Local media finds gay news difficult
By ANNA HOYT
Of the Emerald
Objective media coverage of
gay issues is a myth, claimed
one audience member at a pan
el discussion sponsored by the
Gay Peoples’ Alliance as a part
of Gay Pride Week.
The panel, which consisted of
five representatives from the
Eugene media, discussed the
media’s coverage of gay news.
The audience member said
objective coverage of gay
issues is a dangerous myth
because the media doesn’t give
the coverage that people need.
She cited the football scandal
as an example. If it had been
reported with a feminist point
of-view, the rape would have
been the most important aspect,
not the lost money, she said.
Eugene Register-Guard re
porter Lyoyd Passeman ex
plained it was hard to balance
various aspects of the story
"when we simply could not pin
down any factual information."
People tend to remember the
first information heard on a
story, and misinformation could
do more harm than good, Pa
seman said.
"Seldom does a correction
catch up with an error."
Space considerations are an
other reason for limited gay
news coverage, Paseman said.
"Since you cannot publish
everything, the editorial deci
sion of what runs has to be sub
jective," he said. "Typically, our
Elections to decide
student board reps
By GABRIEL BOEHMER
Of the Emerald
University students will elect
six representatives to the
Student University Affairs Board
in the primary election Wednes
day and Thursday.
Too few candidates are run
ning for the student board to
justify a run-off in next week’s
general election, unless write-in
votes bring unfiled candidates
into the races.
Keith Johnson and Tamae
Moriyasu are contending to
represent business and econ
omics students on the SUAB.
Johnson, a 24-year-old senior
majoring in finance and econ
omics, is concerned about the
financial plight of the University.
‘‘Things are really tight, and
they’re not going to get any
better,” Johnson says.
Although Johnson has never
attended a SUAB meeting, he
has a definite idea of the board’s
function in the University ad
ministration.
"SUAB should voice
students’ interests. And you
shouldn't support only what’s
good for your group.”
Johnson says he would sup
port the Career Planning and
Placement Service, which he
considers important for busi
ness majors.
Vying with Johnson for the
business and economics posi
tion is Tamae Moriyasu, a
20-year-old sophomore major
ing in marketing.
Moriyasu says she would
stress better communication
between the University’s
department heads so the
University’s budget problems
could be better understood.
"Students are pretty worried
right now," Moriyasu says.
“Oregon has a strong business
school, and I don’t want that to
go downhill.”
Running for the political
science position on the board
are David Newell and David
Montgomery.
Newell, a 19-year-old so
phomore, is Information and
Grievance Center director for
SUAB.
Newell says he already at
tends SUAB and University
faculty senate meetings
regularly, but that he would feel
more effective as a voting
member of the student board.
Newell says his goals for the
SUAB would depend on the
priorities set by the student
board, but he says he is con
cerned about closed and over
crowded sections of University
classes.
In the only other contended
race, Cheryl Steinhaus and
David Kosse are running for the
SUAB journalism position.
Steinhaus, a 20-year-old pre
journalism sophomore, has dir
ected ESCAPE publicity this
academic year.
"I could represent students
well," Steinhaus says. "I would
like to get involved in politics.”
Although Steinhaus says the
student board isn’t used en
ough by students, she says in
telligent student representation
can help the taculty senate
make better decisions.
Her opponent David Kosse
could not be reached for com
ment.
In uncontested races, Kevin
Conover is seeking the SUAB
biology-chemistry position,
Paul Rudinsky is running for the
undeclared major position,
Geoffrey Nichols hopes to fill
the Computer and Information
Science-Math position, and
SUAB incumbent Susan
Browning wants to serve a
second term as music repre
sentative.
Candidates did not file for po
sitions representing law, com
munity service and public af
fairs, and architecture and allied
arts. The three positions will be
elected by write-in votes.
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coverage focuses on major
speakers.”
The Register-Guard has no
policy to exclude gay news, Pa
seman said. The paper strives to
live up to its policy of “being
accurately balanced and in
good taste,” he said.
KEZI-TV’s Rosemary Reed
said television news has a
special problem covering gay
news because of the visual na
ture of the medium. TV news
runs into problems “showing
people doing what they do," she
said.
Reed said a reporter and
cameraman got into trouble
when they filmed a couple kiss
ing at the gay kissing booth last
year.
“Some people aren’t ready
for that,” Reed said. “We got
calls, lots of calls."
Complaints contribute to
limited air coverage of gays,
Reed said. People call and say
“we don’t want to see this dur
ing the dinner hour,” she said.
Getting more gay news on the
air is difficult, even if the video is
harmless and isn’t offensive,
Reed said. A gay story she did
was pulled after the evening
news and replaced by an oran
gutan story for the 11 p.m. news,
she said.
Reed said the story showed a
gay couple sitting under a tree
and similar innocent scenes.
"I think the pressure of phone
calls caused them to put the
orangutan on.”
Reed said she would like to
see the situation change. "We
just have to keep plugging
away.”
Positive letters and phone
calls to the station help, she
said.
Reed said she doesn’t see a
significant trend toward con
servatism in the station's phone
calls. The callers, she said, "are
just as nasty as they’ve always
been."
Paseman, however, sees an
alarming change in attitudes.
“It’s more acceptable now to
come down on minorities,” he
said, referring to recent in
cidents of racial harassment in
Eugene.
Ken Doctor of the Willamette
Valley Observer said the role of
his paper is a "watchdog of the
community" and investigates
issues such as the Moral Major
ity.
The Observer tries to reach a
segment of its readers each
week and hopefully make a
change, Doctor said.
Terry Yaffe of Womens' Press
said her paper doesn’t “go
after", gay rights issues, but the
stories it prints include all
aspects. The monthly paper
focuses on womens' issues and
goes from there, Yaffe said.
miner
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