The Daily Dish | The New York Observer
Well here’s a nice scoop for one of blogging’s pioneers: An email to Andrew Sullivan from Anderson Cooper in which the latter comes out as gay.
Since I started as a reporter in war zones 20 years ago, I’ve often found myself in some very dangerous places. For my safety and the safety of those I work with, I try to blend in as much as possible, and prefer to stick to my job of telling other people’s stories, and not my own. I have found that sometimes the less an interview subject knows about me, the better I can safely and effectively do my job as a journalist.
I’ve always believed that who a reporter votes for, what religion they are, who they love, should not be something they have to discuss publicly. As long as a journalist shows fairness and honesty in his or her work, their private life shouldn’t matter. …
I have always been very open and honest about this part of my life with my friends, my family, and my colleagues. In a perfect world, I don’t think it’s anyone else’s business, but I do think there is value in standing up and being counted. I’m not an activist, but I am a human being and I don’t give that up by being a journalist.
You knew this one was coming:
CNN: Anderson Cooper Not Gay!
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) July 2, 2012
A June 20 New York Observer cover story listed Cooper among a group of prominent people widely assumed to be gay but who decline to discuss their personal lives. In it, Washington Blade Editor Kevin Naff guessed Cooper would come out, “Probably when he needs a ratings boost on his talk show.” It seems remarkably cynical to apply that thinking to this news, but Cooper’s announcement does come at a time when his network could desperately use a new storyline: Plunging ratings and a monumental screwup on reporting the Supreme Court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare.
In the Observer piece, Daniel D’Addario reported from a panel where Gawker chief Nick Denton said the gap “between insider knowledge and public knowledge” of subjects such as Cooper’s sexuality was being closed by the Internet. In fact, Denton used similar language to that he’s used to describe Gawker’s new comments system when describing his vision of the future:
“Everything open,” said Mr. Denton. “All secrets out there.”
Sullivan references an Entertainment Weekly story that mines the same seam as the Observer’s but does not follow Cooper’s or Denton’s openness: It’s tucked behind a paywall.
