Transgender journalist Stel Kline no longer works at South Dakota Public Broadcasting. Kline posted to Twitter that the firing was for not being objective and having a problem with authority.
Kline tweeted the following: “In my interview I was very clear that as a trans person I am unable to be impartial about attacks on my humanity. Objectivity is not a static identity, but when wielded as such becomes the language of those with the most power.”
And another tweet by Kline: “Declaring someone not objective is a selective practice used effectively to exclude POC / queer journos.”
Check out Kline’s Twitter page HERE.
Pointing out the obvious, if there was ever a station that would be sensitive to D.E.I. it would be a public radio station like this one. Good riddance to a person no matter what their gender, ethnicity, or political position who makes a declaration on Twitter that they are unable to be impartial. Start a blog, podcast, or some other forum. Do whine about being fired for being transgender is disrespectful to all other transgender reporters who are doing their jobs with impartiality and professionalism, as well as all other journalists regardless of orientation or ethnicity to are trying to impartially cover the news. Shame on Radio Ink for taking the clickbait and giving legs to this story. It should have died on Klines Twitter feed that has minimal followers.
The government protects all citizens from discrimination. Here is what EEOC says: “Applicants, employees and former employees are protected from employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity)” So gender identity is a protected group. However, that’s not why this person was fired. The person was fired because they didn’t carry out their responsibilities as defined by the job description. As the tweet says, “I am unable to be impartial.” That’s a different situation.
Although I am sympathetic to LGBTQ+ issues, I have to agree that this is a case of a reporter compromising their responsibility to provide objective coverage because of their personal situation. While one’s personal circumstances can often be the basis for enhancing a report because of personal knowledge about an issue, when one is tasked with reporting the facts those circumstances cannot be an excuse for failing to do so in a balanced manner.
This is no different, philosophically speaking, as reporting on reporting on a fire when you have personally suffered losses from one in the past. A journalist’s job (unless writing opinion articles) is to set aside all personal “involvement” in a story and report in an accurate manner.
If Stel can’t do that, they have a bigger problem than their gender issue.
While I sympathize with Klein’s sensitivity to trans issues as she is up against huge cultural biases, the role of a journalist is unbiased reporting. To permit personal issues to affect your reporting is to fail as a journalist. Had Klein been hired not as a reporter but as an opinion writer, her personal approach to stories would have been justifiable.
Count me as yet another person who is damn sick and tired of this transgender crap being forced down my throat by the liberal media and by crybabies like the subject of this article. Gender dysphoria is a mental illness and should be treated as such. Discuss it in a psychiatrist’s office, NOT on the air at a radio station.
What you do in your bedroom is strictly your own business. Don’t parade it around for all to see.
As a journalist, your job is to report news in an objective manner. So-called “advocacy journalism” isn’t journalism at all. It’s propaganda.
Who cares about your gender and what you do in your bedroom! Keep it off the air and out of the office….N O B O D Y …CARES!
Follow directive’s and just do your job. If you don’t like it, get out and let someone else do the job!