Following up on Blue Girl’s recent report of some really bad journalism, I’d like to point out this gem from St. Louis’s Channel 5 news on the Phyllis Schlafly debacle, which is either blatantly adopting a right wing frame or is pure laziness incarnate:
So “some students and staff” (ie, DFHs) are upset about Schlafly getting an honorary doctorate. But, of course, the objective way of describing the situation is claiming that Schlafly is a lifelong advocate of “family values.” Then, you might as well throw in a couple choice quotes from Schlafly like “I think the role of the full-time homemaker should be honored and respected” (yeah, that’s what this whole controversy is about) and the old “I’m not worried about myself, I just hope the university is OK” thing, and one from the university about how any honorary doctorate is going to be controversial.
Finally, to show that they are fair and balanced, they include one quote from the head of the Women’s Studies Department. This basically presents this as a “she said, she said” issue; one side thinks this, the other side thinks that (framed all the while around the imaginary question of whether one should be pro-family or not). But would it kill Ryan Dean to actually do some research on the reasons why people are actually upset? For example, would it be that hard to list one of these quotes from Schlafly so that people can make up their own mind on what they think of her views:
“I suspect that the picture of the woman soldier with a noose around the Iraqi man’s neck will soon show up on the bulletin boards of women’s studies centers and feminist college professors. That picture is the radical feminists’ ultimate fantasy of how they dream of treating men.” (Schlafly’s Eagle Forum newsletter, 19 May 2004)
“By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don’t think you can call it rape.” (speech at Bates College, 28 March 2007; WashU’s Student Life, 12 May 2008)
Sexual harassment on the job is not a problem for virtuous women, except in the rarest of cases. Men hardly ever ask sexual favors of women from whom the certain answer is no. Virtuous women are seldom accosted. (TIME Magazine, 4 May 1981)
“The flight from the home is a flight from yourself, from responsibility, from the nature of woman, in pursuit of false hopes and fading illusions.” (www.CampusProgress.org)
“ERA means abortion funding, means homosexual privileges, means whatever else.” (www.brainyquote.com)
“The atomic bomb is a marvelous gift that was given to our country by a wise God.” (N.Y. Times, 9 July 1982)
“Sex education classes are like in-home sales parties for abortions.” (Eagle Forum newsletter)
On Harvard president Larry Summer’s assertion that women are not cut out for science: “The outburst by feminist professors simply confirms the stereotype … that they are too emotional to handle intellectual or scientific debate.” (Eagle Forum newsletter, 9 March 2005)
Oh wait, I just did it; I guess it must not be that hard.