Roger-Luc Chayer
I was reading recently on the Facebook page of a citizens’ association of the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough, about a series of criticisms made against the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, a comment to the The fact that the French-language media did not adequately cover the Mairie, and that only the English-language media dared to publish controversial articles about Madame Plante. I then replied that French-language media like Gay Globe spoke regularly about Valérie Plante and was told that we were not a « main stream » media, but specialized, so small.
However, it is not the case. The big-budget media do daily work and publish general news on a lot of topics, but as for the LGBT issue or the topics that interest us as representatives of 15 to 25% of the population, we have relevance sometimes much more important than TVA, Radio-Canada or Le Devoir. There are also topics that these media would never discuss, hence the importance of a professional, free and effective LGBT press.
The problem is that in the minds of some politicians, a gay media is less important, is less broadcast so no need to answer his questions. False! We are no longer in the era of the paper newspaper sold in convenience stores or delivered to home in which the news is strictly framed by paper that finds no other outlet to circulate. We are in an era of super-specialized media that sometimes has much more airplay depending on the audience they are addressing. And that’s exactly the case for professional gay media. Not only does paper no longer occupy most of the distribution, the computer PDF,
blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, as well as Instagram do a huge job of broadcasting specialized news. Take the case of Gay Globe Group. When we publish in the paper version a scathing article on the disrespectful behavior of Mayor Plante and her partner Robert Beaudry of the Ville-Marie borough, which you can read at https://gayglobe.us/blog/?p= 18619, it is automatically found on the full PDF of the magazine published on our web page, on our wire, on Facebook and Twitter. Ultimately, after 24 or 48 hours, this article is referenced on Google and the hundreds of other search engines on the planet and it becomes permanently accessible everywhere. Result? The article is better broadcast by Gay Globe than it would be by Le Devoir or any TV or radio channel. This is the media integration, the famous convergence!
To achieve this, it is essential that a professional gay press exists. Who can best treat HIV victims, research new drugs and their impact on people with HIV, or post moving testimonials from people in our communities more than once a year? LGBT professional journalists have their place and no, they are not exaggerated infomercials as found in some « gay guides » that should be considered professional articles.
We should also adapt the outdated rules of the Quebec Press Council, which do not even recognize the contribution of independent and independent journalists in the financing of their media, but that is another subject …