Dean Jepson: Fox colors news then tries to paint it as balanced

Since the latest SCOTUS rulings, I’ve enjoyed Fox (entertainment) News immensely. Their latest outrage-through-omission is in Oregon.

Oregon’s age of medical consent has been 15 since 1971. However, nothing in Oregon’s laws requires providers to safeguard the confidentiality of a minor or provide services. Consequently, family members are usually included in a minor’s medical decisions. Oregon updated medical policies in 2015, bringing it in line with major international treatment guidelines, concerning gender dysphoria for all Oregonians. A line in the policy, “making medication available to suppress puberty in gender-questioning youth” became “Oregon OKs state subsidized sex change surgery for 15 year olds” on Fox, replete with a “debate” on the subject.

Gender dysphoria typically occurs in kids aged 5-12, which Fox conveniently omitted, because those kids would be required to have parental input in Oregon. They also left out Oregon’s estimated annual cost for the treatment of gender dysphoria for all Oregonians at $150,000. Finally, there is a transgender medical standard prohibiting “surgery on demand.” Roger Ailes sure knows how to create fair-and-balanced “red meat” outrage for those loyal viewers, like me. It may also be used as a “what-not-to-do” in a journalism class.

This story was originally published July 13, 2015 at 5:16 PM with the headline "Dean Jepson: Fox colors news then tries to paint it as balanced."