Following an “avalanche of messages angrily attacking” Monica Hesse’s profile of National Organization for Marriage executive director Brian Brown, Washington Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander apologized to same-sex “marriage” advocates:
[T]his is a case where three things — a storytelling concept, a writing technique and a bad headline — combined to ignite reader reaction as vitriolic as any I’ve experienced in my seven months as ombudsman . . . [The profile] deprived readers of hearing from others who have battled Brown and find him uncivil and bigoted. To them, he represents injustice. They should have been heard, at length.
GetReligion comments:
Well, supporters of same-sex marriage found the profile awful and asked people to write into the Washington Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander. Which they did. And he wrote a column apologizing for the story. No, not because it was snide and treated all but one supporter of traditional marriage as bigots. No, that’s not why he apologized. Let’s look at his final criticism of Hesse’s story:
Finally, the headline: “Opposing Gay Unions With Sanity & a Smile.” To many readers, The Post was saying Brown’s views are sane. The headline, written by editors, not Hesse, should have been neutral.
Yep, let’s reiterate. The Post is saying that it’s not “neutral” to say that it’s sane to believe that the institution of marriage should be heterosexual. Nevermind that marriage has, until a few short years ago, been universally accepted across all religions, cultures and peoples as a heterosexual institution.
