TOO HOT FOR TV?

June 2000
		Does radio host "Dr. Laura" Schlessinger propagate hate? Should she be able to take her views to television? Keven Bellows, vice president and general manager of Premiere Radio Networks, Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press, and Joan Garry, executive director of GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, respond to your questions.

Forum introduction Shouldn't the audience decide whether or not the show will succeed? How can Jerry Springer's TV show exist while Dr. Laura's elicits such controversy? Are gay rights groups stepping on rights of religious expression? What about defending freedom of speech? Would similar views on other groups be tolerated? Can there be a meaningful debate on such moral issues?     June 15, 2000: Debating Dr. Laura. July 26, 1999: A look at diversity in television programs. Online Forum: Experts answer viewer questions about diversity on television. Browse the NewsHour's coverage of media issues.     Dr. Laura Schlessinger GLAAD TomPaine.com StopDrLaura.com

Todd Beall of Lanham, MD asks: Why aren't people as upset about shows such as Jerry Springer, which continually sensationalize sex outside of marriage and all the rest? Why object to Laura Schlessinger just because everything she says doesn't fit into the current view of what is "politically correct?"   Keven Bellows responds: Morals values and ethics are the new taboo subjects in American discourse, and, as the nation's foremost non-religious broadcaster-advocate for traditional values, Dr. Laura is the biggest target around for the new "thought police" to attack.   Lucy Dalglish responds: As far as I can tell, many people do object to Jerry Springer and are quite vocal about it.   Joan Garry responds: There are significant differences between Laura Schlessinger and Jerry Springer in terms of entertainment programming. Springer doesn't pretend to be anything but an entertainer. Schlessinger, on the other hand, leads with her Ph.D. (which is in physiology, not in any area of mental health) and purports to be a clinical expert on homosexuality. The monologues and advice she airs are delivered under the mantle of her title of "Dr." She positions herself as a clinician and tells people what to do. This is especially alarming when she advocates that lesbians and gay men be "converted" to heterosexuality through dangerous pseudo-therapies. So-called "reparative therapy" - which Schlessinger has advertised and endorsed for more than a year - has been condemned by the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the National Mental Health Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and many other respected professional groups. Conversion techniques have been shown to cause great psychological harm to lesbians and gay men who try to change their innate sexual orientation, and the "therapists" who perform it exploit social disapproval of homosexuality to create feelings of despair within gay people struggling with their sexual orientation. When she is challenged too closely on her "medical" advice, she often retreats to saying her opinions are based on deeply held religious beliefs. But the title of her program clearly has chosen one side, and it is not religion. This is not about political correctness. This is about an entertainer whose words target a group of people for discrimination and prejudice, and whose advocacy of junk science threatens the health and well-being of people across the country and the families who want to love them.