Leon Compton, is another activist journalist at ABC Hobart who refuses to cover women’s rights issues because it might hurt trans people.
Transcript from The Drum 9th June 2023
“As a journalist it’s sometimes hard because you want to air a balance of perspectives but what perspectives are reasonable to air? Particularly those that dress up opposition, particularly in the most recent cases to drag queens or to dealing with trans issues. You ask yourself, are we just dealing with a continuum of those opposed to civil rights or those opposed to homosexuality, those that oppose same sex marriage? Are these people just trying to throw anchors in another march towards a place that society will hopefully be going? So, it’s really challenging to understand what views to air and can be aired safely. Is it better to have no debate at all than to have a debate which might be really damaging for that young gay or young trans person growing up and listening to that as the adults have a fight about something that is often a clash of civilizations or some big battle of faith while there are human ears, young ears, listening to that? And you know feeling that their lives have been shaped”.
