Rachel Maddow doesn't believe she is "mounting a crusade" for activism, but rather a newswoman who happens to be a lesbian as rival Fox News lashes out against the MSNBC host.
Maddow tells the Washington Post that being a lesbian is not what drives her high-profile coverage of issues like "don't ask, don't tell."
As a daughter of an Air Force captain, the MSNBC host, is widely aware of how her sexual orientation impacts her treatment of guests like Lt. Dan Choi, who came out on The Rachel Maddow Show last March, reports the Advocate.
Maddow, who is writing a book on the military and politics, intends to humanize the issue by featuring men who want to serve their country and just so happen to be gay.
"As one of the few openly gay television anchors, Maddow has kept the spotlight trained on the contentious issue of whether service members known to be homosexual should face discharge proceedings, as Choi did after that interview," writes Washington Post columnist Howard Kurtz. "But she doesn't view herself as mounting a crusade."
"We don't really treat gay issues differently than other issues," Maddow tells Kurtz. "The controversy, she says, is just 'a great story.'"
Maddow isn't looking to hide her identity as a lesbian either, "I can't do the show as a non-gay person," she tells Kurtz. "I don't have that option."
"I was an activist before I went into the media," Maddow continued. "It is useful for me to tell my opinion on some things I cover. But I'm not trying to get people to march in the streets or call their congressmen. I don't believe that's my role."
But she rejects the notion that she's explicitly pushing for change, telling Kurtz, "I think of it more in the tradition of muckraking. A lot of the best reporting since time immemorial has been driven by outrage about things not being the way they should be, by the shock at shameless, lying hypocrisy."
"For me it's a question of whether you're doing advocacy journalism or not. It's not activism -- you see a lot of that at Fox, using news coverage to inspire political participation." She added.
Asked for comment, a Fox spokesperson told the Post, "These feelings that she experienced about Fox News didn't stop her from applying for a job here."
Read the full interviewhere.
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