The use of the term “transgender” to describe the recent Nashville shooter has reportedly been banned by CBS News executives in an alleged effort to quell uproar. Employees and media have reportedly been told not to use the phrase when discussing the incident, according to sources. The decision raises questions about the effect of censorship on the media’s capacity to report correctly and responsibly on important matters, even though the logic behind it is yet unknown.
Despite confirmation from the Nashville police, a message sent by high-ranking management of a company urged their personnel to refrain from referring to the person who recently committed a shooting as “transgender.”
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“The shooter’s gender identity has not been confirmed by CBS News. As such, we should avoid any mention of it as it has no known relevance to the crime. Should that change, we can and will revisit,” the memo starts. It was sent by Claudia Milne, senior VP of standards and procedures, and Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews, executive VP of news gathering.
“Right now we advise saying: POLICE IDENTIFIED THE SUSPECT AS A 28-YEAR-OLD AUDREY HALE, WHO [sic] THEY SHOT AND KILLED AT THE SCENE. And move on to focus on other important points of the investigation, community and solutions,” the note inserted.
The Post claims that on Tuesday, the executives of CBS called about 150 of their journalists and instructed them to adopt the absurd story. The command, according to a CBS staffer who spoke to the Post anonymously, was “absurd because the cops identified Hale as transgender.”
“If the cops didn’t address it, maybe you could avoid it, but withholding information is not journalism,” the insider added.
“You need to look at all the facts of the case. Everyone should be invested in understanding what happened. I don’t know how you do that without understanding the full scope of the situation,” another insider from a company said.
A CBS spokesman provided the following response to the Post: “We are waiting to see the manifesto [written by Hale] and any details about motive. As we say in our guidance, we will then review and revise our reporting.”
