Yellow Journalism is Alive and Well in Utah!

What happens when a religious power house has control of several dominate media outlets in a market and then declares it will produce news in a manner consistent with the faith's belief system and then edits comments on the comment boards of its paper and closes comment boards on its television news site and combines the staff of both its Television outlets and its newspaper... You get crap like this:  Society paying price for pornography use

Bruce Lindsay appears to be hosting a three part segment on the trappings of pornography use and its detriment to society presented as an investigative journalism piece(for some reason KSL pulled the video for this segment).  The reality is that Deseret Media company has launched a new initiative called Out in the Light and the Bruce Lindsay's Sunday Edition in this case is being used as a "journalism" source to bring attention to the illness of pornography addiction and the harm it does to families.

Yellow Journalism:

Yellow journalism or the yellow press is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism. By extension "Yellow Journalism" is used today as a pejorative to decry any journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical fashion.~Wikipedia

Here is the problem with this "news" source:  The station, KSL, is owned by the LDS Church.  The two experts cited in the news story both have something to gain or loose by their endorsement of lack of endorsement.  Dr. Rory Reid is a graduate of BYU and is associated with one of two of the counseling firms that have links to the Out in the Light website.  Dr. Liz Hale, while a licensed therapist, is an employee of the the Church Owned KSL.  At no time is the disclosure made

Here is the problem with the topic:  The American Psychological Association does not recognize sex addiction or pornography addiction as diagnosable disorders.  Dr. Reid must know this because on his website he indicates a specialization in "hypersexual behavior and pornography dependence".  Hyper-sexual behavior is not in and of its self a disorder but a symptom of some compulsive disorders including bi-polar disorder.

There is a link to LDS biases with regard to sex and sexuality and what is considered normal.  The LDS church, while not unique in its doctrinal approach to sex, considers pornography use a sin worthy of revoking a temple recommend.  With out the recommend the wife now fears that her "eternal family" is in jeopardy.  This can and has caused a strong emotional reaction.  While in general the APA views pornography use inside the marriage and as a tool to facilitate arousal for an individual as normal; there is no such concession for the LDS faithful.  It is considered repugnant.  This can create a double bind for the person who finds him/herself engaged in normal expressions of sexuality which is denied by doctrine.  The resulting cognitive dissonance over time may lead to mental health problems.

So in the case of the story referenced above.... the "story" is an infomercial that is meant to solve a problem... that is only a problem because they made it a problem.  I think if fits the definition of Yellow Journalism.