The Gist

Out in TV News

While there's been a lot of discussion about the glass closet of a certain platinum-haired CNN anchor, other TV newspeople are coming out, or rather just doing their jobs as openly gay. And they're saying being out actually helps them do their jobs better. After all, if a journalist is being deceptive, or holding back, doesn't that hurt his credibility?

The statement that most annoyed me when Anderson Cooper was asked about his sexual orientation by New York magazine a couple of years ago was his claim that he kept that private because he want to retain his objectivity as a journalist. The idea was that by being open certain people might not talk to him and he might not get the story, and that being circumspect made him more neutral. But that is deceptive because you are of course thought to be heterosexual unless otherwise stated, so their is no sexual "neutrality." But more troubling about this kind of statement is it's promotion of the idea that being openly gay compromises a journalist's integrity, objectivity and abilities -- or the perception of those things. It's an insult to all openly gay journalists, and really to journalists of every group. Because it would also mean that black reporters can't be objective on racial or other issues, and thus aren't good journalists, because they are visibly from that group.

What the ABC and CBS TV journalists in the After Elton piece are saying is that being openly gay has actually enhanced their journalism in addition to making them more honest human beings.