Laramie Project Final Reflection

For my final reflection after reading The Laramie Project, I chose the topic, "Do you think the Tectonic Theater Project portrayed multiple viewpoints on the Matthew Shepard story?" because one characteristic of Sensational Journalism is to omit certain perspectives from the story in order to gain sympathy or attention for one side, and basically twist the story in favor of what the journalist believes the American public wants to hear. I saw examples of this in many Sensational Journalism stories, including Natalie Holloway's kidnapping in Aruba, Andrea Yates kills her children, the Balloon Boy, and Michael Jackson's death. Specific to the Yates case, journalists took quotes and opinions from everyone BUT Andrea herself. She is portrayed as one of the most awful women alive, as well as a horrible mother. In addition to the horrific story already at hand, journalists wove the name of Andrea's preacher into the story, speculating as to whether or not he caused some of her satanic delusions. Contrary to many of these examples, I believe that The Laramie Project makes a conscious effort to include all perspectives from the Matthew Shepard case, and to practice journalism with integrity. Rather than interview only people who supported Matthew's homosexuality for a biased view on the city of Laramie and intensifying the hate for Aaron and Russell, the Tectonic Theater Project presented viewpoints from almost everyone involved in the case, with the exception of Matthew himself. I think it was important that they included the perspectives of people who didn't support Matthew's sexual orientation and believed that he 'hit on' his murderers (such as the Baptist Minister,) because there was a significant part of the population that agreed. Regardless of the pain that some of the gay and lesbian members of the theater company felt as they interviewed people with such hate, it was imperative that they cover all angles to be  fair and honest in their report. Even the people who didn't HAVE an opinion were important, those who said, "live and let live" needed to have a voice as well. I can't think of a better way to honestly portray all perspectives of a famous case such as this, and I applaud the Tectonic Theater Project for making the effort and putting the news out there in an unbiased and uncensored way that not only broke ground in the mediums of journalism, but also allowed a way for Laramie's people to finally reflect and express their opinions where they could be heard.