Tampa Bay
Coalition
Posts this Take Action Alert in Support
and on Behalf of;
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation
GLAAD Alert
Contact: Cathy Renna, News Media
Director
Phone: (646) 871-8008 Email: renna@glaad.org
January 24, 2003
PROTEST 'ROLLING STONE'S' IRRESPONSIBLE 'BUG
CHASING' ARTICLE
Since its publication earlier this week, Rolling
Stone's February 6 article by Gregory Freeman entitled "In Search of Death"
has drawn fire for its inaccurate, sensationalistic portrayal of a phenomenon
known as "bug chasing." Newsweek, Salon.com and others have critically
examined the article -- which examines the lives of two men who have actively
sought HIV infection and speculates on the scope of the problem -- after the
primary medical sources quoted by Freeman disputed the quotes he attributed to
them.
Among the inaccuracies:
- Dr. Bob Cabaj, director of behavioral-health services for
San Francisco County, has asserted in Newsweek and to GLAAD directly
that the statements attributed to him on infection rates (that at least 25
percent of all newly infected gay men are seeking the virus) are "totally
false. I never said that. And when the fact checker called me and asked me if
I said that, I said no. I said no. This is unbelievable."
- Dr. Marshall Forstein, the medical director of mental
health and addiction services at Fenway Community Health in Boston, was quoted
in the Rolling Stone story as saying that "'bug chasers' are seen
regularly in the Fenway health system, and the phenomenon is growing." In
Newsweek's article, Forstein says that quote 'is entirely a fabrication' and
that 'I said, 'We have seen a few cases, but we have no idea how common this
is.'"
- Andrew Sullivan's Salon.com article refutes the reported
size of this "epidemic" by stating: "Anyone with the faintest knowledge of the
HIV epidemic knows that men who have sex with men make up a declining number
of this group -- now 42 percent, according to the CDC. So even if you buy the
bizarre 25 percent figure, you don't end up with 10,000, you end up with
4,200. I mention this obvious point, not because 4,200 is somehow more
credible than 10,000. No one, I repeat, no one, has any solid evidence for
either figure."
- Shana Naomi Krochmal of the STOP AIDS Project in San
Francisco says her entire conversation with Gregory Freeman was off the record
and that her quotes were never intended for inclusion in the article. She
posted commentary regarding her interactions with Freeman to the letters
section of the Poynter.org Web site. http://www.poynter.org/forum/?id=medianews
Ed Needham, Rolling Stone's editor, contends
that the story is accurate and that the sources confirmed their quotes with a
fact checker. No matter what one's feelings are about the issue explored in this
article, Freeman's's piece is bad journalism. And as a result, radical anti-gay
groups like the Traditional Values Coalition have already stepped up to the
plate and used this story as ammunition for their attacks on our lives. Fox News
Channel's Hannity & Colmes picked up the story as well, furthering
the sensationalism of an issue that is hardly an "epidemic."
TAKE
ACTION NOW!
Call on Rolling Stone to publicly correct the
errors of fact and attribution in Gregory Freeman's article. Rolling
Stone's decision to print and stand behind disproved and grossly
sensationalistic reporting sends a dangerous, inaccurate message that is already
being exploited by the anti-gay right. Tell Rolling Stone editor Ed
Needham that you expect him to print a detailed correction of Freeman's
inaccuracies and take responsibility for what amounts to shoddy journalism with
no factual evidence to support it. To write Rolling Stone using GLAAD.org's new
online Take Action center, visit:
http://www.glaad.org/action/alerts_detail.php?id=3175
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