In a March 2 MRC Culture & Media Institute item, Sarah Knoploh imparts emotions to a reporter she can’t possibly know.
Knoploh asserts that a USA Today reporter “lamented” a business slump in the “porn industry,” assailing the reporter for writing about it “as though it was just another suffering business” and snarking, “The poor porn industry.” How does Knoploh know the reporter “lamented” the state of the porn industry? She doesn’t — she’s merely invoking the Depiction-Equals-Approval Fallacy by essentially claiming that any reporter who reports on pornography must endorse it and may be an actual user of it. (That’s not just a logical fallacy — in this case, it may be libelous.)
Knoploh further claimed that “This is not, however, the first time the media has pitied the porn industry.” Again, Knoploh offers no evidence of “pity,” just another article reporting on the industry’s slump.
Note to Sarah Knoploh: Reporters write all the time about things they don’t personally approve of. Does every reporter who writes about a murder endorse it?