Tony Ray Thornton, the president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Association of Lubbock, Texas, was arrested on Monday (3/14/12) for exposing his genitals in a park to another man.
A local media outlet reported:
Lubbock police say Tony Thornton, 56, was arrested just before 3:30 Monday afternoon at the baseball fields inside of Mackenzie Park.
He was arrested for indecent exposure and transported to the Lubbock County Detention Center where he remained until 11 a.m. Tuesday, when he posted a bond of $750.
So far (Wed. afternoon, 3/14/12), a Google search reveals that the story has largely been covered by conservative sites and small media outlets.
Where is everyone else?
Dennis Byrne, a columnist at the Chicago Tribune, believes there is a media double standard. At his Chicago Now blog, he has posted an item, "Catholic bishop exposes himself in public park":
Oh,wait. It was a president and CEO of Planned Parenthood. Now, be honest, would you have bothered to look at this post if the headline didn't say that a Catholic bishop was the flasher? ...
If it had been a Catholic bishop, it would have been on all the nightly network news show. The anchors would have led the story by saying, "In more alarming news...." ...
Some will protest that flashing by a Planned Parenthood and bishop are not equivalent, that a bishop is a religious leader and Thornton is not. True enough, but if there is a secular religion--with its own passionate disciplines who hold themselves above the rest, especially religious--it would be Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider.
The latest is that Thornton has apologized and stepped down as PP's CEO.
-- Dave Pierre is the author of the book, Catholic Priests Falsely Accused: The Facts, The Fraud, The Stories. He is also the creator of TheMediaReport.com is a contributing writer to NewsBusters.
