You Must Remember This .  .  .

by Paul Giacobbe

It has become, in newsrooms across the country, simply known as “the kiss:”  a generic reference to the question of whether stories of gay marriage should be illustrated with photos or videos of same sex couples kissing. The issue surfaced once again here when an NBC10 viewer objected to video of two men kissing as part of a recent morning news show story about California’s legalization of gay marriage.

“It has occurred to me before that every story about a gay marriage includes similar scenes,” wrote Bill Corcoran of Johnston.  “Yet I can’t remember the last time Channel 10 showed a heterosexual couple kissing.”

“Why,” wrote Mr. Corcoran, “would the news department insist on adding those clips to the story knowing that a good portion of their viewing audience is offended by such scenes?  Also, young children may be watching the program and I’m sure it has made many a parent uncomfortable.”

In 2004, when Oregon sanctioned same sex marriages, the Portland Oregonian was confronted with the issue of how to illustrate the stories about the more than 400 couples married in a single day.

Randy Cox, the newspaper’s senior editor for visuals, was quoted then in an article written by a staffer at the Poynter Institute, a center for journalism education, as indicating that the kissing issue was the hardest of the decisions.

“Same sex kissing is a powerful image,” Cox said.  He noted that it evokes a reaction that further exacerbates an already heated debate.

Just this week, with the legalization of the marriages in California, Poynter weighed in again, noting that while some newsrooms have policies which discourage photos or videos of same sex kissing, others feel the kissing captures the climactic moment of a wedding.

Interestingly, Poynter says, some advocates of gay marriage dislike the kissing photos, saying that they have become a cliché that turns people away from the story, while others argue that when newsrooms refuse to show same sex kissing they “give in to dehumanizing forces.”

Given the extent of the debate over the use of images of same sex kissing, it’s clear that Mr. Corcoran, our Johnston viewer, is not alone in his discomfort.  It seems equally clear that absent a story about a specific couple being married, which might include video of that couple expressing their affection, there’s no compelling reason to show same sex kissing.

Television needs pictures, but the video used in the recent NBC10 story was generic footage, not specific to the story.  The video could have been couples at a ceremony, walking together or interacting in any of the many other ways that same sex marriages are frequently illustrated.  Insistence on using same sex kissing video when it’s not specifically relevant to a story can also be seen as advocating a particular position similar, for example, to using images of fetuses each time an abortion story is aired.

Viewers are NBC10’s customers.  There’s no rational reason to offend any of those customers by using video offensive to them when there are so many other images that are equally effective and much less polarizing.

NBC10 provides this space, but the opinions are mine alone.—Paul Giacobbe

Postscript—If the headline puzzles you, ask someone over 50.