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Vicious Misrepresentations Get World-Wide Media Attention GLAAD and Others Zealously Responding to Magazine's Lies
He writes that as many as 25% of all HIV-positive gay males have deliberately sought to be inflected. In newspapers across the globe his percentages have been matters for speculation. In The Sunday Herald (Glasgow, Scotland) Sarah-Tate Templeton, the newspaper's Health Editor, quotes Professor Andrew Leigh Brown of Edinburgh University who "has just come back from San Diego where he and colleagues tried to investigate the prevalence of 'bug-chasing', as the practice is known." She says that while Professor Brown acknowledges that while the practice exists, they "found no evidence that it was widespread." Dr. Brown, she says adds that: "You are really stirring up a hornet's nest with this issue. The gay community are really sensitive about this." On Friday, Cathy Renna, GLAAD's News Media Director, issued the following statement about the Rolling Stone article, calling upon gay men and lesbians to protest Rolling Stone's "irresponsible" behavior: GLAAD on Rolling Stone : Since its publication earlier this week, Rolling Stone's February 6 article by Gregory Freeman entitled "In Search of Death" has drawn fire for its inaccurate, sensationalistic portrayal of a phenomenon known as "bug chasing." Newsweek, Salon.com and others have critically examined the article -- which examines the lives of two men who have actively sought HIV infection and speculates on the scope of the problem -- after the primary medical sources quoted by Freeman disputed the quotes he attributed to them. Among the inaccuracies:
Ed Needham, Rolling Stone's editor, contends that the story is accurate and that the sources confirmed their quotes with a fact checker. No matter what one's feelings are about the issue explored in this article, Freeman's's piece is bad journalism. And as a result, radical anti-gay groups like the Traditional Values Coalition have already stepped up to the plate and used this story as ammunition for their attacks on our lives. Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" picked up the story as well, furthering the sensationalism of an issue that is hardly an "epidemic." TAKE ACTION NOW! Call on Rolling Stone to publicly correct the errors of fact and attribution in Gregory Freeman's article. Rolling Stone's decision to print and stand behind disproved and grossly sensationalistic reporting sends a dangerous, inaccurate message that is already being exploited by the anti-gay right. Tell Rolling Stone editor Ed Needham that you expect him to print a detailed correction of Freeman's inaccuracies and take responsibility for what amounts to shoddy journalism with no factual evidence to support it. Write to: Ed Needham Managing Editor - Editorial Rolling Stone Magazine (212) 484-1616 ed.needham@rollingstone.com |
New York, New York--Rolling Stone magazine, once considered an influential platform for
progressive ideas, has published a homophobic tract by Gregory Freeman that slanders 25%
of all HIV-positive gay males and is causing an uproar in media circles world-wide. Freeman's
misrepresentations have been welcomed and embraced anti-gay fundamentalist religious fanatics.
Salon's Andrew Sullivan: Calls the 25% statistic 'bizarre'