicle for tolerance, the other damning the movie as a dangerous purveyor of stereotypes.

So how widespread was the reaction and outcry?

“Not much controversy here,” said Kevin Naff, editor of the Washington Blade. “Gay people are growing up and getting a sense of humor.”

Naff went further. “I am always leery when national organizations like GLAAD pounce on pop culture events, and whine and complain about stereotypes. It sort of perpetuates the idea that we’re victims,” he said.

“People need to lighten up and laugh and poke fun at themselves and take a joke,” he added. “There’s plenty to be angry about without stirring up indignation over movies and characters.”

As for BAR, “We didn’t really see [the movie] as a news issue, more of an arts thing,” said editor Cynthia Laird. “There didn’t seem to be any organized protests in the Bay Area, at least that we got notice of.”

The Advocate, however, ran an essay on its website entitled, “Get over it, GLAAD,” written by Stephen Milioti. Advocate executive editor Matthew Breen, however, made clear the views expressed were the author’s and not that of the publication.

GLAAD, it seems, bore the brunt of the scolding in LGBT media.

Perhaps Out’s Hicklin made the keenest observation about the constricted nature of the motion picture industry. “Brüno’s too gay for Hollywood. There, he must learn to be straight, taking turns that gay men have to do every day of their lives in order to participate in what is a very reactionary system,” Hicklin said. “The fact that 18 years after this magazine was launched, I can still count pretty much on my hand the number of A, B or C list actors who are out of the closet. It’s astonishing.”

One of the country’s most high-profile LGBT news programs has broadcast for the last time.

“CBS News on Logo” aired its final episode on Aug. 13. Itay Hod, a former correspondent for the show, told Press Pass Q that the faltering economy prompted CBS to decide not to renew Logo’s contract to produce the news program. “We kind of knew this was coming,” Hod said.

The program debuted shortly after Logo’s launch in June 2005. Former CNN reporter Jason Bellini anchored “CBS News on Logo,” while Hod and Chagmion Antoine worked as correspondents. Court Passant was executive producer.

“CBS News on Logo” was initially a three-minute newscast each week, but it later expanded to a half-hour format.

“It took a long time to get up to a point where Logo would even consider a half-hour show,” Hod recalled. “All three of us [Hod, Antoine and Bellini] basically pushed Logo to do a half-hour show because we realized there was so much more we could do than on a three-minute show.”

Hod’s favorite stories included a feature on the impact Hurricane Katrina had on LGBT New Orleanians and an interview conducted with the Rev. Fred Phelps of Kansas’ Westboro Baptist Church.

“We talked with Republicans and Democrats,” he said. “This [was] no 700 Club for gay people. These [were stories] that would have been told on CBS News, with pros and cons. These were stories interesting to the gay community, but they didn’t have a slant.”

Hod applauded CBS for its continued interest in the broadcast. “It was done by a network – a top network – we had one of the top networks putting their name, their logo, their credibility [on our show],” he said.

The program is the latest in a series of LGBT media outlets that have closed up shop since the economic crisis erupted last fall. The New York Blade ceased publication in July, while the London-based Pink Paper announced in June it would suspend its print edition.

A Logo spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment, but the network will continue to report news on 365gay.com. Hod maintains, however, that he has no regrets about his decision to stick with “CBS News on Logo” to the end.

“To me it was so exciting because I [could] turn on the television and there’s a newscast about gay stories,” he said. “If that’s not progress, then I don’t know what it is.”

— Michael K. Lavers

St. Louis publisher asks readers: Should paper fold?

In the 10 years that Pam Schneider has published The Vital Voice, based in St. Louis, there has been a “no-skin” advertising policy, she said, referring to phone sex, escort and bare-chested ads. The policy, Schneider said, “allowed me to gain a high level of respectability” for the newspaper.

But that policy came with a price – debt. “If we had skin, there would be less debt,” she acknowledged. In fact, her debt has risen to over $100,000.

Current dire financial straights in the media industry, coupled with the economic downturn, have pressed publisher Schneider to take an unusual step. On March 19, she posted on the publication’s website a “dear readers” appeal and survey. “We are at a crossroad,” Schneider wrote. “… I need your assistance.”

From the beginning, Schneider has been the Voice’s sole owner and funder, providing capital to keep the paper afloat in hard times.

While some people in the local business community may question her sanity in doing so, Schneider made clear her reasons for holding tight: “I have always believed this paper has been extremely important to the LGBT community,” she wrote. No other publication, Schneider said, “showcases the community, what we bring to the table here, whether in the arts and entertainment, people who are out in local politics – so that you can really begin to show a larger community, that we are everywhere, but don’t wear our sexuality on our sleeves.”

And so she put it directly to the readers: “It’s time for me to find out how important [the Voice] is to the community,” she wrote. “As I see it, I have several scenarios that are possible. First, I need to find out how relevant the paper is in its current form to the LGBT community. Should I attempt to raise funds for the non-profit I have created and attempt to operate this way? Should we simply be an online paper? Should we change to more of a lifestyle ‘glossy’ and provide more coverage of local entertainment and culture than news? Or should we simply close our doors?

Altogether, she concluded, “I really need to know what St. Louis’ LGBT community wants, and what they are willing to support.”

In one month’s time, Schneider said that she got a “cross section” of about 100 responses. “Overwhelmingly, no one wanted the Voice to go away, and didn’t want it to go away as a printed piece."

One respondent poignantly wrote, "I am concerned about the potential loss of The Vital Voice. I am a therapist at the Family Resource Center (a social service agency in St. Louis). In an effort to make our environment more welcoming, we have asked that the Voice be delivered to our agency. Every issue disappears each time."

Added another respondent, "I am amazed at the people who I see reading your paper, people whom I certainly would not have identified as being part of our community. … I want you to know that you have touched many lives and made St. Louis a better place to be LGBT."

As gratifying as that feedback is, said publisher Schneider, "No one has stepped up to the plate with a check to say, ‘Let’s keep this afloat.’”

Meanwhile, Schneider brought on an associate publisher. Within several months, “The Voice’s ad sales revenues are up 30 percent to 40 percent.” Schneider made an editorial shift as well, away from hard news to a more lifestyle publication.

“So I feel we are on the right track,” she said. “Have I retired my debt? No.” But the paper is holding steady at 16 pages, with a monthly print run of 13,000 to 15,000 copies that are distributed throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area and as far away as Springfield, Joplin and Kansas City, Mo.

— Chuck Colbert

Dallas paper turns 25 while city celebrates “Dallas Voice Day”

The mayor took note. So did the city council. And publisher Robert Moore accepted from them a proclamation declaring Friday, May 22, “Dallas Voice Day,” as the city paid tribute, honoring the LGBT newspaper's 25th anniversary.

Moore, along with two business partners, started the Dallas Voice in May 1984. Today, the weekly LGBT newspaper is one of the nation's largest, serving the North Texas community.

“All of us wanted to celebrate 25 years of the community,” said Tammye Nash, the paper's senior editor. “We would not be here without a community willing to support us.”

And so to mark the milestone, the Dallas Voice published a 120-page-plus special anniversary issue. “A lot of work went into the anniversary issue,” Nash said, praising the efforts of news editor John Wright and lifestyle editor Arnold Wayne Jones.

Its aim was to recognize “25 Dallas Notables," with short profile pieces to spotlight their accomplishments. “We wanted to recognize people who have put their heart into the community over the years,” Nash said, drawing a comparison to the example set by her publisher. “Robert is somebody who puts his heart and soul into the community.” For example, “He contributes money to community activities and has given thousands of dollars of reduced-price advertising to people, events and non-profit fundraisers. He does it because he wants to make the community better.”

Of course, the paper has to turn a profit. “That has not been so easy the last few years or so,” Nash said. Still, “Robert has continued to produce the best possible newspaper. He is committed to his staff; it's been important to him to take care of the staff and take care of the community.”

Nash began working at the Dallas Voice in June 1989. She stayed through the end of March 2001, serving as a staff writer. After several years away, she returned in 2004. By 2006, Moore promoted her to senior editor following the death of longtime senior editor Dennis Vercher.

With more than 15 years at the Dallas Voice, Nash has witnessed the newspaper's growth in page count, content, scope of coverage and readership. Still for Nash, one story, the tale of Judge Jack Hampton, stands out.

In the late 1980s, Hampton served as the Dallas County Criminal District Court judge who presided over the trial of Richard Lee Bednarski, the son of a police officer. Charged with killing two men, Bednarski was convicted for the double murders. His sentence carried the possibility of life imprisonment, which the prosecutor sought. Instead, Hampton imposed a 30-year sentence, considered by many to be lenient.

But the light sentence is not what riled the gay community. It was Hampton's loose tongue afterwards. “I don't care much for queers cruising the streets. I've got a teenage boy,” Hampton told the now-defunct Dallas Times-Herald in 1988. The word “queers” referred to Bednarski's victims. Hampton went on to say that if they “hadn't been cruising the streets picking up teenage boys,” he would have handed down a harsher penalty. “I put prostitutes and gays at about the same level, and I'd be hard pressed to give someone life for killing a prostitute.”

Those comments ignited a stir, prompting lawsuits, protests, grassroots and community-based activism, all of which the Dallas Voice covered in detail. The story, one of perceived injustice and outright bigotry from the bench, sprouted long legs. National mainstream print and broadcast outlets covered the case in Texas, turning it into an early cause celebre about violence against gay people.

Twenty years later, a piece in the Dallas Voice offered some historical perspective. “We all know bigotry exists, it's just when it hits you right in the face it makes a difference,” William Waybourn, who played a leading role in the Dallas Gay Alliance through the 1980s, told the paper. “People weren't shocked and outraged that two people had died; they were shocked and outraged that a judge had put his bigotry on the bench.”

Altogether for Nash, serving as senior editor of a big LGBT publication in a big state is all about “doing the best we can,” she said. “We are not an activist paper. We are here to inform, entertain and build community. But we want to do that as journalists,” Nash said, citing the philosophy of the late senior editor Vercher, who served for 21 years. The paper aims “not” to be “a good gay newspaper,” she explained. Rather, “we want to be a good newspaper.”

— Chuck Colbert

Geographic coverage area: Chicago and outlying suburbs

Year founded: 1999

Staff size and breakdown (writers, sales reps, etc.): 2 editorial staff, 2 production staff, 7 account executives

Physical dimensions of publication: 10.1” x 10.78”

Average page count: 40 pages

Key demographics: 85.2 percent gay/lesbian, 4.7 percent straight, 7.7 percent bisexual, 2.4 percent other; 72.2 percent male, 26.6 percent female, 1.2 percent trans; mean birth year 1966, median birth year 1967

Print run: 18,000

Website: chicagofreepress.com

*****

PPQ: As a publication serving the Chicagoland area, are your readers more interested in local or national news, and how do you split that coverage?

Editor Matt Simonette: We give priority to local coverage. I would say that 10 percent to 20 percent of our content is national. My own thought is that the information about national news is now more available online, and as editorial space in the paper becomes more precious, I want to make sure that we are focusing on news our readers can't get elsewhere, or offering fresh perspectives on stories that have broken elsewhere. I don't want to be in the habit of running Associated Press items just out of fear that the paper won't look relevant if we don't acknowledge something happened.

PPQ: What challenge has your publication had to overcome over the past few years?

Simonette: Establishing and maintaining a distinctive identity in a very competitive market, while at the same time reflecting the diversity of the Chicago LGBT community. Allotting resources to maintaining a significant online presence has also been a challenge.

PPQ: What challenges are you facing right now?

Simonette: The same economic challenge that most newspapers are facing – continuing to turn out a quality product in the wake of diminished ad revenues.

PPQ: What sort of cost-cutting measures has the Chicago Free Press taken to deal with the economic downturn?

Simonette: We have had to cut back on the number of pages per issue as well as delivery locations. Some of our regular weekly columns were cut as well. They were very, very painful cuts to make.

PPQ: How has your publication changed since it was first launched 10 years ago?

Simonette: The scope of the paper has not changed, but the format has. The Chicago Free Press now has a more compact, easier-to-read look.

PPQ: Do you see yourself as an "activist journalist"?

Simonette: I do not. Other staffers, past and present, sometimes disagree on this, but I personally believe that a journalist needs to report on a story, not be a part of it. With some exceptions, the editorial stance of the paper coincides with the activist work we're reporting on, and we have a pronounced pro-LGBT slant, obviously; we don't call Focus on the Family for comment whenever our community gets good news, for example. But I do not look for stories wherein the newspaper becomes an integral part of the narrative. Sometimes it will unavoidably happen, such as when our phone calls prompt a politician or community member to action. But I am highly sensitive to the Chicago Free Press being regarded as too self-serving. In my own opinion, it is most important for us to be regarded as a quality newspaper.

PPQ: How long have you been a journalist?

Simonette: Three years. I was previously an editorial assistant here, working for Louis Weisberg, and took over as staff writer in 2006 shortly after Gary [Barlow] became the editor. Previously, I was an editorial assistant for an economics journal. Both Gary and Louis offered tremendous on-the-job training about the newspaper business and Chicago's LGBT community.

PPQ: What's the most surprising feedback you've received from a reader?

Simonette: I am always surprised when we get complaints over cutting some regular feature we regard as inconsequential. We had a horoscopes section that served as filler and actually received quite a few complaints when it went away.

PPQ: How much interaction does the Chicago Free Press have with its readers and their concerns, and how is that carried out?

Simonette: We get our share of remarks from letters, online comments and occasional phone calls. We have tried some polling features online that we hope can make our website more interactive. We try to be responsive to reader concerns when we can. We have reinstated features, sometimes, when readers have asked for them back. We also are not afraid to issue corrections when needed.

PPQ: How much interaction does the Chicago Free Press have with the mainstream media and does your coverage include criticism of mainstream media LGBT coverage?

Simonette: We have very little interaction with the larger papers here. They do report on LGBT issues occasionally but it is rare. We had some promotional tie-ins with a local TV station during Pride month last year and got some local news personalities to appear at our "Pressie" Best in Community awards this year. But there are few occasions, at least on the editorial side, wherein we are interacting or sharing resources with a mainstream news organization.

That said, I suppose an exception would be using Associated Press stories, which we do, and we will sometimes quote with attribution from mainstream news coverage if we have no choice. The former spokesperson for a particular entity here in Chicago, for example, was notorious for only returning the calls of the Tribune and Sun-Times, both mainstream dailies.

PPQ: What advice do you have for others working in LGBT media?

Simonette: Hang in there. Look for every opportunity you can to broaden your writing portfolio beyond community news. Take every chance you can to write features or specialized pieces. Become familiar with writing for the web.

What’s your opinion? We’d like to know. Send your letters to editor@PressPassQ.com. Letters should be kept to a maximum of 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.

(Editor’s note: Are there important changes going on at your publication? E-mail the information to editor@PressPassQ.com.)

ROGER LYNN CURTIS, a former sales representative with Portland, Ore.-based JUST OUT, died May 23 from complications due to an illness.

DRAG MAGAZINE, based in Charleston, S.C., has ended its cooperative partnership with ONQ NETWORK due to the official transfer of the magazine’s ownership from founder DEE GONET to JAMIE SEABOLT of OnQ.

AARON DRAKE and STEPHAN HORBELT are the new editors at FRONTIERS IN L.A. MAGAZINE. Previous editor JEREMY KINSER is now arts and entertainment editor at THE ADVOCATE.

JAMIE HYMAN is the new online editor at WATERMARK, based in Tampa Bay, Fla.

LIBERTY PRESS, based in Kansas, marked its 15th anniversary with its September issue.

NIGHTTIMEZ and NIGHTTIMEZ.COM, based in Boston, launched Sept. 3 as part of the revamped RAINBOW TIMES and THERAINBOWTIMESMASS.COM. The Rainbow Times had been based in Western Massachusetts since its founding in 2006.

ON THE WEB. At the Press Pass Q website - www.PressPassQ.com - you'll find back issues and subscription information. Also, at the Q Syndicate website - www.qsyndicate.com - you'll find up-to-date information on the 12 columns and features we distribute to gay and lesbian media: A Couple of Guys, Bitter Girl, Book Marks, Deep Inside Hollywood, Editorial Cartoons, Now Playing, Out of Town, The OutField, Political IQ, Q Puzzle, Q Scopes, and Sex Talk. For information about subscribing to Q Syndicate content, write to qsyndicate@pridesource.com or call toll-free 888-615-7003.

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Publisher: Todd Evans, todd@PressPassQ.com
Editor: Fred Kuhr, editor@PressPassQ.com
Associate Editor: Dave Brousseau, dave@QSyndicate.com
Contributing Writers: Derrik Chinn, Chuck Colbert, Tanya Gulliver, Liz Highleyman, Michael K. Lavers, Matthew Pilecki, David Webb

CHUCK COLBERT is a freelance journalist based in Cambridge, Mass. He can be reached at crciiiund@aol.com.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS is the Mid-Atlantic Editor for EDGE Publications. His work has appeared on Gay.com and in the New York Blade, the Fire Island News, and other publications across the country. His blog, Boy in Bushwick, can be found at www.bushwickboy.blogspot.com.

DAVID WEBB worked for both mainstream and alternative media during his 25-year career, including LGBT newspaper Dallas Voice for seven years as a staff writer and news editor. He now lives on Cedar Creek Lake southeast of Dallas. In addition to freelancing, he authors the blog therarereporter.blogspot.com.

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