Entry #3. Slanted Reporting.

Slanted Reporting. The situation in which a reporter presents the facts in a bias way with a distinct underlying message.

"Christian catching hell" is a prime example of this type of reporting. Within the brief news story, the reporter interviews a conservative Christian woman, Cathi Herrod, who had been receiving hateful words towards her conservation positions. Herrod, a prominent member of the Center for Arizona Policy. The reporter glosses over the most hateful aspects of Herrod's conservative position. On the Center for Arizona Policy's webpage, hateful comments towards LGBT members are encouraged. One such page Homosexuality argues that the American Psychological Association (APA) was only persuaded to not encourage conversion therapy for homosexuals due to the, "Strength that pro-homosexual advocates," exerted on the APA. While the reporter may seem to be taking an unbiased view, what she is actually doing is completely different. What NBC12 is essentially telling viewers is that Christians who advocate for extremely harmful conversion therapy and the inequality of LGBT individuals are "oppressed" if people take offense to their words. For the audience, this can tell an LGBT teen or young adult that they're wrong. That what they feel is immoral and they should change. People like Herrod increase the suicide rates for LGBT youth and increase the self-harm rates as well. Herrod and the NBC affiliate should be ashamed of themselves. Herrod for encouraging the inequality of citizens based off of religious beliefs in a country founded on the concept of not having one supreme religion, and NBC12 for making a victim out of the oppressor. Personally, I feel sicken by this report. I remember being youth and feeling wrong about who I was. I remember liking girls and worrying about what people would say. Herrod is a bigot and NBC12 is encouraging her archaic behavior through this segment.