Florida print media rarely spoke to transgender people in reporting on a bill banning trans athletes from competing - Media Matters for America
Sometimes, Florida journalists misgendered trans girls directly, such as in Gannett’s Treasure Coast Newspapers: “The Florida House Wednesday agreed to ban transgender girls – biological boys – from girls sports and women's collegiate sports in an effort Republican lawmakers say is a way to preserve the integrity of female sports."
Other articles also misgendered trans women as “biological boys” or “biological males,” from both quoted anti-trans sources and the authors of the article themselves. This mirrors the language right-wing media figures often use to demean trans girls and women. Only two Florida papers consistently did not misgender trans people in their coverage of the new law: the Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald.
Over two-thirds of the articles weighed anti-trans and pro-trans perspectives equally, essentially framing the topic of equal rights for trans people as a subject for debate. This bill actively discriminates specifically against trans athletes in all levels of schooling, restricting them from participating in school sports according to their gender. Yet 61 published articles on this bill -- 73% -- treated the views of people being targeted by the bill and those of people fearmongering and spreading misinformation in support of the bill as equally valid, as in one Orlando Sentinel article referencing the bill: “Supporters said transgender female athletes could have a physical advantage; opponents said the bill targets youths already at risk for suicide, ostracism and bullying.”
Many of the problems with local coverage of SB 1028 stem from the limited quantity of reporting -- the majority of Florida papers that printed anything on this topic used reporting shared with another paper. Gannett outlets reprinted articles from the same state politics reporters in Tallahassee. The Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times both published the same pieces from their shared Tallahassee Bureau. Coverage of the trans sports ban in Florida largely relied on a small group of journalists whose work was spread throughout the state, especially in the case of Gannett, and the failure to talk to trans people colored coverage in a dozen outlets.
Both national and local media cannot continue to exclude trans people from stories that directly impact their lives.
Methodology
Media Matters searched print articles in the Factiva database from local newspapers in Florida for any of the terms “trans," “transgender,” “transphobe,” “transphobic,” “transphobia,” “gender identity,” “gender nonconforming," “gender fluid," “nonbinary,” “transsexual,” “biological boy," “biological male,” “biological man," or “biological men" from April 1 through May 20, 2021.
We included the following newspapers: Bradenton Herald, Broward Daily Business Review, Charlotte Sun, Citrus County Chronicle, Daily Commercial, Englewood Sun, Florida Newswire, The Florida Times-Union, Florida Today, Florida Trend, The Gainesville Sun, Indian River Press Journal, Jacksonville Business Journal, Jackson County Floridan, Key West Citizen, Lake City Reporter, The Ledger, Miami Daily Business Review, Miami Herald, Naples Daily News, The News-Press, North Port Sun, Northwest Florida Daily News, El Nuevo Herald, Ocala StarBanner, Orlando Business Journal, Orlando Sentinel, Palatka Daily News, Palm Beach Daily Business Review, Palm Beach Daily News, The Palm Beach Post, The Panama City News-Herald, Pensacola News Journal, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Sarasota Observer, South Florida Business Journal, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, South Florida Times, The St. Augustine Record, Tallahassee Democrat, Tampa Bay Business Journal, Tampa Bay Times, and Treasure Coast Newspapers.
We then coded articles for whether they included perspective from any trans person, misgendered any trans person, acknowledged that these laws violate human and civil rights, framed anti-trans talking points as equal to trans perspectives, referenced real trans athletes, uncritically repeated conservative framing of trans medical care as “experimental” or “child abuse,” or noted that the bills are a direct response to President Joe Biden’s pro-LGBTQ policies.
