ONCE
“FAIR
AND
BALANCED.”
Now
promoting
the
“homosexual
agenda?”
Fox
News
Channel,
the
media
giant
often
accused
of
having
a
conservative
slant,
is
now
under
fire
from
one
of
its
past
allies
—
the
Illinois-based
Americans
for
Truth,
which
bills
itself
as
“the
only
national
organization
devoted
exclusively
to
exposing
and
countering
the
homosexual
activist
agenda.”
Headed
by
Peter
LaBarbera,
Americans
for
Truth
is
accusing
Fox
News
Channel
of
bias,
saying
the
media
giant
promotes
homosexuality
after
it
spent
$10,000
to
sponsor
the
National
Lesbian
&
Gay
Journalists
Association
Convention,
held
Sept.
7-10
in
Miami.
“Fox
News
cannot
claim
to
be
‘fair
and
balanced’
in
its
coverage
of
homosexuality
while
providing
large
grants
to
a
special
interest
group
like
the
[NLGJA]
that
demonizes
religious
conservatives,”
LaBarbera
wrote
in
a
Sept.
8
letter
to
Fox
News
President
Roger
Ailes,
according
to
a
press
release
from
Americans
for
Truth
issued
the
same
day.
LaBarbera
could
not
be
reached
for
comment
by
press
time.
In
a
Sept.
17
interview
on
MassResistance
Radio,
which
airs
on
AM
1150
WTTT
in
Boston,
he
said
NLGJA
and
its
members
“spin
the
news
in
a
pro-homosexual
way.”
LaBarbera,
who
once
referred
to
Fox
News
as
“one
of
the
best
things
to
happen
to
media
in
this
country
in
a
long
time,”
is
demanding
the
company
donate
$10,000
to
what
he
calls
a
“pro-family”
organization
if
it
is
to
keep
its
reputation
as
“fair
and
balanced.”
Fox
officials
did
not
return
calls
seeking
comment.
NLGJA
does
not
promote
a
“homosexual
agenda,”
according
to
the
group’s
president,
Eric
Hegedus
of
the
New
York
Post,
which
is
owned
by
Fox
News’
parent
company,
News
Corporation.
“We’re
not
a
gay
activist
group,”
he
said.
“We’re
a
journalist
organization.”
Hegedus
said
part
of
the
association’s
mission
is
for
members
to
remain
objective
in
their
reporting.
He
said
the
organization
also
benefits
non-gay
journalists
by
providing
professional
guidance
on
reporting
about
gay
marriage,
coming
out
and
other
gay
issues.
“We’re
not
a
pro-gay
or
anti-gay
organization.
Our
mission
is
to
provide
fair
and
accurate
coverage,”
Hegedus
said.
In
the
Sept.
8
press
release,
Americans
for
Truth
also
noted
that
Wal-Mart
was
a
corporate
sponsor
of
the
NLGJA
conference,
but
the
group
did
not
take
aim
at
any
of
the
other
media
outlets
that
served
as
sponsors
at
the
same
or
higher
levels
as
Fox
News.
Those
outlets
include
Bloomberg,
NBC
Universal,
the
Miami
Herald,
CBS
News,
CNN,
the
Hearst
Corporation,
Gannett
Foundation
and
ESPN.
LABARBERA
ALSO
WENT
AFTER
Hegedus
personally,
saying
he
was
offended
by
a
comment
he
claimed
Hegedus
made
in
an
editorial
that
compared
seeking
out
conservative
groups
to
interview
about
gay
issues
to
contacting
white
supremacist
groups
to
discuss
race
relations.
“This
is
the
kind
of
abject
bigotry
that
these
people
espouse
and
yet
they’re
trying
to
claim
that
they’re
just
news
professionals,”
LaBarbera
said
during
the
radio
show.
Hegedus
denied
any
bias
in
the
NLGJA
president’s
column
he
wrote
for
the
group’s
Winter
2006
newsletter.
“He’s
taking
what
I
wrote
totally
out
of
context,”
Hegedus
said.
Hegedus
said
he
only
suggested
journalists
be
cautious
when
seeking
out
sources
for
stories.
