'Fair and Balanced' Fox News Called On Alleged Pro-Homosexual Support
by Ed Thomas
September 13, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A conservative pro-family group is challenging Fox News Channel over an alleged $10,000 contribution it made to sponsor a conference last weekend for the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA).
Americans for Truth, an organization formed to monitor and expose elements of the homosexual agenda in the nation's culture, says if Fox News did make this contribution, the supposed "fair and balanced" network needs to contribute equally to a conservative organization if its slogan is to have credence. Both the pro-family group and WorldNetDaily reported on the network's alleged contribution to NLGJA, which is listed on the homosexual journalists group's website.
Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth, describes NLGJA as an activist group that places a pro-homosexual spin on its news coverage. And that, he asserts, is reason enough why Fox should not be advancing the cause of that "lesbian and gay" organization.
"But if they did give $10,000 to the homosexual journalists," LaBarbera adds, "we ask them -- and I wrote Fox News Channel president Roger Ailes and asked him -- to give $10,000 to a pro-family organization. You can't just give to the homosexual activists when the country is divided over the question of gay rights."
A website editorial comment from NLGJA's president, Eric Hegedus, compares speaking to pro-family groups about homosexual issues to contracting white supremacist groups to discuss race relations. LaBarbera points to that as evidence that calls into question Fox's decision to support the pro-homosexual group.
The American's for Truth spokesman says Hegedus, who works for the Philadelphia Inquirer, has insulted pro-family Christians and conservatives by "saying if you're pro-family, that's like being a white supremacist -- like being in the KKK." LaBarbera calls this "an extremely offensive analogy" that shows NLGJA is not a journalists' group but is, in fact, an activist group.
"And if Fox is giving $10,000 to a gay activist group," LaBarbera asserts, "well then, they need to turn around and give $10,000 to a pro-family group." The whole incident, he contends, is a symptom of the larger problem of news media that claim to be neutral taking sides in the culture war over homosexuality.
LaBarbera made that request to Fox News' Roger Ailes in a letter he sent the network executive last week. To date, the Americans for Truth president says he is still waiting for a reply.
Ed Thomas, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
