An independent review of Fox News over nine months reveals the number one rated cable news network did not invite a single openly transgender person to appear as a guest to discuss transgender issues.
The report was compiled by the nonprofit news watchdog Media Matters. The organization's website makes no bones about its mission, declaring it is "dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media."
Fox News Channel aired 44 news alerts and 27 segments focusing on transgender issues between September 1, 2014, and June 1, 2015, according to the Media Mattersreport. But in all that coverage on Rupert Murdoch's crown jewel, the researchers could find only two news alerts that included commentary from a person openly identified as transgender.
And what's perhaps most alarming, is that the commentary in those two news alerts on April 4 lasted no more than nine seconds, and was a recorded sound bite from just one person: Kris Hayashi, executive director of the Transgender Law Center, an out trans man.
That's not to say Fox News Channel didn't bring in guests or cover trans issues. According to Media Matters, the conservative-leaning cable news channel presented 27 segments in that nine month period featuring at least two guests each.
And not one was transgender.
The Advocate has reported time and time again how problematic Fox News coverage has been, such as resident transphobic psychologist Keith Ablow's fearmongering and anchors using malicious terms such as "gender-bender."
In its methodology disclaimer, Media Matters made it clear that it counted both live and recorded guest interviews and that its researchers "tracked all segments focusing on transgender issues that included commentary from at least one guest who wasn't the show's host or anchor," according to the report.
"Network reporters and correspondents providing news updates or packaged reports were not counted as guests," the report said, nor were reruns, teases, or programs seen after midnight but before the beginning of the Fox News Channel's morning shows, including Fox and Friends.
According to Media Matters, its research team utilized IQMedia and Nexis to search transcripts of programs for the following words and terms:
"transgender!," "gender identity," "sex change," "cross-dress!," "transsexual!," "gender neutral," "genderless," "male-to-female," "female-to-male," "male to female," "female to male," "Manning," and "Jenner."
An email from The Advocate requesting a comment from Fox News was not immediately answered.
