Q News

The "queer Dan Rather"? Yikes, that's like wanting to be the tuberculous Stalin.

Back when he was a field reporter at Orlando's Fox affiliate, Josh Fountain says he mostly stayed in the closet when it came to his sexuality.

As of this week, that's pretty much over, since Fountain took the anchor's chair for a new national news show on the Q Television Network.

That's Q as in "queer."

"I want to be the gay Dan Rather," Fountain said a few hours before his debut, "except better-looking."

QTN has been around for about seven years, offering programming that's targeted for and focuses on the gay and lesbian audience.

As for what exactly constitutes a gay-oriented newscast, Fountain referred to Tuesday's premiere edition, in which he talked with analysts about what John Roberts would bring to the U.S. Supreme Court in terms of gay issues and laws. And when Fountain went to Louisiana on the heels of Hurricane Katrina, he said he zeroed in on the lives of New Orleans' large and uprooted gay population.

"Basically," he explained, "it's the first 30-minute news about queer news."

Right now, QTN is a subscription channel that's available in only a fewmajor markets, such as New York and San Francisco. But cable companies around the nation, including Central Florida's Bright House Networks, are looking at QTN to see whether they should add it to their lineup.

Link.