The Bilerico Project | Daily experiments in LGBTQ

The past two days have been a whirlwind for Boston's Mystic Valley Regional Charter School and Kevin Hogan, an English teacher who became the target of a Fox 25 "investigative report" about Hogan's previous work in pornographic films. The first story, which aired on Tuesday evening and featured ace reporter Mike Beaudet ambushing Hogan with stills from his porn work, is one of the most disgusting displays of "gotcha" journalism around. As Alex pointed out in his post yesterday, it's also a demonstration of "the mistaken belief that there are certain sexual acts that are normal and others that are abnormal, and once someone does one of the abnormal ones they risk doing all of them."

The reaction to the Fox story has been overwhelmingly negative. Students and residents in Mystic Valley's area have spoken out about Hogan, saying that he's a great teacher and that his private life or previous work should not be taken into consideration. So far, he's been put on paid leave from the school, and he's reportedly working on the issue with a lawyer, but all signs point to the sad probability that he'll be fired.

Some of Hogan's students are now working to make sure that doesn't happen. Many students are sharing their impassioned thoughts on Twitter, lashing out at Mike Beaudet for his irresponsible reporting, voicing their apathy at Hogan's pornographic work, or pleading that Hogan not be fired.

One of the best tweets communicates a student's ambivalence: "My English teacher is a gay pornstar #nbd"

Some students are looking to redirect the "fire him!" flame at Mike Beaudet, the Fox reporter who's now the subject of a Change.org petition, "Fire Mike Beaudet." Nearly 500 people have signed so far. And two Facebook groups address both Beaudet and Hogan - "We Want Mr. Hogan Back" and "Support Kevin Hogan, Fire Mike Beaudet".

Meanwhile, the blogosphere is heating up by looking for ways to address Beaudet's ambush reporting.

Over at Queerty, they're suggesting a Google-bomb of his name so that it's defined as "the state of an anus after anal sex: roughed up, ruddy, and possibly bloodied" or a variation of the sort.

And Dan Savage has requested that we scour Beaudet's past and dig up some dirt on him, a tactic I whole-heartedly support.

My own few minutes of searching didn't exactly result in any major revelations. But it did turn up Beaudet's graduate thesis from Northeastern University, where he wrote about "Airing out the local TV news industry's own dirty laundry," exploring how the news industry kills or censors stories. He wrote:

It is clear that some investigative journalists working in local television are being silenced. As a result, the public may be suffering because it is not hearing newsworthy information about the community.

Sounds like an example of a guy who doesn't know where to draw the line at "newsworthy information."

Some of the requests that Beaudet should be fired may be misdirected. Instead of asking Fox to fire Beaudet, why not instead demand that his alma mater, Northeastern University, and Emerson College stop giving him work as a part-time lecturer? His shitty demonstration of what he thinks is appropriate as a communications professional should not be something to which journalism students should aspire.

Regardless, Beaudet's follow-up on his first story does very little besides continue his streak of fear-mongering and porn-shaming. Check it out here: