WFLA should have seen the red flags over antigay program

[FLAprogressive]

http://www.tampabay.com/features/media/article1014419.ece

On Saturday morning, thousands of people turned out to celebrate at St. Petersburg's annual Gay Pride parade and festival, promoting acceptance and tolerance of the area's gay, lesbian and transgendered residents.

Hours later, WFLA-Ch. 8 aired an hourlong special paid for by the conservative American Family Association called Speechless: Silencing the Christians. The film urged viewers to fight a "radical homosexual activist agenda" aimed partially at persecuting churchgoers who find homosexuality morally wrong.

Two sides of an issue that got the airing they deserved? Or was one over the line?

Equality Florida, a Tampa-based statewide gay rights group, thinks Media General-owned WFLA bowed to bigotry, sparking at least 1,000 telephone calls and e-mails of protest to the station. The group asked the NBC affiliate to reconsider airing the show three hours before its 7 p.m. broadcast Saturday, but general manager Mike Pumo said the content did not "raise a red flag," according to a story in the Tampa Tribune, also owned by Media General.

[Deep13]

1. Balanced coverage does not mean allowing one side to lie its ass off.

It means reasonable debate based on fact. But there's where RW Christians run into problems. They know the facts are on our side, so they're only recourse is to lie. Well, it's not their ONLY recourse. They could accept the facts and change their minds.

[TheWraith]

2. Media General is apparently a deep south conglomerate.

Not a big surprise they'd go for this sort of thing. Lots of papers and holdings in the Carolinas, VA, and the deep south.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_General

[VaYallaDawg]

3. Big time conservatives, with lots of money, so no surprise there.

Their flagstaff paper is the Richmond Times Dispatch, started by the Bryan family, long-time VA bluebloods. We used to joke that they didn't have a license to print newspapers, but a license to print money.

[imdjh]

4. The St Petersburg Times is a much larger paper in this market and is liberal.

St Pete Times outsells Tampa Tribune in Tampa if I am not mistaken. The Tampa Trib isn't exactly the Washington Times, but it's nearly as insignificant.

It would be interesting to know how much Obnoxious Fundies paid for an hour of primetime on a Sunday and if it conforms to a universal rate and availability.

WFLA is probably hoping that we will buy an hour for rebuttal. Fuck them. We already had our rebuttal- HUGE attendance at St Pete Pride, even with a rainy start.

Seriously, bless the gay people of Hillsborough County, but it really is an entirely different kind of place.

[TheWraith]

5. Universal rate and availability? I SERIOUSLY doubt it.

An hour of primetime, even on a single station, is serious change if you're paying market rates. Otherwise everybody would be doing it.

[VaYallaDawg]

6. Actually, according to SRDS circulation data:

Hillsborough county
Tampa Tribune daily circ 137,813
St Pete Times, daily circ 37,197

Pinellas county
Tampa Tribune daily circ 11,295
St Pete Times 184,184