Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

Webmaster Discussion
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#1

I just got an e-mail from a writer at Newsweek asking if I would be interviewed about bug chasers. I’m not sure how I feel about the request…

On the one hand it’s huge. Part of me wants to go for it and use it to drive traffic to my site and possibly get a link from newsweek.com. This could be a big break for me - I’ve seen another blogger get huge traffic and great organic rankings from getting discussed on sites like gawker (he’s often top 10 for ‘bareback’).

On the other hand I’m leery. I don’t like spotlights that could be negative. I’m not sure I’m comfortable getting attention on this particular topic.

And then there’s the community issue. Is bug chasing something we really want discussed in the mainstream press? I don’t know that I want to facilitate a mainstream article on bug chasers. What happened when the Rolling Stone did their article wasn’t very good if I remember correctly. On the other hand I’d rather there be gay voices in the discussion than just alarmist heterosexuals who don’t like us in the first place.

What do you guys think?

[I want to make it really clear that if you’re not gay, think twice about responding. This is an issue for the gay community, so I’m mostly interested in what gay guys think about this… If your straight and you do respond - please identify yourself as straight…]

#2

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

For myself, I don’t know if I’d want to be quoted, or misquoted by a magazine on something like ‘bug chasing’. It is indeed a tough call, one I’d spend a great deal of time mulling over.

#3

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

OK so I was wrong about the BB thread. It got closed on page 10 not 8 as I predicted.

Ill put my balls on the chopping board and predict this as at least an 8 pager and closed by then end… (I am playing… I think it will be but Im playing)

#4

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

[quote=marcjacob;15367]OK so I was wrong about the BB thread. It got closed on page 10 not 8 as I predicted.

Ill put my balls on the chopping board and predict this as at least an 8 pager and closed by then end… (I am playing… I think it will be but Im playing)[/quote]

I don’t think it will be closed, unless it becomes personal attacks, and frankly, I rather don’t think that will happen.

my 2 cents and I’ll wager you your balls and two more to be named later :rolleyes:

Bug Chasing is not an easy topic, maybe even more difficult than Bareback, but I would ask the reporter, what guarantee do you have of what you say being accurately reported? Will there be editing involved, as happens in so many news stories. I think that should be questioned to help determine if you want to do it or not.

As to whether the ‘community’ wants it or not, it is a fact of life, and I don’t know, secrets just never seem to work out. So maybe there will be a short term hit or maybe not, but long term, it could be beneficial.

#5

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

i’m bi and not a man, but i have seen how often news sources take a single part of an interview, put it WAY out of context and make it appear the original person being quoted said something radically different than they did.

on the other hand if newsweek is doing an article on bug chasing, it’s going to be mainstream. they’ll find someone to talk about it, but it would be good if some of the people they talk to weren’t bug chasers and had a different take on it than they do.

[quote=rawTOP;15362]I just got an e-mail from a writer at Newsweek asking if I would be interviewed about bug chasers. I’m not sure how I feel about the request…

On the one hand it’s huge. Part of me wants to go for it and use it to drive traffic to my site and possibly get a link from newsweek.com. This could be a big break for me - I’ve seen another blogger get huge traffic and great organic rankings from getting discussed on sites like gawker (he’s often top 10 for ‘bareback’).

On the other hand I’m leery. I don’t like spotlights that could be negative. I’m not sure I’m comfortable getting attention on this particular topic.

And then there’s the community issue. Is bug chasing something we really want discussed in the mainstream press? I don’t know that I want to facilitate a mainstream article on bug chasers. What happened when the Rolling Stone did their article wasn’t very good if I remember correctly. On the other hand I’d rather there be gay voices in the discussion than just alarmist heterosexuals who don’t like us in the first place.

What do you guys think?

[I want to make it really clear that if you’re not gay, think twice about responding. This is an issue for the gay community, so I’m mostly interested in what gay guys think about this… If your straight and you do respond - please identify yourself as straight…][/quote]

ewww! i don’t want to see someone’s balls chopped off. couldn’t you just offer an iphone instead? :wink:

[quote=marcjacob;15367]OK so I was wrong about the BB thread. It got closed on page 10 not 8 as I predicted.

Ill put my balls on the chopping board and predict this as at least an 8 pager and closed by then end… (I am playing… I think it will be but Im playing)[/quote]

#6

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

NO.

a) There’s no way that they will identify your site. They’ll say you’re a pornographer but not give your site name. They never do. They’ll probably say your site “glorifies HIV infection as a sexual fetish.”

b)There’s no way that you’ll come off well. They’ll make you look like a gay serial killer. Any attention you may get will be overwhelmingly negative.

When it comes to issues like this, the mainstream press DOES NOT WANT TO BE OBJECTIVE. They want to depict the gay community as evil, reckless, dangerous, sick and hell-bound for self-destruction. The mainstream press has NEVER felt the need to make us look like anything but that (or a bunch of sex and celebrity-obsessed drag queens… you ever see mainstream press covering gay pride festivals?).

There’s nothing like a little hysteria and gay panic to sell magazines. Don’t help them do that.

#7

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

I have a contact at In The Life who I just shot an e-mail off to. If I’m involved I want someone like them to be involved. I think it’s really important that mainstream, credible, gay voices be heard if this is going to be discussed publicly…

And yeah, I’ve asked the guy at In The Life to check out the Newsweek guy. I really have zero interest in being in the middle of some negative publicity storm…

#8

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

I’d be very wary. I’ve been interviewed/appeared on TV and radio several times and sometimes I came away feeling like I’d been manipulated.

I’m not sure you will get much benefit and may just end up being vilified. It depends on the reporter, editor and publication. If you can, try and establish in an email (in writing) what form the article will take. I would also record the whole thing so you have your own copy of what was said.

Getting things corrected afterwards can be very difficult though.

#9

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

There are too many ways to twist everything in a negative way. I would not.

#10

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

I’m inclined to agree with the majority here. IT’s a very hotbutton topic, and I can’t imagine that they will mention your site, and very likely (particularly if you say anything that can be remotely interpreted to validate or encourage bugchasing) they will demonize you.

Also, on a completely different note, keep in mind that Steve Lightspeed agreed to do an interview for Wall Street Journal (if I remember correctly.) They promised to portray him fairly, not to reveal exactly who he was or where he lived, but a few days after the article hit, his neighbors found out (I think the paper did actually give enough info to locate him) and they made life so difficult for him and his kids that they ended up selling their home and moving to a different location. So there can be totally unexpected consequences of being nationally quoted in the news media.

I’d stay away.

#11

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

When was the last time the press makes anyone look good.
They are out to sell magazines. And the will do anything to do it.
They don’t give a rats ass about you or anyone.
Just look what the New Yorker did this week to sell their rags!!

#12

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

I don’t like the topic… doesn’t sit well and surely doesn’t read well with the mostly uninformed and uneducated American public…

you’ll probably be identified as “the guy that is into bareback and therefore… well… you can draw your own conclusions readers…”

I’ve done several interviews - actually (one is being published in the local newspaper tomorrow) but… my experience is that no publication has ever made me look like what I expected or even anticipated…

I was on the cover of the LA Times Local section a while back and the article DID NOT convey the real situation behind the story - all the facts were jumbled up and twisted - and I wasn’t even talking about bareback which is highly controversial to begin with!

I’ve always gotten feedback from my friends and colleagues re: how they liked the story or article on me and no two people ever completely understood or retained the facts in the story - they always leaned toward the opinions of the writer… that’s not a good thing here - I’m talking about intelligent people - doctors and writers and such…

reporters and writers ALWAYS GET TWO SIDES and I think that there is only one side on this issue…

the bottom line is this… CONTROVERSY SELLS - so… if you want your 15 minutes of fame - go for it but don’t go crying when the world doesn’t like you anymore…

#13

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

Thanks for all the feedback…

This is definitely not what I want 15 minutes of fame for… Trust me, I’m VERY wary of this situation and intend to proceed with a great deal of caution…

#14

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

Years ago, I appeared on a television talk show here in Canada. It was a sort of Sally Jesse Rafael kind of thing before they started throwing chairs on Jerry Springer. I saw a poster in the neighbourhood that the show was looking for people to talk about being HIV-positive and dating. The producers of the show essentially snowed me and sold the show as an opportunity to educate people and building understanding. I was young (well younger) and naive and I decided to do the show.

I was upfront with the producer and told him that when I went to the baths I didn’t tell sexual partners that I was positive. No one did. It just wasn’t done. What are you supposed to do while you’re on your knees in the back hallway of the orgy alley, tap someone on the knees before you blow him, “Excuse me, I just wanted you to know …” That’s not really the way bath houses work. You assume everyone at the bath house is positive and conduct yourself appropriately. Straight people don’t understand bath houses anyway and it’s hard to explain it to them.

Long story short, the host of the show ambushed me with the information live and on the air, “So Michael I hear you don’t tell people you’re positive before you have sex with them.” The audience gasped. I spent the next 30 minutes being crucified by everyone in the audience who stood up to make a comment. It was a horrible experience.

So rawtop, in all likelihood you will end up regretting talking to the Newsweek guy and it will not turn out the way you hope. I was also a journalist for a number of years, so I know how these things sometimes go. Writers, editors, and publishers have deadlines to meet and they have agendas, too … they don’t always conduct themselves appropriately. You may say, “Blah blah blah, doobee doobee do.” The “blah blah blah” is an important part of your statement, but the “doobee doobee do” fits better in the story, so they conveniently leave out the “blah blah blah.” They don’t care if you look like a piece of shit as a result. It’s all about the story, the spin, and how many magazines they can sell.]

I agree with Jasun, they’re not going to publish your site. They may say they will, and then, when the issue hits the street and you flip about the missing URL … “Oh I’m sorry the publisher pulled it at the last minute. It was completely out of my hands. I fought to keep it but I was overridden.”

Don’t do it. Run. Run very quickly.

Michael

#15

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

Not as serious as Michael’s experience but on a show 20 years ago I arrived and was asked to lie and pretend that someone who was also appearing was a ‘surprise’. On another show (presented by a well-known UK TV married couple) I was asked to pretend to be the boyfriend of a woman in the audience and the entire quiz show was a set up, even though they went through the pretence of chosing people from the audience ‘by computer’.

I’ve been screwed over by a radio presenter who asked me to take photos for an HIV charity magazine for free and who then made a profit from himself out of them with not even a credit for me. Never again.

A lot of media people are complete snakes, so I would watch out :smiley:

One good experience was with Channel 4 News in the UK.

#16

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

Another story, and then, I’ll shut up. I worked for a gay newspaper a few years ago. I was assigned a story about a dog that had died in a neighbourhood park. It seemed like an odd story for a gay mag, but gay men were dog crazy at the time and everyone was getting dogs, so I just though …

Anyway I dug around and there was no story: the dog’s lower jaw got caught under his choke collar and he died. When I told my editor, she said, “That’s good, write it up and give me 500 words.” When I politely insisted there weren’t 500 words to write, she pushed back. “I need the story by Thursday.”

So I did what I thought was best. I called the Humane Society and got some info on choke chains and how dangerous they were, blah blah …

Weeks later I figured out why she wanted the story so badly. It seems that the newspaper’s publisher lived on the park and he was tired of dealing with dogs barking all the time. He was hoping there was some dirt to the story, or that it might stir up controversy and get dogs prohibited from the park. So he was pressuring her for the story.

Nothing came of the story because it was simply a dead dog story. But it sure illustrates how a dead dog story isn’t always about a dead dog.

Michael

#17

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

I agree. Journalists lie all the time. The have no interest in the truth. Their interest is in tell the story they want to tell.

I have been on too many national television shows and way too many newspapers to believe otherwise.

#18

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

I agree with Jasun 100%

Newsweek isnt going to publish a raunchy gay domain name in their magazine.
And this interview will make the gay community look like we’re all a bunch of sickos, so conservatives can hold the magazine up and say “See!? See how descructive the homosexual lifestyle is? Repent!”

#19

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

The media as it exists today is totally to tell you what to think. News is a thing of the past.

1984 happened a long time ago…George O waned you about it long before that…and still you want to think that there is a “free press”.

Lee

#20

Re: Newsweek wants to interview me about bug chasers. Should I do it?

I did a little research on the journalist. Looks like he’s young, and most of the articles he’s written for Newsweek are a bit on the fluffy side. One was literally asking “Are some people mosquito magnets?” I think he’s the same person who was an editor at a fairly big college paper up until recently - so he’s a recent college grad. Oh, if he is that person, he’s gay…

That puts a whole other light on it. I sorta wonder what his motivation is for airing the gay community’s dirty laundry in public… I think I know the answer to that and don’t really like it…

But even so, it could still be a dangerous situation… Especially when the editors get ahold of the article and rewrite it to make something out of it that will sell magazines…