The story, "NY marriage vote emboldens Paris gay pride march," is the sort of strained reporting and sometimes underwhelming writing that I find the AP too often tolerates. The journalist writes, "Marchers, dressed in drag, brassieres or striped sailor outfits, paraded...." Not "Marchers, some dressed in...." All marchers are indicated, as if there are three authorized outfits to choose from.
What is more, the piece gives the reader inaccurate sense of the parade--or more precisely, it offers mere slices--the sartorial (prurient?)--actually of the reality as if it is highly representative of or even the entirety of the reality. This is abject intellectual dishonesty on the part of the journalist. Consider: just what is the newsworthiness of these 95 characters in such limited page space: "naked except for a glittery black jock strap, feathered high-heel boots and sequin-studded mask," especially when such outlandish customs at pride parades are the exception in reality but the (inaccurate) norm in the minds of most people in the world. (The "man bites dog" angle to such coverage would be that--gee, most parade participants are nondescriptly dressed!)
Also, awkward and recklessly connotative terms like "macho-dominated" cry out for definition, and in this instance, the use of the term also probably oversimplifies the situation in Russia, though, to be fair, journalists don't have the luxury of a high word-count allowance, and oversimplification is hard to avoid. But finally, the story is at heart a story about the rest of Europe, or more precisely, the rest of Europe beyond France, which is not suggested by the headline at all.
Nonetheless, the story does accomplish its main objective, to give a brief but not insubstantial view of awareness among progressives globally of New York State's new law.
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