Your CIOS file request: GENDER/03049134.232 hotline item

-
Received:  by CIOS Mailer; Thursday 4 Mar 1999 13:42:32
Date:          Thu, 4 Mar 99 12:35 -0400
To: "Multiple recipients of GENDER" 
From: karla-tonella  at uiowa.edu
Subject:       "HC" for homosexual content on TV

:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>: GENDER & COMMUNICATION :<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:

From:    Karla-Tonella  at uiowa.edu
Subject: "HC" for homosexual content on TV

summary from The Benton Communications Policy Mailing List
              

THE OUTER LIMITS
Issue: Television
The Christian Action Network (CAN) has proposed labeling gay and lesbian
representations on prime-time TV with an "HC" for homosexual content. CAN
president, Martin Mawyer, says producers of the shows should have no problem
with the label  unless they're trying to promote some, "secret agenda." Federal
Communication Commission Chairman Bill Kennard has not responded to CAN's
proposal. People for the American Way said the proposal
is "outrageous." David Crane, "Friends" executive producer asks, "What's next,
JC for Jewish content and BC for black content?" The Gay & Lesbian Alliance
Against Defamation (GLAAD) website, keeping track of prime-time gay, bisexual,
and transgendered prime-time characters, has a list of 25 characters this
season. Mark Zakarin, executive producer of Showtime, says it's his
responsibility to reflect the world as it is. De Moraes notes that "the
world as it is" also includes Hispanics, Asians and fat people, and where are
they on prime-time? Warren Littlefield, former head of NBC programming, says
although producers' motivations may be noble, it's really about the "copycat
factor" referring to the 36.2 million audience of "Ellen's" outing. "Now
there's
a rush to tap into this unmined storyline," Littlefield says. Now that
advertisers see that it's attracting viewers, it is not longer a taboo topic:
"it's really about an effort to find something fresh that's not been seen
before," Crane says.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C1), AUTHOR:Lisa de Moraes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-03/03/049l-030399-idx.html
----------------
For information about participating in this conference, send
SHOW HOTLINES by itself in the body of email addressed to: 
Comserve at CIOS.ORG