News Broadcaster’s Conversation with Potential Republican Presidential Candidate “Leaves Anti-LGBTQ Views Unchallenged”
WASHINGTON, DC, March 4, 2015 — The National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund is calling on CNN to apologize for an interview aired today with anti-LGBTQ politician Dr. Benjamin Carson—a potential Republican presidential candidate. In the interview the controversial politician’s views about LGBTQ people were left unchallenged thus giving the impression that they were factual.
“As a national news organization, the media and in this instance CNN has the vital responsibility to challenge the views of politicians on a whole range of issues, especially those views that are factually incorrect, misleading and offensive. Instead, CNN elected not to challenge Carson’s anti-LGBTQ views which are untrue and therefore helped to further perpetuate unscientific, hateful, and discriminatory rhetoric. It’s was really more like a speech than an interview.
“Discrimination targeting LGBTQ people is a huge problem in our nation which cannot be resolved with continued inaccurate and shoddy reporting. Without challenging anti-LGBTQ political views, broadcasters are in danger of broadcasting hate speech that can lead to harassment, violence, and even death of LGBTQ people—as we’ve seen in the murders of eight transgender women and gender non-conforming people in the last two months.
“We call on CNN to issue an apology to its viewers and apologize to the LGBTQ community for televising unchallenged, false and unscientific information about LGBTQ people. We also call on CNN to accurately and factually report on LGBTQ people by inviting real experts on the issue instead of interviewing bigoted politicians looking to score cheap political points at the expense of LGBTQ people,” said Rea Carey, Executive Director, National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund.
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CONTACT:
Jorge Amaro
Media and Public Relations Director
213-842-7564
jamaro@thetaskforce.org