Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Caitlyn Jenner Debut Poses Challenges For Media

This photo taken by Annie Leibovitz exclusively for Vanity Fair shows the cover of the magazine's July 2015 issue 
Caitlyn Jenner, the Olympian formerly known as Bruce Jenner, made her debut on the cover of Vanity Fair Monday, a little more than a month after announcing she is transgender in an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer.
"Call me Caitlyn," Jenner declared in a quote printed on the cover.
But for some media outlets covering her transition, referring to Jenner as a woman may take some getting used to.
The Associated Press initially referred to Jenner as a "he" in a tweet about her Vanity Fair debut.
"Bruce Jenner makes his debut as a transgender woman in a va-va-voom cover for the July issue of Vanity Fair," the AP tweeted.
The tweet was later deleted.
As Media Matters pointed out, the news service violated its own style guidelines on how to refer to transgender people by not using Jenner's preferred pronoun:


transgender Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth. If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.

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