TODAY'S SCHEDULE

SATURDAY, AUG. 23

Breakfast
9:30AM-10:45AM

Breakout Sessions
9:30AM-10:45AM

Breakout Sessions
11:00AM-12:15AM

Lunch Plenary
12:30PM-2:00PM

Breakout Sessions
2:15PM-3:30PM

Closing Session
3:45PM-5:15PM

Authors' Café
3:45PM-5:45PM

Not-So-Silent Auction
6:45PM-8:45PM

View the full schedule here

TODAY'S WEATHER

WHAT IS NLGJA?

Find out more about NLGJA at the official website.

MENTORS

A big thanks to our mentors:

Brett Zongker
The Associated Press

Caroline K. Hauser
The Washington Post

Mark S. Luckie
Entertainment Weekly

Larry M. Shaw
ABC

Dennis M. Powell
ABC

Doug Mitchell
NPR

Washington's matters trump LA's clamors

by Jared Grigsby

Madonna and A-Rod. Brad and Angelina's twins. Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson.

While these names dominate most magazine covers, is the gay community obsessed with entertainment news, ignoring the hard hitting stories that affect society?

Monday's lunch plenary at NLGJA's annual convention, "The March on News Coverage," addressed the question of entertainment news in gay media with a panel of three individuals: Ross von Metzke, editor-in-chief of GayWired Media; John Barrett, editor-in-chief of The Advocate and John Wright, the news editor of the Dallas Voice. These men answered questions from discussion leader Michael Lavers and over 100 people over lunch.

During this time of presidential campaigns and the upcoming Democratic National Convention, hard news abounds. Entertainment news has its place but where?

"It's a simple formula, 50-50," Wright said. "Fifty percent to lifestyles, 50 percent to news."

This seems like an easy way to bring people what they want in terms of entertainment and hard news coverage, but those leading a publication may lean one way and eventually cause a publication to cover more of one than the other.

Barrett said that previous editors-in-chief of The Advocate were entertainment guys, so the past four years covered more entertainment.

"What it boils down to, it was straight man plays gay," Barrett said. "We have to examine now who we are and what news is important to us."

So, what is important to the gay community?

All three panelists believed that the gay media is more interested in hard news items and not focused as much on entertainment as perceived.

"We get requests to cover local news events and we try to make sense of the national – entertainment is the balance for the reader," von Metzke said.

Today's hard news, though, has an entertaining quality. From the Larry Craig foot-tapping incident to Jon Edwards' affair, the nation keeps an eye on the media for that next piece to unfold, the next chapter to the story. What would have been tabloid stories in the past are now hard news.

"People are looking at the National Enquirer going, 'They got it right? What the hell?'" von Metzke said.

The LBGT community is more diverse than we're given credit for, Wright said, and von Metzke agreed that publishers should not fall into the assumption that people want only one thing.

"Know what your readership wants, and be smart with entertainment as you are with news," Barrett said.

The LGBT community has more at stake with day-to-day news, looking for advancements with its causes. While entertainment news is everywhere and readily accessible, those on the panel feel that even though entertainment news is present in gay media, it is not overwhelming the hard news desired by its readership.