Introduction: Matthew S. Bajko

Ukrainian Flag

Slovakian Flag

It’s pronounced Buh-JAY-koh.

My last name that it is. Just remember it’s three syllables and it will just roll off the tongue. It’s a Slovak name with a Ukrainian twist, or so I was told when I was touring in Slovakia where my dad’s parents are from.

And yes I go by Matthew – not Matt – long story short I just joke I am not a monosyllable you wipe your feet on. 🙂

Beyond my first and last names, who am I professionally? I work as an assistant editor at the Bay Area Reporter and pen its political column both in the weekly paper and online Monday’s at ebar.com. It was started back in 1974 by then wanna be politician Harvey Milk, who filed his last column for the paper shortly after winning election to a San Francisco Supervisor seat in November of 1977.

Started as a bar rag to cover the city’s LGBT nightlife scene in 1971 by Bob Ross, the paper is one of the oldest in the country focused on the gay community and the largest in northern California.

I also freelance for LGBT magazines, Out Q News on Sirius satellite radio, and report on occasion for Us Weekly.

I have had a passion for journalism since high school. And as sad as it is to watch what is happening within today’s news media – with the layoffs, papers closing and news budgets decimated due to a precipitous drop in ads – I am confident journalists will find a way to survive. Sort of like that joke about the only two things that will survive a nuclear blast are cockroaches and reporters asking them to describe what they just experienced.

I agreed to be a blogger for NLGJA to focus attention on what is happening within the country’s LGBT press, hold the mainstream media to account when they don’t credit LGBT papers for breaking stories, and hopefully present a thought-provoking take on our industry.

Introduction: Laura Laing

No one likes an argument, but according to my partner my passion for language makes me a real pain in the you-know-what.  I have this horrible tendency to pick apart her examples and comb through her word choices, searching for a moment to shout—with my index finger pointed to the sky—“Ah-hah!  You’re being inconsistent!”

Sadly, our daughter has the same gotcha love affair with language.  With the wisdom of her nine years and none of the brain clutter that her moms have accumulated over the last 40, she zooms in on unfair generalizations and imprecise statements of fact.

The truth? I’m as proud as can be of her.

What makes my partner roll her eyes during an argument makes me a pretty good journalist, I think.  And of course I’m not alone.  Newsrooms across the country are full of uppity language- and fact-hounds like me—no matter what the public likes to believe.  They worry over the one interview that didn’t go as planned.  They flip through stylebooks (or wind through style Web sites) looking for just the right word or phrase.  Say what you want about the state of journalism, but I believe that reporters and front-line editors are as dedicated as ever to reporting accurate and thought-provoking stories.

But because we’re human, we bring our own foibles to our work.  We can strive for objectivity, but it’s impossible for us to maintain a perfect balance.  (I don’t believe in balance anyway, but that’s a discussion for another day.)  There’s a limit to self-awareness, and even the most astute journalist misses the mark from time to time.  Thank goodness for editors and eagle-eyed readers.

And that’s why I decided to accept NLGJA’s invitation to blog here.  Over the years, I’ve e-mailed dozens of journalists who are covering the GLBT beat, congratulating them on a well-reported story or (hopefully) gently pointing them to a better way to tell the story.  I’ve almost always received positive feedback and thank yous for alerting them to a potentially insensitive term.

I believe that conversations about missteps or misunderstandings or mistakes are how we can achieve more accurate and sensitive reporting.   Without these conversations, GLBT stories won’t be good reflections of the individuals who make up our diverse community and the issues that we face.  This is as important to our craft as it is to our readers and the stories we tell.

So let’s get talking.

Introduction: Michael Triplett

I’m always bad at introductions. Even when I’ve written personal ads on dating websites, I never know what to say in the introduction. I’d like to think it’s because I’m too complex to sum up in a paragraph, but I actually think it’s likely because I’m just bad at getting started.

So, I’m a GWM looking for a . . . .

Wait. Wrong intro. In fact, I’m a journalist who used to be a lawyer (well, technically, I am still a lawyer). Before I became a journalist and a lawyer, I managed college residence halls and also once taught high school language arts. I’m originally from the Midwest (Mizzou Rah!) and have lived in the Washington, D.C. area for 15 years.

As a journalist, I spent eight years covering legal issues relating to employment and labor policy for BNA, the largest independent publisher of information and analysis products for professionals in business and government. I currently oversee a network of 50 international correspondents who provide news for our publications and services.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that my interest in fair and accurate coverage of LGBT issues also includes legal issues and the workplace. As one of increasingly odd gay people who regularly goes to church and spends a significant amount of time thinking and reading about religion, I am also hoping to talk about how LGBT issues intersect with communities of faith and religious liberty.

Introduction: Oriol Gutierrez

Let’s get two things straight: My first name is pronounced like the bird from the baseball team the Baltimore Orioles (not like the Oreo cookie), but I spell it without an “e” at the end. My parents are from Cuba, but I was born and raised in New York City. I’m glad we got that over with…

My professional life has been kind of eclectic: from editing The Complete Dog Book for Kids to associate editor of the AKC Gazette; from business director of publications for the ASPCA to executive editor of Pet Business; from editor at large for LGNY (now known as Gay City News) to editor in chief of LGNY Latino (now defunct); from managing editor of DiversityInc to deputy editor of POZ.

My personal life has been sort of ordinary (for an almost 40-year-old gay Latino from New York City who also happens to be a former Marine), except for being diagnosed with HIV in 1992 at the age of 22. I’m unfortunately far from being the only HIV-positive person on the planet, but the virus has added yet another layer of difference between me and most of society.

At this point in my journey, I have the privilege of being able to combine the professional and the personal. In September 2008, I started writing Oriol’s POZ Blog about my experiences with HIV. In the October 2008 issue of POZ magazine, I wrote an article titled “Coming Out Again” about how I came out to my family in 1996 as being gay and not again to them until 2008 as being HIV positive.

After all of the above, I suppose it’s obvious that my interest in fair and accurate coverage of LGBT issues also includes issues related to HIV/AIDS, people of color and Spanish-language media. Blog tips are welcome!