0/5

Outed US Mayor on 4 Corners

4 Corners has an interesting story next Monday on Jim West, the American Mayor who had campaigned against gay equality rights, who was then found to have been luring young men into his employ.

But this analysis from the PBS Network will look beyond tabloid headlines at “the tension between a politician’s privacy and the public’s right to know.”

Press Release:

The politician, the chatroom and the media sting… the collision between one man’s privacy and the public’s right to know.

In May 2005, citizens of Spokane, USA, woke to startling news about their city’s mayor, Jim West. The outwardly conservative Republican, who had pushed legislation barring gay teachers from public schools, had whiled away his private hours trawling for young men on an Internet chatroom, the Spokesman-Review newspaper alleged. West reportedly abused his office by offering internships to lure them into more intimate relationships.

The Spokesman-Review’s scoop on West’s double life hit national headlines and ultimately destroyed his career. “His coming apart, the demise, was “absolutely Shakespearean,” said one observer.

But what was West guilty of? This report from PBS Frontline looks past the headlines and finds a story that is deeper and more complex than it first seemed. “A Hidden Life” examines one man’s struggle with his sexual identity, a newspaper’s controversial sting to expose him and the tension between a politician’s privacy and the public’s right to know.

“A Hidden Life” – on Four Corners 8.30 pm Monday 26 March, ABC TV (repeated about 11.35 pm Wednesday 28 March; also on ABC2 digital channel at 9.30 pm Wednesday and 8 am Thursday).

Leave a Reply