FL: FOX News Celebrates its Victory Over Vulnerable Trans Children
It’s instructive to compare the coverage of a Florida policy that represents a major legislative victory for transphobia in FOX versus more mainstream outlets.
by Evan Urquhat
In Florida today, the State Board of Education approved rules mandating that parents be notified of bathroom and locker room policies relating to transgender youth, in a move intended to pressure schools to bar trans students from the appropriate facilities.
We looked at the coverage in two different outlets. The Tampa Bay Times, a mainstream Florida newspaper, and FOX News, a media juggernaut primarily providing right wing opinion that also offers some news content.
The Tampa Bay Times article is attributed to a wire service, the News Service of Florida, and specifically to Ryan Dailey and also credits contributions by Tom Urban. The FOX News story is credited to Joshua Q. Nelson.
Both stories start with a summary of the same facts; the unanimous vote by the Florida Board of Education to approve new policies including parental notifications around transgender students’ use of bathrooms and locker rooms, as well as penalties for teachers who violate a prior ban on any mention of LGBTQ+ identities in K-3 classes (refered to as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill.’ However, from the start. the Tampa Bay Times highlights the controversial nature of the decision to penalize teachers, which some analysts think might extend to firing gay or lesbian teachers for mentioning or even having a picture of their same-sex spouses, and perhaps ban all transgender people from teaching K-3 students, since their very existence is not allowed to be spoken of to children.
The coverage includes a representation of the controversial nature of the policies, to allow readers to understand not only what they are intended to do, but also who has publically opposed them, and why they’ve done so.
In contrast, Fox’s coverage also explains the policies and their intended purpose, but unlike the mainstream outlet they make no mention of any opponents, or of their reasons for opposing these policies.
FOX News does include a photograph of some parents’ rights activists, which seems likely to further mislead readers into thinking that the bill has no opponents who have protested it, when in the Tampa Bay Times piece it is clear that a variety of parents, teachers, and students have vociferously opposed the policies. In short, as usual the right wing press does a disservice to their readership, making them less likely to understand the context of the policy change, why it is opposed, or even the mere fact that it does face substantial opposition.
