What if Gawker tried to out an anchor at Fox News and no one cared?

Gawker outs FOXNews' Sheppard Smith, and no one cares. I guess that counts as progress.

 

I don't know Shepard Smith personally, but I have friends who do, and I don't get the impression that the fact that he's gay was a closely guarded secret.

And while there's some portion of his audience that might care that he's gay, they aren't reading Gawker.

 

I am almost positive I've heard that about him many times, in offhand ways and casual conversation. I don't know that it's any bigger secret than Anderson Cooper was.

 

After seeing YF hold up the guy who outed Anderson Cooper and Jodie Foster as a paragon of modern narrative-driven journalism (http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/97410/), I have to wonder why Gawker wouldn't be viewed the same way.

 

Old, old news . . .

 

I'm trying to figure out where on that thread I held out the author as a "paragon" of anything.

I thought he made some pretty serious charges, that challenged the well known media narrative. If he was wrong, it should have been easy to demonstrate.

The problem with narrative driven media is that it's not fact based. So, when someone challenges the facts, the reporters who have covered a case are ill-equipped to challenge them, as they are often uninformed of the underlying facts in the case. They're story tellers, and the case serves as the basis of a story.

 

You bought his story hook, line and sinker and quoted him repeatedly, I'm assuming because he said something you have repeatedly said yourself, and thought it lent credence to what you were saying.

 

Yeah, same here... Just because he hasn't talked about it publicly doesn't mean he's in the closet.

 

Now, Foster and Cooper are two pretty good comparisons though. Anyone who cared probably knew they were both gay. They may not have been out "publicly", but, they didn't do anything in their personal lives to hide the fact. Their friends and co-corkers were certainly aware of their sexuality.

The whole thing is just sort of interesting.

Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell were pretty obviously homosexual, but each were allowed to formerly "come out" on their won terms. And, unlike some of the others, Rosie made some efforts to appear hetero to her fans by declaring her love for Tom Cruise.

I think we could put folks like Robin Roberts and Sam Champion in this same category, and as national media/TV News figures, there in a similar position to Shep.

I think it's pretty obvious that Gawker thought it could stir up some controversy with this. Would Roger Ailes be horrified? Would FOX's audience lash out?

I think it's also sort of interesting that the Times found an angle to cover the story, by writing about the lack of interest in it. The Times usually avoids this kind of thing.

 

At this point, indifference is the truest sign of acceptance.

 

I'm pretty sure Sam Champion's marriage to a man was reported on The Soup but it was more a joke about his last name.

Robin Roberts is gay?

Shep Smith may be gay, he may not but he is a man who loves him some True Blood.

This clip never gets old

 

Yeah, I agree.

But, they were hoping for something else.