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Brian Alexander, the author of America Unzipped, sent a letter demanding an apology to KOMO’s Marlee Ginter after she recycled clips from a year-old interview with Alexander for her hit piece on the Center for Sex Positive Culture. Through selective editing, rad special effects (color! black and white! color!), and ominous swooshy sounds, Ginter’s report made Alexander sound like he was disgusted by the goings on at Seattle’s Center for Sex Positive Culture. Far from it:

In fact, I recall saying in the interview that the club members were “normal” and not scary, that the club had a very real educational purpose, and that my reporting for the previous year, in communities across the country, showed how much more mainstream BDSM and other formerly alternative sex practices were becoming.

Sheesh.

If you had bothered to read the book, or even the chapter based in Seattle—or even if you had watched your own station’s brief interview with me taped on that same day for the afternoon show—you would have known that I spent time with Allena and with club members and that I had been welcomed with openness and graciousness, just as you apparently were. I made it clear that while I did not find some of the activities of some members to my taste, I was not condemning.

Now I feel as if I should apologize to Allena and the other club members. But I also feel you owe an apology to me for putting me in this position.

Alexander says Ginter did not apologize in her email. Ginter told Alexander that she didn’t understand how her selective editing—swoosh! thump! black-and-white!—could possibly put him in awkward position, since she quoted him correctly. Which she did—if by “quoted correctly,” one means, “used words that actually came out of Alexander’s mouth.” Ginter and KOMO seem to believe that it’s fair to remove an interview subject’s words from their original context and edit them together to make the subject appear to be saying things he did not say—or even saying the opposite of what he actually said.

Gee, then KOMO and Ginter should have no problem with the quick edit we did to her report. We use only words that actually came out of Ginter’s mouth, after all, so we’re, like, so totally quoting her correctly. Still, seems kind of unethical, journalistically-speaking, to me—but what the hell do I know? I’m just a sex writer! I’m not a TV newz reporter!

Tying up kids for fun and sex is wrong, as I’m sure Marlee Ginter would agree.

36 replies on “Brian Alexander Hears Back From Marlee Ginter”

  2. Stop writing to her, it gets you nowhere. Write to her bosses and let them know you’re spreading the word about the biased reporting and encouraging people to get their news elsewhere.

    She can just hit the “delete” button. Her bosses have to take more notice.

  3. I still say donate through The KOMO Problem Solvers’ website to CSPC and make KOMO write checks to support the “sex club” they bashed. 🙂 Then they MUST notice. It’s on their tax forms and financial statements.

    Heh heh heh….

  10. Well, now the goat-blowing thing is the second thing that pops up when you Google her. Will it teach her anything? Unlikely. Lack of context overall is what’s wrong with news these days. Tons of unnamed sources, 30-second newsbites; CNN video snippets; short-attention-span theater. That’s the news these days. & OMG..secks! Even unattractive people have secks!

    I think you’re a bit of a dead-goat-beater, but shit, we should be pissed that it’s that easy to misrepresent someone. Nooz graphics = viewer distraction & manipulation.

  13. Is it just me or maybe it’s just that I’m an old fart (entirely possible) but what is it with all the stations now use annoying sound effects like swooshes, dings and other assorted sounds. Just give me the freaking news and spare me the sound effects that appealed to me when I was in elementary school.

  14. I find it funny that in sex-starved region like Puget Sound people have all this energy to go out on the edge with “BSDM” of “MFSB” or “ROTC” or…

    Quiet frankly there aren’t enough quality singles in this region for just the basics which is why even the tanning salons have turned into bordellos.

  17. Using the word “might” will not save Dan. It is obvious that this is a malicious attack, not satire. He wants to cause her harm. He wants her to lose her job. He wants her to be harassed. He wants her family to suffer because of his harassment. Anyone who reads this site can tell that this is not satire. If it were satire he would have stopped when people began to threaten her and her family. Instead it only geared him up to do more harm.

    To claim that is is simply an adolescent frat-boy wannabe giggle fest would be inaccurate. This is Dan Savage’s malicious attempt to cause harm to someone. Was he named in the story? Was he directly provoked? Has this reporter maliciously tried to ruin his reputation because of his writings? I hope she hires a lawyer, this will be an easy victory.

  19. @17 Um, who ever said that this was a “adolescent frat-boy wannabe giggle fest?” What the fuck is THAT, anyway?

    Satire: “The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.” If those videos aren’t satire, then I don’t know what is. Open a fucking dictionary you fucking moron.

    Brian Alexander is the one who should be hiring a lawyer.

  20. She attacked honesty, journalism, made KOMO vulnerable to litigation from a variety of sources. For what exactly? How dare you call yourself common sense…A.

  21. 17: Not a lawyer yet, still just a law student, but as best as I can figure it you’re both right and wrong. Using the word “might” doesn’t save you when it’s clear what you’re actually trying to do is spread damaging falsehoods. But the fact that Dan’s statements are a) obviously ridiculous and unbelievable on their face and b) being told in a manner that makes it clear they’re not to be believed should keep Dan safe from any defamation suits.

  27. Vivid: I don’t see on the Problem Solvers website where one can specify where the money will go, other than to the general Problem Solvers Fund, or to the kid with leukemia. Is there a way to be 100% sure it will go to SPCC? ‘Cause I love that idea.

  28. Don’t you see what they’re trying to do? The gay protests are going on right now… they’re trying to associate you guys (gays) with sexual deviance!! These connections are forming in people’s brains, they’re associating you guys with this kinda stuff. Fight back already! Don’t take any inult, whether they say you’re a threat to the economy, children, etc. You gotta go all politically CORRECT not INCORRECT and pissed off, that’s just gonna piss them off and not win you any support.

    Just say this:
    Stop attacking our right to have a positive feeling about our sexual identity. We give you that right, how about you give it back?

    And just mock the fuck out of em:
    Why take the bible at its word and not gays? Why do you require explicit scientific evidence for one and not the other?

    Lastly, break the whole igorance about genetic and environmental being pre- and post birth. THERE ARE ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS IN THE WOMB – THE MOTHER’S HORMONES!

  33. @27 Dr. Awsome:

    Since I started the Donation Campaign, here is what I suggest and did myself.

    There are fields as follows:

    “Reference” which we have used to indicate “Allena Gabosch Story – 11/17/2008” or similar clear indicator of the story source.

    Under the “Donation Options” field there is “If Other” which we have used to indicate the real name of the organization “Donate To: CSPC” or “Donate To: CSPC & FSPC” if you wish to include the Foundation for Sex Positive Culture, which supports the Foundation’s Library and SEAF, among other educational activities. Leave the “Donation Options” as Problem Solvers Fund but also use the “If Other” field to make it absolutely clear it is not a general donation.

    And the “Special Instructions” field, which we have used to state something to the effect of:

    “Donate 100% of these funds to the Center for Sex Positive Culture.

    Their MAILING ADDRESS is:
    CSPC
    4714 Ballard Ave. NW #M309
    Seattle, WA 98107″

    If you want to donate to the Foundation as well, be certain to designate that 100% of the funds should be donated and divided in a specific percentage. Also make certain to include the mailing address for the Center.

    We have also kept the emailed receipts, which includes the information you enter minus your credit card info, and sent copies to Allena Gabosch at CSPC so that she can track donations and if CSPC actually receives them as donated.

    There is no disclaimer anywhere on the KOMO site that special instructions will not be honored, at least not last we checked. You may wish to check their terms before you do so just in case they have changed them this week.

    However, since there is no disclaimer and if they do not pay as designated, then it raises the question about their statement on their main “Problem Solvers” page which reads:

    “If you’d like to help someone featured in one of our stories, you can donate online now to the Problem Solvers fund.”

    It indicates that you can donate to “someone featured in one of our stories,” implying you can specify a donation to a specific someone. Since there is no disclaimer, if they do not do so, it would indicate fraud. And if they do not do so for ONLY the CSPC, then …. well, that is an entirely different lawsuit, now isn’t it? And what a story THAT would make. 😀

  34. @27 Dr. Awsome:

    Since I started the Donation Campaign, here is what I suggest and did myself.

    There are fields as follows:

    “Reference” which we have used to indicate “Allena Gabosch Story – 11/17/2008” or similar clear indicator of the story source.

    Under the “Donation Options” field there is “If Other” which we have used to indicate the real name of the organization “Donate To: CSPC” or “Donate To: CSPC & FSPC” if you wish to include the Foundation for Sex Positive Culture, which supports the Foundation’s Library and SEAF, among other educational activities. Leave the “Donation Options” as Problem Solvers Fund but also use the “If Other” field to make it absolutely clear it is not a general donation.

    And the “Special Instructions” field, which we have used to state something to the effect of:

    “Donate 100% of these funds to the Center for Sex Positive Culture.

    Their MAILING ADDRESS is:
    CSPC
    4714 Ballard Ave. NW #M309
    Seattle, WA 98107″

    If you want to donate to the Foundation as well, be certain to designate that 100% of the funds should be donated and divided in a specific percentage. Also make certain to include the mailing address for the Center.

    We have also kept the emailed receipts, which includes the information you enter minus your credit card info, and sent copies to Allena Gabosch at CSPC so that she can track donations and if CSPC actually receives them as donated.

    There is no disclaimer anywhere on the KOMO site that special instructions will not be honored, at least not last we checked. You may wish to check their terms before you do so just in case they have changed them this week.

    However, since there is no disclaimer and if they do not pay as designated, then it raises the question about their statement on their main “Problem Solvers” page which reads:

    “If you’d like to help someone featured in one of our stories, you can donate online now to the Problem Solvers fund.”

    It indicates that you can donate to “someone featured in one of our stories,” implying you can specify a donation to a specific someone. Since there is no disclaimer, if they do not do so, it would indicate fraud. And if they do not do so for ONLY the CSPC, then …. well, that is an entirely different lawsuit, now isn’t it? And what a story THAT would make. 😀

  35. Ginter was hired to replace April Zepeda, who was fired from KOMO last year. See what happens when you cut loose experienced journalists and replace them with green, hungry, cheap labor?

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