CBS News To Be '700 Club' of Gay News
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CBS News To Be '700 Club' of Gay News

"We don't want to be the '700 Club' of gay news," says Jason Bellini, anchor of "CBS News on Logo," the MTV-owned cable network that targets gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender viewers. "The audience wants us to be credible. There are plenty of other outlets out there doing advocacy coverage."

"CBS News on Logo" made its debut last summer, producing four minutes of news each day for Logo. Courtland Passant, executive producer the CBS News-produced show that runs more than 30 times each day on the network, says the content of the segment centers on gay issues. He notes that recent story topics include a gay-themed children's book, arrests in a St. Maarten gay-bashing case involving CBS News employees, and the discharge of a lesbian Air Force nurse.

Passant, however, insists that he and his staff of five "take great pains to make sure we don't appear to be pandering to the audience. We are not a mouthpiece for the gay community."

"We get our notions of balance and objectivity from voices within our community," he adds. On an issue like gay adoption, for example, Passant says, that means they don't have to put a conservative on air to balance the issue, since almost all of those opposed to gay adoption are outside the gay community.

In addition to "CBS News on Logo," the network produces programming for a number of stations, including A&E, MtvU, Discovery Channel, the Food Network and TV Land. Some such programming, like that on MtvU, is branded with the CBS News name, but much of it is not.

According to Passant, Logo, which partnered with CBS News while both were under the Viacom umbrella, pushed for the CBS News brand name, and CBS News, he says, was "supportive of that."

Bellini, who came to Logo from CNN says the gay news content does not indicate that CBS has taken up gay causes. "I don't think that CBS has chosen sides in the culture war by doing this," he said, adding that all of the networks support the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. "I think they all recognize gay people as part of a diverse newsroom."

Bellini says he isn't the only person taking a risk in embracing Logo. "If we don't do our jobs right, we could be damaging the CBS News brand," he says. "We want to make sure that it's as good as anything else CBS News would put out there."

He says however, that does not mean creating a carbon copy of the kind of coverage of gay issues one would find in traditional media. He recalled an interview with Rosie O'Donnell about her "Gay Family Cruise" in which he interrupted O'Donnell to remind her she was on Logo. "I told her we don't need to hear her making the case for gay people -- you don't need to do PR here," he says. "She loosened up a little after that."

Adds Passant, who came to "CBS News on Logo" from Newspath, the 24-hour affiliate news service of CBS News, the broadcast doesn't inject any editorializing into the final product. "We're just covering stories most news organizations aren't covering," he says. "We take great pains to write the story as straight, if you will, as possible."

"People are so excited that there is a high-quality gay newscast," adds Bellini. "Our very existence gives validity to the idea of gay news."

News Max.com ~ Carl Limbacher ** CBS News To Be '700 Club' of Gay News