Trans Media Watch

ABC Nightline tonight at 11:35pm ET

2008-03-07T09:36:00.002-05:00

Tonight ABC's Nightline program will profile a high-level transgender (MTF) Microsoft employee. For more info, follow the link:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4394493&page=1

TMW featured in the Advoacte

2007-08-12T11:20:00.000-05:00

Joanne Herman, the Advocate's regular columnist on trans issues, featured TransMediaWatch in her most recent commentary. "A Big Year on the Small Screen" looks at representation of transgender people from the 2006–2007 television season. Thanks for the shout out, Joanne.

Click here to read the full column.

You can also find a compilation of Joanne's writings at www.joanneherman.com

Watch this

2007-08-09T09:43:00.000-05:00

Tune in to CNN's Larry King Live tomorrow where King will once again bravely step "inside the world of transgender people." You know, "men who go under the knife to become women." Despite this sensationalistic, reductionist promo copy, I'm willing to give Larry the benefit of the doubt. So tune in Friday, August 10 at 9pm ET.

On the CNN website, you can also email questions that you'd like Larry to address on this topic.

Click here to email Larry's producers in advance of the show.

Maybe you can ask what's up with reducing trans people to objects of surgery switcheroos in that darn copy. Maybe you can urge Larry to talk about the overwhelming social and economic factors (that pesky employment discrimination, the disproportionately high level of hate violence, or the lack of legal protections) that oppress within the wacky "world of transgender people."

Now that’s something I’d like to see discussed on the nation’s most watched prime time news program!

Et tu, Brutè? PlanetOut defames trans celeb.

2007-07-03T10:20:00.000-05:00

We've come to expect anti-trans, defamatory news coverage from the likes of Michael Savage, but it is shocking to see it from PlanetOut.com -- an LGBT news source. Marc Breindel's article "Alexis Arquette: She's My Brother" (6/26/07) published on PlanetOut.com is a tour de force in ignorance.

Here is a excerpt:

Alexis Arquette "wants to have her breasts and penis, too" ... "No wonder people question whether Arquette is genuinely transgendered or rather a drag queen hitching a free publicity ride on the transgender bandwagon."

We've come to expect better from the LGBT media, but I guess you might need to send them some educational email to pr@planetoutinc.com or by calling their communications staff at 415-834-6361.

Click here to read the full article.

"Christians" Fret Over Positive Trans Media

2007-05-30T09:12:00.000-05:00

Okay, this is from the Christian Post Reporter, so try to ignore how the writer can't seem to use the term transgender in a grammatically correct fashion. Good news though -- the right-wingers are worried about positive portrayals of us in the media...I guess they rather see more Tucker, Savage and Beck.

Christian Post Reporter
May 23, 2007

By Lillian Kwon

Media Bias on Transgenders Raising Concerns

Growing media coverage and portrayals of the transgendered life have led some Christians to raise the red flag on a movement beginning to go more public much like the homosexual one already has.

Click here to read the whole article.

Tune In. Report Back.

2007-04-27T21:38:00.000-05:00

Being a media watchdog isn't the best job in the world (because it means watching a bunch of terrible TV personalities trash talk trans people), but somebody has got to do it...and I'm hoping that somebody will be you. Here are the air times of the three worst offenders. Tune in. And if you catch trans bashing in the guise of "news" on these programs, please email me at simzec@gmail.com.

Tucker Carlson
MSNBC
Monday - Friday, 4:00pm ET

Glenn Beck
CNN Headline News
Monday - Friday, 7:00pm ET
Re-runs at 9:00pm and 12:00am ET

Michael Savage
Talk Radio Networks
Monday - Friday 4-7:00pm PT
WOR in New York
KNEW in San Francisco
WKRO in Boston
KRLA in Los Angeles

Demagogues of Defamation

2007-04-19T15:34:00.000-05:00

Op-ed: Demagogues of Defamation

Words have power. Words in the media have more. I know you’ve read this before: Hate speech creates an environment where hate crimes are acceptable. But is anybody listening when those words slander transgender people?

Click here to read the op-ed in the Washington Blade (April 27, 2007).

7 Tips on Communicating with "Journalists"

2007-04-18T21:40:00.000-05:00

Reposted from the wonderful website Media Matters:

Many media personalities and outlets make their email addresses available online and encourage audience members to provide feedback (...or TransMediaWatch digs up their producer's contact info and conveniently posts it in the sidebar to your left...). Here are a few suggestions to make your feedback as productive as possible:

Be polite. Don't use profanity or personal attacks. Emails that include profanity or insults are rude and ineffective, hurt your credibility, and only offend the recipient.
Keep it short. Limit your overall email to roughly 250 words, or about three paragraphs. You want to make your point clearly and quickly; lengthy emails are unlikely to be read beyond the first paragraph.
Be specific. As much as possible, reference specific news items, programs, articles, columns, and editorials, and be specific about your complaint.
State what you want clearly. The recipient of your email should come away with a clear understanding of your request. Do you think an issue has received too little attention? Is factual information presented on equal footing with false information, with the viewer left to decide what to believe? Has an important viewpoint been excluded from a story? (...or is there outrageous defamation of trans people on a particular program...hmmmm?)
Make sure the subject line of your message conveys what you are writing about. For example, write "Your October 6 article on taxes uses incorrect information" instead of "tax issues."
Personalize your email -- but don't get personal. Each email should be directed to one individual or media outlet and should reference the coverage (or lack thereof) of that particular individual or outlet. Don't write a generic message and send it to a whole list of reporters. Be polite, and keep your email focused on the substance of your complaint, not on personal criticism of the reporter.
Link to further information. Where appropriate, include a link to a website for further information. If you are sending more information in response to a news report, it's always helpful to the recipient of the message to see the source of your information.

Thanks to MediaMatters.org for this info!

Glenn "Freak Boy" Beck

2007-04-10T21:52:00.000-05:00

Post text reprinted from T-Equality Blog.

On May 25, 2006, Mr. Beck did a segment about the transgender teen in Indiana, who was barred from a high school prom for wanting to wearing an appropriate prom gown after wearing girl's clothes in school for an entire school year. Mr. Beck carefully analyzed the legal situation the school faced. By carefully analyzing, of course, I mean he called the teenager "Dame Edna" and remarkably "freak boy." Then he announced, "I'm not a lawyer. I am a thinker." So that's nice.

Reward for information related to actual news...

2007-04-10T21:41:00.000-05:00

Michael Savage on the murder of Ruby Ordeñana

2007-04-10T20:29:00.000-05:00

Savage referred to a transgender murder victim as a "freak" and a "psychopath", stating that the victim "should have been in a back ward in a straitjacket for years, howling on major medication... What's this sympathy, constant sympathy for sexually confused people? Why should we have constant sympathy for people who are freaks in every society? I didn't say hurt the freaks. I didn't say do anything to the freaks. But you know what? You're never gonna make me respect the freak. I don't want to respect the freak. The freak ought to be glad that they're allowed to walk around without begging for something."

-Michael Savage, Savage Nation, March 20, 2007

"The wages of sin are death. You're gonna cut off your willy, you're gonna walk around in women's clothes, you're gonna hook -- you're gonna wind up dead under a freeway, Johnson. It's not gonna be an HBO special about your travails and how surgery made you a happy woman. I never understand these people."

-Michael Savage, Savage Nation, March 23, 2007

** Click here to listen to the radio clip on Media Matters.

Tucker Carlson in His Own Words

2007-04-09T21:28:00.000-05:00

"Just because you're castrated and have a fake set of boobs does not make you a woman. It makes you a castrated man with a fake set of boobs."

- The Situation with Tucker Carlson, MSNBC, June 1, 2006

"If a person voluntarily undergoes a castration...that is an act of a crazy person. That is like setting your hair on fire of blinding yourself...and I don't want a person that unstable teaching my kids.

- The Situation with Tucker Carlson, MSNBC, February 23, 2006