How Media Should Interview A Hate Group Leader

Tony Perkins Is Set To Appear On ABC's This Week

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, is set to appear on the upcoming edition of ABC’s Sunday morning news show, This Week. It’s paramount that, when introducing Perkins, the hosts accurately identify him as the leader of an anti-gay hate group.

The Family Research Council (FRC) has been listed as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) since 2010 due to the organization’s propagation of known falsehoods about LGBT people as well as Perkins’ history of making inflammatory remarks about LGBT people. Perkins’ extreme views have been called out by critics as not representative of the views of most Christians.

Perkins’ record of bigoted anti-gay remarks includes calling pedophilia a “homosexual problem,” claiming that gay men “recruit” children into homosexuality, and endorsing a Uganda law that would have imposed the death penalty for gay sex.

In the past, mainstream media outlets have regularly failed to identify FRC as an anti-LGBT hate group, instead allowing it to pass as a serious policy organization. Outlets have treated Perkins as a credible and legitimate conservative commentator, regularly inviting him to speak on behalf of Christians without identifying him as a hate monger.  But last April, Bob Schieffer, former host of CBS’ Face The Nation, set the gold standard when it comes to interviewing members of groups such as FRC  by accurately identifying Perkins as the president of “an anti-gay hate group.”

Media owe audiences pertinent information about the guests they bring on to offer commentary. In the wake of the Orlando massacre at a gay nightclub, it is vital hosts disclose Perkins’ extreme anti-LGBT record to provide audiences with the necessary context to adequately assess his commentary.

UPDATE: Tony Perkins did not appear as scheduled on the June 19 edition of ABC’s This Week. No mention of his absence from This Week’s Powerhouse Roundtable was made: