-
HOME
-
WHAT IS STANDOur Mission Our Values Our Help Contact
-
WHAT WE FIGHT FORReligious Freedom Religious Literacy Equality & Human Rights Inclusion & Respect Free Speech Responsible Journalism Corporate Accountability
-
RESOURCESExpert Studies Landmark Decisions White Papers FAQs David Miscavige Religious Freedom Resource Center Freedom of Religion & Human Rights Topic Index Priest-Penitent Privilege Islamophobia
-
HATE MONITORBiased Media Propagandists Hatemongers False Experts Hate Monitor Blog
-
NEWSROOMNews Media Watch Videos Blog
-
TAKE ACTIONCombat Hate & Discrimination Champion Freedom of Religion Demand Accountability
Miami New Times Bigot Alex DeLuca Should Try Less Hate, More News
Miami New Times reporter Alex DeLuca loves repeating things.
Take the word “Scientologist,” for example. When writing an article about a prominent Scientologist, DeLuca takes care to use that word as many times as possible—even though the article has as much to do with the man’s religion as it does his taste in cruciferous vegetables.
Imagine reading: “Scientologist Joe Blow did 10 pushups today,” or “Jane Doe, longtime Scientologist, made a phone call today to her hairdresser.”
It’s a characteristic of a bigoted reporter that if they can’t find something nasty to write about the target of their bigotry, they’ll just mention the person’s religious affiliation in a sneering tone, imagining the reader will feel the disapproval seep through in print.
Robots LOVE repetition.
We’ve seen this movie before. If you don’t like a Jewish person and you’re writing about him, just call him a Jew. If you don’t like a Muslim, call him a Muslim. If you don’t like a Latter-day Saint, call him a Latter-day Saint.
Be sure you’re out of context and completely irrelevant, however, lest people think you’re being complimentary (perish forbid).
Example of non-bigoted reporting: “John Smith was one of nearly 2,000 Scientology Volunteer Ministers who helped first responders and civic leaders get supplies to stricken areas of Los Angeles.”
Example of bigoted reporting: “Scientologist John Smith, who is, after all, a Scientologist, did some things today, being, as we have already pointed out in our report, a Scientologist.”
After Alex DeLuca’s first piece last summer, STAND League, the anti-discrimination league of the Scientology religion, recognizing DeLuca’s confusion between reportage and hate, contacted her and showed her our Media Code of Conduct, which includes self-evident journalistic truths like “Park personal bias at the newsroom door when writing about our religion” and “Include the Scientology religion in your coverage only when it is relevant to your story.” It was hoped that DeLuca would read it, understand the error of her ways and day would dawn.
But day did not dawn for DeLuca. At the very next opportunity to cover the prominent Scientologist, there was his religion in the headline, and clucked about again and again throughout an article that had zip to do with the man’s spiritual beliefs.
The only apparent care she took in her writing was not to mention his religion three times in succession, possibly fearing that, like Beetlejuice, he’d suddenly materialize out of her laptop and invite her to explain her limited choice of words.
The Miami New Times is also to blame for allowing this bigot (what’s her religion by the way? Would she like it if we prefaced each mention of her name with a wink and a reference to her faith or lack thereof?) a platform upon which to spew.
Midway through DeLuca’s parroting paragraphs, the New Times brightly beckons the reader to click the big red button to GET MORE COVERAGE LIKE THIS, but not before you check a box confirming you’re not a robot. (Frankly, New Times, you’d do well to market yourself to the robot demographic rather than excluding them like this. Robots LOVE repetition.)
And as a suggestion to Alex DeLuca, whose bio says she focuses on news, crime and public safety, education and cannabis: Maybe focus less on the cannabis and more on the news.
