Mar 21, 2008  |  By: JOSHUA LYNSEN  | COMMENTS     

The National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association announced its support of the Washington Blade this week, after Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean criticized the publication’s coverage of the party.

Eric Hegedus, president of the NLGJA, said the Blade “should stay strong and keep pursuing the truth” after Dean criticized the newspaper.

“I think that journalists need to stay strong,” Hegedus said. “They shouldn’t back down and they shouldn’t feel intimidated by this.”

During a videotaped deposition March 6, Dean said he has “given up on the Blade” and that much of the publication’s reporting on the DNC “has been incorrect.”

Triggered by the discrimination lawsuit brought by Donald Hitchcock, a gay DNC staffer who was fired two years ago, the deposition included questions about Dean’s decision to abolish the Democratic Party’s constituent outreach desks, including the post of director of gay outreach.

An attorney for Hitchcock asked Dean whether he’d read the Blade’s Feb. 3, 2006, article about the decision.

“I certainly may have,” Dean said. “We have a clipping service and I mostly read it. I don’t think I’d given up on the Blade at this point, so I probably did read it.”

Lynne Bernabei, Hitchcock’s attorney, also asked Dean whether the decision violated a pledge Dean made to members of the DNC’s GLBT Americans Caucus, whom Dean told in a questionnaire that he favored retaining a full-time gay outreach director.

Dean said he did not recall making any such pledge. Bernabei then pointed to the portion of the article that reported on the questionnaire.

“Does that refresh your recollection as to whether you were given a questionnaire and stated what is stated here?” she asked.

“No,” Dean said. “I do not remember ever getting a questionnaire.”

“You don’t recall that,” Bernabei said. “Do you have any reason to believe that this is incorrect?”

“Much of what’s been in the Blade has been incorrect,” Dean responded.

In the six-minute deposition excerpt leaked to the Queerty blog March 14, Dean did not cite specific errors and did not call on the Blade to print any corrections or clarifications. A full transcript of Dean’s deposition was not available by Blade deadline.

The DNC did not respond to the Blade’s request for a list of the errors that Dean referenced in his deposition.

“Out of respect for the legal process, we have consistently refrained from commenting on the avalanche of inappropriately leaked discovery materials that have no relevance to the merits of this case,” said Joe Sandler, the DNC’s general counsel.

Kevin Naff, the Blade’s editor, said the DNC has not asked him to correct any articles regarding Hitchcock’s lawsuit.

“At no time has Dean or anyone from the DNC complained about inaccuracies in the newspaper’s reporting on this case,” he said. “If there are errors, Dean should bring them to my attention.”

The lawsuit, filed in April 2007, says Hitchcock was the target of discrimination, retaliation and defamation during and after his tenure as director of the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Council.

Hitchcock, who joined the DNC in June 2005, was fired in May 2006. The move came days after Hitchcock’s domestic partner, Paul Yandura, a longtime party activist, sent an open letter to gay Democrats criticizing Dean and suggesting that gays should temporarily withhold donations to the Democratic Party.

The lawsuit names as defendants the DNC; Dean; Andy Tobias, the DNC’s treasurer; and Julie Tagen, the DNC’s deputy finance director. Sandler has said the charges “have no merit” and that the DNC is “committed to defending its position vigorously in court.”

Dean’s comments come one month after Tobias, the DNC’s highest-ranking openly gay official, said in his deposition that publicity from Hitchcock’s lawsuit has cost the DNC more than $1 million in donations.

Tobias said “articles in the Blade that seem to be one-sided” and other publicity has caused “many of the people who used to give to the DNC or who might give to the DNC think twice or three times and in some cases don’t.”

When pressed to better estimate the lost donations, Tobias said the number could be much higher.

“When I said more than a million dollars, you could argue ultimately it is $5 million or some huge number,” he said. “The point is I think a million is conservative in what I used, but I have absolutely no way to know.”

Joshua Lynsen can be reached at jlynsen@washblade.com.