As I’m writing this piece early August 15th, there are two stories of really dehumanizing comments by large, corporate media outlets towards trans people in the news. The more recent of the stories is from August 14th on the Fox News Channel, in which Fox aired a crude and obnoxious segment concerning the recent announcement of America’s Next Top Model: there’s going to be a transgender contestant on the show. The earlier piece is from August 13th, in which a syndicated Clear Channel Communication morning radio show referred to the recently murdered transgender teen Angie Zapata as a “man,” a “he,” a “he/she,” a “thing,” and an “it.”

From GLAAD’s press release on the story from the Fox News Channel:

Fox News anchor Gregg Jarrett and Us Weekly Editor-at-Large Ian Drew spent the segment gratuitously insulting the America’s Next Top Model contestant, using dehumanizing terminology, inaccurate and inappropriate pronouns and offensive references to her anatomy.

While laughing and joking, Jarrett mocked Isis’ description of herself as a woman whose “cards were dealt differently,” and said, “That’s an understatement!” Drew referred to recent instances of transgender visibility on reality television as “The Crying Game ’08,” going on to call the show “America’s Next Top Tranny.” Drew then said that she doesn’t look any different from other contestants because “they are not exactly the most high-class group of women.” Throughout the segment, Jarrett switched back and forth between male and female pronouns, and both Jarrett and Drew suggested that Isis “fooled” people by “blending in.” They went on to make crude remarks about her genitalia and the pitch of her voice.

Here’s the segment:

Want to contact Fox News about this? From the GLAAD press release again:

Please contact Fox News Channel and call on them to apologize for these obnoxious, insulting and dehumanizing comments.

Fox News Channel

Gregg Jarrett – Anchor
(212) 301-3000
gregg.jarrett@foxnews.com

Jay Wallace – Executive Producer
(212) 301-5168
jay.wallace@foxnews.com

Tom Lowell – Senior Producer
(212) 301-3000 (outlet)
tom.lowell@foxnews.com

[Below the fold: "Rover’s Morning Glory" uses defamatory language to refer to hate crime murder victim Angie Zapata.]

Over at Donna Rose’s Donna Blog, she reports on what she heard on the radio going into work on the 13th:

When I got into the car this morning to drive to work the radio was set to the local “rock” station. There was some sort of syndicated show on – the typical schtik with 3 crass, ignorant guys and one woman who generally disagrees with the idiots. I really didn’t think much of it until the ring leader of this little troupe decided that he wanted to talk about Angie Zapata. That got my attention.

This crew is called “Rover’s Morning Glory” and, as you might guess, the main star is Rover. Others of his crew include Dumb, Dieter, and Chocolate Charlie.

…The reason I waste my energy on these people at all is that they spent a good 15 minutes saying things that they need to be held accountable for. They explained the Angie Zapata story in the most disgusting, vile way possible – making sure to refer to Angie as a “man”, a “he”, a “he/she”, a “thing”, and an “it”. They explained that her murderer was justified in being angry and in killing Angie. In fact, Rover said, if he were on the jury he’d vote to acquit. They implied that others would be justified in similar actions, and that Angie deserved it. It was disgusting, irresponsible, and crossed any boundary of decency.

This really is on par with having DJ’s referring to a gay man a “faggot” or a “fairy” on air.

The relevant contact info:

WMMS– Clear Channel Cleveland
6200 Oak Tree Blvd. 4th Floor
Cleveland, Ohio 44131-2510
(216) 520-2600

Wanna complain? or give props?
e-mail programming: Bo Matthews buzzard@wmms.com

Clear Channel Corporate Phone #:
Clear Channel
200 East Basse Road
San Antonio, TX 78209
Phone 1-210-822-2828

By the way, if you contact Fox or Clear Channel, you probably would want to reference what the Associated Press Styleguide says in their entry on transgender, and the GLAAD Media Reference Guide’s Transgender Glossary on Defamatory Terminology.

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Related:
* Pam’s House Blend tag: Angie Zapata
* Pam’s House Blend tag: Faux News
* Pam’s House Blend tag: Fox News