To Pride or Not To Pride?
From the Editorial Board: Our reflections on the anticipated corporate performative activism that occurs each June 1st.
This work reflects the institutional voice of The Better Press. Articles submitted by the Better Press editorial board will not feature a byline.
There is a common misconception that maintaining credibility is the most challenging aspect of journalism. The flaw in this belief stems from the assumption that preserving credibility is difficult to accomplish; it is not. What makes it so difficult is not the actual ease or difficulty of doing the thing, but the risk. Walking across a 2-foot wide plank is very easy, even for the most clumsy of us, but walking across a 2-foot wide bridge with no handrails suspended over the Grand Canyon is difficult. The risk creates the challenge.
So, then, what is actually the most challenging thing to accomplish in journalism? We believe that it’s creating credibility. Building a credible name from the ground up takes more effort and luck than the New York Times requires to maintain its credible (debatable) image. The team at The Better Press, now nearly six months old, works tirelessly to build the brand that is “The BP”. To initiate this process, we had to determine what was important to us.
The Facts of the Case
From the very beginning, we were clear that our mission was not to create a perfectly balanced, nonpartisan publication. This was clear in the first piece published to this site, dated December 15th, 2024: “Nowhere in the definition of ‘objective’ does it say anything about treating both sides of a given argument, situation, or issue equally. Nowhere does it say to sit on a fence on every issue. Sitting in the middle of opposing viewpoints is not fair, honest, or truthful.” The flaw in today’s media being highlighted in that article is referred to as bothsidesism, where “journalists strive to present both sides of an issue, even in cases where most credible sources fall on one side” (Northwestern Now). This isn’t to say that objectivity and truth aren’t important values of ours. We believe that objectivity and accuracy are the bare minimum, the bottom line. We rarely discuss objectivity in our team meetings; it’s implied. Ask any writer at The Better Press how they could lose their job the fastest. The correct response should be: “knowingly lie”.
To get back to “building a brand”, our reputation is our most valuable asset. There are two axes to reputation: the plus-minus axis and the magnitude axis. The New York Times, to use our example from earlier, has an extremely high score on the magnitude axis, perhaps the highest score of any global news outlet. However, on the plus-minus axis, they exist somewhere in the top 25% of news outlets. The Better Press likely has one of the highest scores on the plus-minus axis, alongside tens of thousands of smaller independent networks and publications. However, we also score near the bottom 1% on the magnitude axis. While The Better Press has a near-perfect reputation (based on both subscriber and community feedback), we are very obscure. We want to climb the magnitude axis, but we will not sacrifice our position on the plus-minus axis to do so.
It should be clear that actions taken by The Better Press are carried out very carefully. We make decisions as a team and avoid acting too quickly. The stories we write are thoroughly considered by their authors (the organization has little to no oversight over its writers). Overall, the organization takes very few political positions, at least publicly.
So, what’s the dilemma?
June 1st, 2025. The first day of Pride Month. Posting to our social media accounts in support of Pride Month—a celebration of equality, identity, and resilience—wasn’t a tough call; it was instinct. However, questions arose in our virtual office about a complicated, and all-too-political issue: the Pride profile picture.
There is no denying it: Pride profile pictures for Pride Month are unpopular. They are widely unpopular among those on the right, but even the left is split on the issue. Right-wing opposition usually takes the form of homophobia and transphobia, while left-wing opposition tends to follow this script: “Corporations only change their profile picture for the publicity during Pride Month, just to change it back and go back to ignoring the LGBTQ+ community when July 1st rolls around.” The Better Press editorial board entirely agrees with that statement: most corporations that change their profile picture to a Pride-themed version are engaging in performative activism. The keyword is “most”, not all.
Many companies celebrate Pride during Pride Month by posting a Pride-themed profile picture (which they often change back on July 1st), but continue to support the LGBTQ+ community and celebrate Pride long after June. Some companies donate hundreds of thousands to pro-LGBTQ+ organizations, dedicated to fostering acceptance and ending homophobia and transphobia in America. And yes, we believe that a public expression of support for the LGBTQ+ community by using a Pride profile picture during June is an honorable act (as long as the organization or corporation continues their support throughout the year).
We changed our profile picture on June 1st to our new, Pride-themed version. It’s simple, like most of the rest. And yes, we did it to make a statement: The Better Press believes love is love, trans rights are human rights, and that closets are for clothes. We changed our profile picture to publicize our position, a position that we believe transcends politics. The Better Press promises always to do our best to support the LGBTQ+ community in every way possible: in court, in the press, and with our pocketbooks.
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