NEWS: The TV News, The Newsroom, Fox News, ‘Cherry-Picking,’ Gay Married Priest, Kittten

➤ “Americans’ confidence in television news has hit an all-time low, according to a new survey by Gallup,” Dylan Byers writes at Politico:

Twenty-one percent of the 1,004 adults polled said they had “a great deal” or “a lot” of confidence in television news media, continuing a steady decline from the 46 percent who expressed confidence in television media in 1993.

Meanwhile, just 25 percent of those polled expressed confidence in newspapers, the second-lowest rating since 1973 and less than half of the 51-percent peak in 1979.

Of 16 U.S. institutions tested — including the police, the church, the Supreme Court, banks, and big business — newspapers ranked tenth, television news eleventh. (The military is the most trusted institution, with a 75 percent confidence rating; Congress is the least trusted institution, with a 13 percent confidence rating).

➤ All the more reason why as Dan Rather, writing at Gawker notes, “This whole episode [of HBO’s The Newsroom] is something I wish every American could see and ponder, especially in the context of the two preceding installments. They would then understand how a combination of big business and big government, working for their mutual benefit — not the public interest but rather their own interests — affects the news we see and hear.” Ditto.

➤ “Fundamentally, we see that [Supreme Court Chief Justice John] Roberts thinks of himself not just as another Justice of the Court but as its Chief Justice and, as such, as the primary keeper of its legacy. He is fifty-seven, and could serve on the Court for another twenty years or more. In the context of public opinion on gay rights and same-sex marriage, twenty years is a very long time. If they decide against the rights of gay people next term, within a decade or so this issue is going to be right back before the Court and Justice Roberts will likely still be Chief” — LGBT rights advocate Richard Socarides writing at The New Yorker.

➤ “For homeless youth and their advocates, the fight for resources can be fierce. New York City has about 4,000 homeless youths — many of whom are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender — yet its government funds just 259 shelter beds. Waiting lists for these beds, particularly at centers that cater to young LGBT homeless people, are growing,” writes Lila Shapiro at The Huffington Post:

But on Monday, the Ali Forney Center, an organization that provides housing for gay homeless youths in New York, announced some good news for those seeking a shelter bed. The New York City Council and the Manhattan borough president designated $3.3 million to help renovate a city-owned building and transform it into a new 18-bed shelter.

The space will be named after former “Golden Girls” star Bea Arthur. Before her death in 2009, Arthur served as an icon for many gay people and left the Ali Forney Center $300,000 in her will.

➤ “Fox News and Breitbart.com are cherry-picking numbers to suggest that the election of Republican governors in 2010 led to lower unemployment in 17 states. In fact, the trend toward lower unemployment began in these states before the new governors took office, and unemployment has dropped in every state but one since January 2011.” — Media Matters, on the “news” report that the right has been rolling around in the past few days.

➤ “More than 20 Latino civil rights organizations announced on Sunday that they have endorsed a campaign designed to bolster acceptance of LGBT-specific issues among Hispanics,” Michael K. Lavers, writing at the Washington Blade.

➤ “Climate change researchers have been able to attribute recent examples of extreme weather to the effects of human activity on the planet’s climate systems for the first time, marking a major step forward in climate research.” — The Raw Story.

➤ “In a new book, Father Bernard Lynch, a gay Catholic priest who has incurred the wrath of the Vatican for his views supporting LGBT Catholics, not only says he is non-celibate; he reveals that he has been married to a man for the past 14 years, and has officiated over the weddings of many gay and lesbian Catholic couples. The Vatican, he says, is trying to “get rid” of him, while he has been operating a counseling program for closeted gay priests in London since 1992.” – Michelangelo Signorile at The Huffington Post.

➤ Truly, truly, truly disgusting. “A live cat was found recently half-buried in concrete, and the man who rescued the kitten believes it was a message from a pro-polygamy religious group.” Several days after being rescued, the kitten died. I think if I were confronted with the person who did this, I’m not sure how I would be able to contain myself.