I was watching the news this morning and was confronted with a disturbing story. Ironically enough, it wasn't the actual story that disturbed me, it was the incredibly irresponsible journalism that was put forth by the "undercover investigator" with this story. I'll put a link to this story from Fox Boston below:
http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/undercover/public-high-school-teacher-starred-in-porno-movies-released-last-year-20111129
If you don't want to actually read the story, here's the basics of it. The Fox Boston reporter Mike Beaudet apparently decided to do a story about a teacher at a Massachusetts High School who until at least last year had been in several homosexual pornographic films. That's it. This teacher has not had sex with or molested any of his students, he hasn't been inappropriate towards them, he never even made so much as a hint that he was involved in anything like this. By all accounts, he has been a wonderful teacher to his students, whom all respect and admire him. It wasn't until this reporter decided to smear him all over network television, including showing several of the films he has been in and even showing brief video clips of one or two of these films. Now, this teacher has been placed on paid administrative leave while the school board "investigates", which is code for determining if they will fire him.
Unfortunately, regardless of the decision of the board, this man's career is probably finished thanks to a slimy reporter just looking for a quick story to smear someone. There is a silver lining to this tale of woe. The outpouring of support for this teacher has been overwhelming. The Fox Boston Morning Team claimed that the responses to the story were "50/50". I looked at the comment feed on their own website and their Facebook page and "50/50" isn't even close. 99% of the comments on both boards are overwhelmingly in support of the teacher and utter blast the news station and reporter for trying to ruin this man's life. What bothered me even more than the shoddy reporting and misrepresentation of how much support there was for this teacher was one of the morning news anchors, Gene Lavanchy, tried to pull the age-old reporter spin by saying that if the teacher wasn't guilty of anything ("guilty" improperly implying a criminal act took place, which it did not in any shape or form) he would have spoken with Beaudet when confronted with the porn from his past. Let's be honest here folks, if some reporter with a cameraman just walks up to you at night and starts shoving porn photos in our face and asking you about your work in them, you wouldn't want to say a damn thing to him either.
This news story and the way this news station has handled it is really infuriating. I would love nothing more than to call that teacher and strongly suggest he immediately make contact with an attorney and start the process for a civil suit against the news station. Fortunately, so many people on the news station's website board and Facebook have said exactly the same thing. I just hope this teacher follows that advice.
This may seem like just some random ramble, and in part it actually is, but it's also something of a caution. While not everyone who visits my blog is inclined towards "alternative" activities, I would guess that most of you dear viewers prefer a more kinky lifestyle. While this particular news story might not apply to you, it is something to consider if you are intending to do any kind of adult or alternative film. While there has clearly been an outpouring of public support for this particular teacher, that kind of support doesn't mean anything to authoritative individuals over you who are more focused on the finances of their company (or in this case, school) than on protecting their employees. Yes, this teacher may ultimately get to keep his job after everything is all said and done, but do you really think he will be able to teach again? The few parents who do not approve of what he did will undoubtedly make a huge amount of noise that will make it impossible for this man to do his job again.
This is the way our society has turned, and so I would advise you, dear readers, to be cautious in what you do since the concept of personal privacy is fading faster and faster with each passing day.
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