MI TV: WOOD-TV GM ON The Defensive Over Pride Memo

The general manager of a television news station in western Michigan has apologized after staff received a memo telling reporters to cover fewer LGBTQ+ events during Pride Month because coverage could be “polarizing,” reports AP News.

The memo to staff at WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids asked them to “do some work to discern the newsworthy-ness” of Pride events, according to the Detroit Free Press, which obtained a copy of it.

WOOD GM Julie Brinks

Staff inside the newsroom took to Twitter to share their support for the LGBTQ+ community. "The news director and assistant news director sent this memo without input from anyone in our newsroom," tweeted executive producer Madeline Odle. "Our team immediately pushed back and called it to the attention of upper management. This memo does not reflect our views. It has not and will not change how we cover members of our community."

“We know that West Michigan is a conservative area in many ways,” the memo read, according to the story. “We need to recognize that some stories related to LGBTQ issues are going to be controversial and polarizing in our community.”

WOOD-TV is owned by Texas-based Nexstar Media which said Friday in a statement that the memo was not consistent with the company’s values, the way it covers the news or the respect it has for viewers.

“WOOD-TV is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to covering and reporting the news of the day in an expansive and inclusive fashion, consistent with these values,” Julie Brinks, WOOD-TV general manager said in a statement Friday.

Brinks said Nexstar will “take appropriate action as necessary to address this situation, and we apologize for offending members of the LGBTQ community and WOOD-TV’s viewers.”