I love the brouhaha erupting over at the Washington Blade about Editor Chris Crain's apparent squashing of a story about RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman being gay. Having worked at the New York Blade for the better part of 2004, I worked with Crain both closely and at a distance, depending on the story.
While he was sometimes difficult to work with (but isn't everyone?) and sometimes a bit controlling (again, same comment), I never found him squashing a story. In fact, I can't imagine he'd do that. He's a lot like me, on one level - he tries to be fair, but also tries to make a splash with a juicy story. I certainly saw him err on the side of caution, but I don't believe for a second that he would "squash" a story.
What I do believe is that Crain probably saw a lot of evidence and that it just wasn't enough for his standards; and that uber-Democrat Managing Editor Kevin Naff probably got frustrated that they weren't running with the story, so whined to RawStory about it. Far stronger than Crain's Republican leanings at the paper is Naff's Republican hatred.
When I covered the GOP Convention in 2004, Naff also sent a Democrat to cover the event as well, because I have said that I am a Republican. Of course, he did not feel the need to send a Republican to cover the Dems' convention with his liberal-leaning reporter.
He finally came clean the last day of the GOP Convention, which was my last day at the New York Blade, of course after my story had been filed. I had asked him why the second reporter was sent to cover the convention. He said, in an e-mail to me:
"That was done deliberately because of my concerns about your ability to cover [Log Cabin Republicans] (and the GOP) in an impartial way."
What he really meant was, "you might cover the convention in a fair and unbiased manner, so I need to make sure I send someone there to get as much dirt as I can."
His concerns were ludicrous. Just that week I had been talking with the Democrat spokesperson for the New York City Council. He had told me that he was impressed with how I had handled the job and how fairly I had reported the news. In fact, I never heard anyone say anything about my coverage other than the fact that it was fair and balanced. Naff couldn't even trust his own reporter.
Now Crain is catching some heat from fellow reporters like Andy Humm (whom I actually like very much) and the ever-bitchy Michaelangelo Signorile (ugh). Both hate Bush, both are avowed Democrats and both would love to sink their teeth into a gay editor who hides a juicy gay Republican story.
If Crain wasn't a (former) Republican, and didn't refuse to bash Republicans at every turn, these people wouldn't be coming after him. But, because he refuses to be a close-minded liberal, he gets attacked for it.
Crain deserves better. He tries to be fair (unlike Humm and Signorile) and he tries to do the right thing. Like all of us, sometimes he succeeds and sometimes he fails.
You must have missed Crain's faceless, call for anonymous sex with listings full of his pictures at such sites as M4M.com, all the time he pretended to have a boyfriend with him in Amsterdam.
Posted by: Scott | August 15, 2005 at 06:27 PM