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Articles by Jennifer Vanasco | Email the Author

 

1. Minority Reports

   Gay at the Times

   November 30, 2012 06:50 AM

   In her column, Minority Reports, Jennifer Vanasco analyzes how the mainstream media covers social minorities. It turns out that the bad old days were, in fact, pretty bad. On Wednesday, The New York Times’s LGBT employee affinity group commemorated a... Continue reading

2. Minority Reports

   Five awesome blogs about minority communities

   November 23, 2012 06:50 AM

   In her column, Minority Reports, Jennifer Vanasco analyzes how the mainstream media covers social minorities. One of the tough things for journalists writing stories about unfamiliar minority groups is getting the full context. That’s why one of the things I’m... Continue reading

3. Minority Reports

   The media’s woman blaming

   November 16, 2012 06:50 AM

   In her column, Minority Reports, Jennifer Vanasco analyzes how the mainstream media covers social minorities. Frank Bruni gets it. The New York Times columnist wrote a smart, sensitive piece this week about the Petraeus mess, calling out all... Continue reading

4. Minority Reports

   Historic votes, hidden from live coverage

   November 12, 2012 06:50 AM

   In her column, Minority Reports, Jennifer Vanasco analyzes how the mainstream media covers social minorities. Do you know what was most frustrating to me about the election last week? Trying to track real-time results for the ballot questions on same-sex... Continue reading

5. Minority Reports

   Jenny McCarthy as a Sun-Times columnist?

   October 29, 2012 06:50 AM

   In her column, Minority Reports, Jennifer Vanasco analyzes how the mainstream media covers social minorities. The Chicago Sun-Times created controversy this month by hiring Jenny McCarthy—an actress-model, author, and activist who promotes the discredited idea that vaccines cause autism—to... Continue reading

6. Minority Reports

   Covering the candidates on women

   October 19, 2012 06:50 AM

   In her column, Minority Reports, Jennifer Vanasco analyzes how the mainstream media covers social minorities. During the second Presidential debate this week, both President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney spent significant time playing to women voters, acting on the <a... Continue reading

7. Minority Reports

   Covering BSA’s anti-gay stance

   October 15, 2012 06:50 AM

   In her column, Minority Reports, Jennifer Vanasco analyzes how the mainstream media covers social minorities. Every few months, a story breaks about a Boy Scout or troop leader who has been dismissed because he is gay. This is... Continue reading

8. Minority Reports

   More coverage of US Muslims is needed

   September 14, 2012 06:50 AM

   In her column, Minority Reports, Jennifer Vanasco analyzes how the mainstream media covers social minorities. This week, Americans commemorated September 11, which means there was a flood of stories about American Muslims. Some of these tie specifically into... Continue reading

9. Minority Reports

   LGBT coverage worth a shout-out

   September 7, 2012 06:50 AM

   In her column, Minority Reports, Jennifer Vanasco analyzes how the mainstream media covers social minorities. Every week in Minority Reports, I’ve pointed out coverage of social minorities that was done badly or could have been done better. But the fact... Continue reading

10. Minority Reports

    Don’t posit ‘what women think’ without quoting any

    August 31, 2012 06:50 AM

    In her column, Minority Reports, Jennifer Vanasco analyzes how the mainstream media covers social minorities. Immediately after Ann Romney’s speech to the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, some major media outlets reported the GOP plan had worked: Ann... Continue reading

11. Minority Reports

    Akin was wrong

    August 24, 2012 06:50 AM

    In her column, Minority Reports, Jennifer Vanasco analyzes how the mainstream media covers social minorities. One of the biggest surprises about US Rep. Todd Akin’s comments on rape was how long it took most mainstream media to state the obvious:... Continue reading

12. Minority Reports

    The media’s ‘happily ever after’

    August 17, 2012 06:50 AM

    In her column, Minority Reports, Jennifer Vanasco analyzes how the mainstream media covers social minorities. Jennifer Aniston is one of the wealthiest women in the entertainment industry. She has appeared in 27 feature films, starred in the hit sitcom Friends,... Continue reading

13. Minority Reports

    The Olympics’s women coverage

    August 3, 2012 06:50 AM

    In her column, Minority Reports, Jennifer Vanasco analyzes how the mainstream media covers social minorities. Gender issues were threaded throughout the coverage of the Olympic games this week, beginning with the opening ceremonies, which showcased that, for the first time,... Continue reading

14. Minority Reports

    Coming out posthumously

    July 27, 2012 06:50 AM

    In her column, Minority Reports, Jennifer Vanasco analyzes how the mainstream media covers social minorities. In the first obituaries about former astronaut Sally Ride, the news was easy to miss - buried at the end of the stories,... Continue reading

15. Minority Reports

    In Joe Willams’s firing, questions of race

    July 20, 2012 06:50 AM

    In America, talk about race is complex and fraught with danger. It is easy for people of good will to stumble when discussing it - and then trip a landmine. One recent explosion seems to have led to <a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/22/politico-suspends-reporter-over-romney-comments/"... Continue reading

16. Minority Reports

    Covering the ‘ex-gay’ movement

    July 13, 2012 06:50 AM

    In her new column, Minority Reports, Jennifer Vanasco analyzes how the mainstream media covers social minorities. Recently Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, an umbrella group ministering to Christians who want to suppress their gay feelings, made a... Continue reading