Yellow journalism that will leave you seeing red

By: American Decency Staff

In recent weeks we alerted you to a concerning segment from our local evening news, WZZM-13.  The lengthy feature showcased couples engaged in polyamory, otherwise known as group marriage – basically wife-swapping.  This dinner hour “newsâ€Â story told how the two “wivesâ€Â switch beds with the two “husbandsâ€Â each night.  The entire piece depicted this abhorrent lifestyle very positively. Many of you used our take action link to express your indignation to the station.  In addition, ADA mailed letters to the companies which advertised on that half hour of news, kindly alerting them to what their ad supported.  We know of at least one major advertiser, General Motors, who expressed their displeasure to the station. Now WZZM is at it again.  Monday evening, once again during the 6:00 dinner hour news, the station this time featured “swingersâ€Â – husbands and wives who swap sexual partners with another couple or within a group. The news piece began by taking a sideways slam against Christianity – subtly mocking the strong conservative and Christian roots of this West Michigan area.  The report stated:  We usually think of West Michigan as conservative and "buttoned up," but we've uncovered a group in the area you may not know about. Grand Rapids is a pious city with … values built around tradition – traditions deeply rooted in Christianity.  … But underneath West Michigan's conservative exterior, a subculture is redefining commitment for themselves.  They're called "swingers" - couples who swap sexual partners. Notice the negative-sounding terms used to describe Christians – “pious,â€Â “buttoned up,â€Â “conservative,â€Â – as opposed to those open, free-wheeling “swingersâ€Â is what WZZM infers.  While the segment did offer one short quote from an area minister in opposition to infidelity, the bulk of the report was by far focused on “swingers.â€Â The piece goes on to interview a couple who engage in this perverse lifestyle, stating in part: “These two are open swingers. Why? The couple started swinging to experiment and stayed with it for the variety. Bowling says, "I really enjoy it. It's the aspect of being able to be close to another person. It adds a little more spice. You can learn from that person and bring something you learned from that person back to your first relationship. It takes away that everyday you already know what's going to happen." Bowling says swingers swap partners at private house parties, swingers clubs, including one in Kalamazoo, or at area hotels at bowl parties. Kelly Draper says, "You rent a hotel room, throw your hotel key in there, women get to pick a key and go off with the gentleman, or vice a versa." If sex with a stranger isn't your thing, some join with another couple and watch. As for jealousy, the two say the trick is having and keeping, not physical, but emotional monogamy. http://www.wzzm13.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=171574 The story goes on to make the unsubstantiated claim that swinging is “shockingly prevalentâ€Â in all walks of society.  The segment also puts out this false and dangerous misinformation:  As for sexually transmitted diseases, they say swingers are strict about condom use, but say the same STD dangers lie in the "vanilla" dating world. "You'll never be 100 percent sure they don't have an STD, but you can ask them for a card from their doctor or recent HIV test. That's the main one you want to be worried about is HIV or herpes because they're not curable." However, a study done in the Netherlands that compared the medical records of self reported swingers to that of the general population found that STD prevalence was highest in young people, homosexual men, and swingers.  In addition to the emotional and spiritual consequences of promiscuity and such aberrant sexuality, it is well-documented that many sexually transmitted diseases are not prevented by condom use – including the potential cervical cancer-causing HPV and chlamydia which leads to greatly increased rates of infertility. Abstinence speaker Pam Stenzel offers these sobering statistics:

• Three million teenagers contract STDs annually.
• 25 million Americans are infected with the herpes virus.
• More than 40 percent of sexually active singles are infected with human papillomavirus (HPV), commonly called genital warts.
• One in every 250 Americans has the AIDS virus.
• An estimated one in five Americans is infected with a viral STD, a figure that doesn't include bacterial diseases like chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhea.

However, WZZM doesn’t bother to offer any of these facts.  Instead, the segment allows one of the swingers to make one final push to legitimize this perverse lifestyle, stating:  "Try to be open minded. Loosen up a little bit. Consider the fact, swingers are just like you and everyone else. We're not bad people." WZZM needs to be held accountable for this irresponsible “newsâ€Â story.   This is not news – but salacious, yellow journalism.  Think of the many families with the evening news on during the dinner hour having their children exposed to such trash! You may not live in the West Michigan area, however please don’t let that stop you from speaking out!   We should not sit back and allow sin to be legitimized – even if it isn’t in our own backyard.  If we don’t take a stand, what will hold back that incremental spread of degradation? Below is an action link to contact WZZM-13.  Please let them hear from you! Take Action! https://americandecency.org/take_action_form.php?msg_id=113 To order Pam Stenzel’s powerful DVD, Sex Still Has a Price Tag, go to: https://secure4.afo.net/ada/store2/ ========================================================== Your support is important to our ability to make a difference. Donate online at: https://secure4.afo.net/ada/donate.php American Decency Association is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. American Decency Association Bill Johnson, President P.O. Box 202 Fremont, MI 49412 ph: 231-924-4050 www.americandecency.org http://www.twitter.com/billwjohnson

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