How the New Times took down ‘Rentboy Rekers’ (plus, the ghost of Art Teele)
The shot seen round the world: Dr. George Rekers and his male prostitute traveling companion at Miami International Airport after the two traveled to Europe together.
The local alternative weekly that has become a Miami must-read, explains how it got the story of the season, taking down the Christian right’s top anti-gay “expert” with nothing more than a bad friend, email screenshots and a pink camera. And this isn’t the first time the New Times has brought about a spectacular fall. A few years ago, a scathing expose of Miami’s charismatic, but corrupt, commissioner Art Teele, indirectly led to his taking his own life in the lobby of the Miami Herald, cost legendary Herald reporter Jim Defede his job, and turned Miami politics upside down. Ironically, that story also involved a purportedly heterosexual, married man allegedly cavorting with male prostitutes, and some observers blamed the allegations of gay sex (or more pointedly, Teele’s shame over them) for pushing him over the edge.
The takeaway: major papers break major stores, as the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Miami Herald variously have over the years. But the powerful ought to beware the aggressive niche media, who have fewer editorial constraints, and more motivation to play hardball, including with a public figure’s personal life, if it’s deemed relevant to their public one.
Meanwhile, the Orlando Sentinel editorial board blasts Bill McCollum for giving Rekers 120,000 of Floridians’ hard-earned dollars.
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[...] by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, who later turned up at Miami International Airport with a boy he met via Rentboy.com … Key words: “sexual … massage …” Jamal Parris, 23, alleged in a suit [...]