Poynter Offers Journalists Transgender Coverage Training

" to help empower your reporting ahead of the 2024 elections"

After examining for several years how all of our “experts” and authorities are trained, paid and elevated, it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that indoctrination is a rite of passage for anyone who wants to succeed in their respective field.

That’s a bias I have to own.

It’s not that I don’t believe that talented and earnest people enter these fields. Quite the opposite. But I do think talented and earnest people defer to “experts” that seek to undermine their instincts and override their thinking to support agendas. I suspect that training programs have been compromised and corrupted at almost every level.

The World of Transgender People According to Poynter

I signed up for Poynter’s Weekly Training Digest because it is promoted as an empowerment tool for reporters and I’m curious about the journalistic landscape.

From Poynter’s website:

The Poynter Institute is a global nonprofit that strengthens democracy by improving the relevance, ethical practice and value of journalism. Through teaching, publishing, convening, fact-checking and media literacy, Poynter creates a crossroads where communities come together to use journalism to confront society’s complex problems.

Poynter works to foster trust and empower citizens through our fact-checking and media literacy enterprises: the Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact, the Nobel Peace Prize-nominated International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), and the digital media literacy initiative MediaWise. Poynter is also the home of the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership, which is dedicated to improving the reliability of journalism and transparency between newsmakers and news consumers.

This week’s digest promotes a training on transgender coverage. Here’s the description:

Our upcoming webinars feature experts and journalists to help empower your reporting ahead of the 2024 elections.

Empower your newsroom to report accurately and knowledgeably on this contentious issue

Two upcoming webinars will help journalists produce truthful, accurate journalism about
"Transgender Coverage: Avoiding rhetoric to deliver meaningful journalism" is the next topic in our Beat Academy series. Set for April 18 and May 2 (both Thursdays at 1 p.m.), these 90-minute sessions strive to advance the quality of reporting and the level of public understanding about what transgender people experience, and the attacks they face from legislation and anti-transgender activists. 

The first session will include essential information on core research from medical and psycho-social perspectives, including identifying research disputes. We will discuss gender affirming care and learn to use the right vocabulary.

Our second session focuses on the legal and legislative landscape, the 2024 election, and how to get into and cover the trans community — best practices, good starting points and common pitfalls.

In short, we’ll remove ourselves from the politics of outrage to explore the facts.

(I wonder how something becomes “one of the most talked-about issues this election year”…)

I had to go back and revisit the definition of rhetoric after reading the description (to make sure it hadn’t “evolved”).

So, a training on transgender coverage will show journalists how to “avoid rhetoric”… and also how to report on “the attacks (transgender people) face from legislation and anti-transgender activists.”

Has Poynter already decided that attacks on the transgender community from legislation and anti-transgender activists are the real stories that need to be covered?

What are the attacks from legislation?

An Op-Ed “made possible thanks to the support of the Gill Foundation” explains:

So far in 2023, lawmakers have introduced at least 487 anti-trans bills around the country, according to data collected by the Trans Legislation Tracker. Many of those bills criminalize aspects of trans childhood. In Texas, for example, Child Protective Services can investigate parents for providing gender-affirming care to their kids. In Florida, which just banned gender-affirming medical care for children, a proposed bill would allow the state to remove trans kids from their parents’ custody if they affirm their kids’ trans identity.

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2023/trans-and-gender-fluid-kids-are-under-attack-how-can-we-tell-their-stories-without-furthering-harm-journalism-transgender/

So I looked up some of these legislative attacks.

Below are some examples of “legislation that seeks to block trans people from receiving basic healthcare, education, legal recognition, and the right to publicly exist” according to Trans Legislation Tracker:

H.R. 1276 the “Protect Minors from Medical Malpractice Act of 2023”

(a) In General.—A medical practitioner, in any circumstance described in subsection (c), who performs a gender-transition procedure on an individual who is less than 18 years of age shall, as described in subsection (b), be liable to the individual if injured (including any physical, psychological, emotional, or physiological harms) by such procedure, related treatment, or the after effects of the procedure or treatment. *emphasis mine

(b) Private Right Of Action.—An individual covered by subsection (a) who receives a gender-transition procedure from a medical practitioner (or a representative, including a legal guardian, on behalf of such individual) may, not later than the day that is 30 years after the date on which the individual turns 18 years of age, bring a civil action against such medical practitioner in a court of competent jurisdiction for

(1) declaratory or injunctive relief;

(2) compensatory damages;

(3) punitive damages; and

(4) attorney’s fees and costs.

SEC. 3. PRESERVING FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE AND MEDICAL JUDGEMENT FOR MEDICAL PROVIDERS.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no provision of Federal law shall require, or be construed to require, a medical practitioner to perform a gender-transition procedure.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON FUNDING FOR CERTAIN STATES.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any State that requires medical practitioners to perform any gender-transition procedure on an individual in the State shall be ineligible to receive any Federal funding from the Department of Health and Human Services.

H.R. 216 “My Child, My Choice Act of 2023”

A bill “to prohibit Federal education funds from being provided to elementary schools that do not require teachers to obtain written parental consent prior to teaching lessons specifically related to gender identity, sexual orientation, or transgender studies, and for other purposes.”

H.R. 5 “Parents Bill of Rights Act”

To ensure the rights of parents are honored and protected in the Nation's public schools.

H.R. 5327 “Empowering Parents Act”

To establish a private right of action for parents with respect to the teaching of racial discrimination theory and other actions by covered schools, and for other purposes.

H.R. 6258 “Guaranteeing Unalienable and Anatomical Rights for Dependents Act” or the “GUARD Act”

In General.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no State may receive funding under this Act if such State takes any adverse action or otherwise discriminates against parents, guardians, or legal representatives who oppose medical, surgical, pharmacological, psychological treatment, or other medical intervention, or clothing, name or pronoun use, or other social changes or practices related to transitioning to or affirming the claims or expressions of gender identity of any minor under the charge, care, or supervision of the parent, guardian, or legal representative, if such gender identity is inconsistent, in such parent's, guardian's, or legal representative's estimation, with such minor’s biological sex, as determined definitively at or before birth, regardless of any medical diagnosis or indication of gender dysphoria, body dysphoria, dissociative identity disorder, or social anxiety disorder.

H.R. 1585 “Prohibiting Parental Secrecy Policies In Schools Act of 2023”

(a) Social Gender Transition Intervention With Respect To A Minor.—Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of the this Act, to be eligible to receive funding pursuant to title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6601 et seq.) a State shall have in effect a State policy prohibiting a school employee from—

(1) using pronouns for a minor that are inconsistent with the minor’s biological sex for the purpose of recognizing or promoting a self-professed identity that is incongruent with their biological sex, without the consent of a custodial parent or legal guardian;

(2) providing, promoting, referring to, or otherwise assisting in the use of devices, medical and otherwise, such as binders, packers, or padding, that promote changes to the minor’s physical appearance so that it aligns with the opposite biological sex for the purpose of recognizing or promoting a self-professed identity that is incongruent with their biological sex, without the consent of a custodial parent or legal guardian; and

(3) carrying out any other action designed to assist a minor in the promotion or adoption of their self-professed gender identity and denial of their biological sex, without the consent of a custodial parent or legal guardian. *emphasis mine

H.R. 734 “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023”

To amend the Education Amendments of 1972 to provide that for purposes of determining compliance with title IX of such Act in athletics, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.

H.R. 4365 “Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2024”

An Act “Making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes.”

Sec. 8142. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used for surgical procedures or hormone therapies for the purposes of gender affirming care.

ID H0538 -Adds to existing law to prohibit governmental entities in the State of Idaho from compelling employees and students to use certain titles and pronouns.

No person should be subjected to any coercion by any governmental entityinthe State of Idaho to communicate in anyway statements that such person prefers not to communicate. To permit a governmental entity of the State of Idaho to compel speech in such a way would deprive the persons within this state of their fundamental right to be free from coerced speech.

You can read selected quotes from Trans Legislative Tracker here.

ID H0710 - “Children’s School and Library Protection Act”

Amends and adds to existing law to prohibit certain materials from being promoted, given, or made available to a minor by a school or public library, to provide for a cause of action, to provide for damages, and to provide for injunctive relief.

MO HB1674 “Employee Restroom and Locker Room Access Act"

(a) Requiring employees to share restroom or locker room facilities with members of the opposite sex can create a hostile work environment; and (b) It is in the public interest to ensure that all employees have access to restroom and locker room facilities that correspond to his or her biological sex. (2) The general assembly hereby declares that it is the public policy of this state to prohibit employers from requiring employees to share multiple-occupancy restrooms or changing areas or locker room facilites with members of the opposite sex

Does Poynter expect the journalists it trains to assume that these bills are legislative attacks on transgender people?

Could it be considered rhetoric to refer to all 540 bill listed on the Trans Legislative Tracker page as “anti-trans bills” that “seek to block trans people from receiving basic healthcare, education, legal recognition, and the right to publicly exist?”?

I’ll let you decide whether you want to rely on Poynter and the journalists it trains to “remove themselves from the politics of outrage to explore the facts.”

https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2023/trans-journalists-association-training-new-style-guide-board-members/

https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2023/how-lgbtq-reporters-cover-news-stories-media-under-attack/

https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2023/how-should-journalists-cover-pride-in-states-that-have-passed-anti-lgbtq-laws/

https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2024/mass-shootings-caused-by-trans-lgbtq-people/

https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2022/reporting-on-lgbtq-family-leave-binary-language/