I'm Tired Of The News Media Ripping Us Apart

Out in California many news outlets have published horror stories about us and not checking the facts. There is an article on Poynter about nine ways to do fairness to transgender people. Those of you not familiar with Poynter, it is “an international strategy center and a leader in journalism education”. Lauren Klinger wrote in the article “Nine ways journalists can do justice to transgender people’s stories” that,

Transgender people make news of all kinds, so reporters of all kinds need to know how to write about them – not just journalists whose beats regularly include diversity issues. Recently, government reporters found themselves writing about Pvt. Chelsea Manning, crime reporters in Orlando covered the murder of Ashley Sinclair, and Cosmo got an exclusive shot at punk rocker Laura Jane Grace’s coming out story.
[…]
The kinds of stories journalists write, what information they include, and how they ask for that information are all just as important or more important than which words they use…

Here is her list,

1. Stop writing the same story.
2. Pursue the ordinary.
3. Stop asking for before and after photos.
4. When you’re told someone’s name, use it.
5. Stop asking about someone’s medical transition process.
6. Stop using outdated or dehumanizing language.
7. Learn from your mistakes.
8. If you’re unsure about which pronoun to use, ask the person you’re writing about. If you can’t do that, defer to the style guide.
9. Remember that transgender women are women, transgender men are men, and everyone is human.

I think many of us will agree with her list and maybe add some of our own; I would add “Stop using photos of us putting on our make-up.”

I believe that numbers 2 and 7 are two important was to cover a story ab out us, for number 2 in the article she wrote,

When journalists focus too much on the “heavy” issues and get stuck on medical transitions, they miss the opportunity to show that most transgender people live full lives that don’t revolve around these issues.

And in number 7 she wrote,

 By featuring transgender women’s writing and covering issues that impact transgender people, Bernard [CEO of Autostraddle.com] said, the Autostraddle team has made an effort to learn from its mistakes. For Autostraddle, “being trans-inclusive goes beyond articles about trans issues,” Bernard said. Publishing the work of transgender writers — including stories that go beyond the typical coming-out narrative — is an important part of being inclusive, she said, because transgender people are as diverse as the rest of the population, and their needs and stories are as well.

It is true, we have lives! Many news articles make us shallow, like our whole life revolves around our transition and making us sound one dimensional.

The problem is that the good reporters know this and the bad reporters don’t care and probably won’t even read the article.