A hidden life
By: a Frontline co-production with Ark Media, LLC ; directed by Rachel Dretzin and Barak Goodman ; written by Barak Goodman ; produced by Rachel Dretzin and Muriel Soenens ; edited by George O'Donnell and R.A. Fedde
Contributors: Fedde R. A.; Lyman, Will; Ark Media (Firm); PBS Video; WGBH (Television station : Boston, Mass.)
Edition: Widescreen].
Publisher: WGBH Educational Foundation; Distributed by PBS Home Video
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Boston]; Alexandria, VA
Language: eng
Format: [videorecording] /
Number of pages: 60
Subjects: Gay politicians; Outing (Sexual orientation); Mayors
Other titles: Frontline (Television program)
Description: In May 2005, readers of Spokane's Spokesman-Review awoke to a startling story: Spokane's Republican mayor Jim West had been leading a double life. In public, he was a conservative politician who had co-sponsored legislation forbidding gays from teaching in public schools. But in private, the paper reported, West spent hours trolling for young men on the Internet, sometimes using the trappings of his office as bait to lure them into more intimate relationships. The story briefly made national headlines and ultimately destroyed West's political career. But FRONTLINE producers Rachel Dretzin and Barak Goodman look beyond the headlines to find a story that is much less clear than it initially seemed. Featuring access to all sides of the story and close readings of the mayor's Internet chats and other documents, "A Hidden Life" examines a man's struggle with his sexual identity, a newspaper's controversial online sting, and the growing tension between a politician's private life and the public's right to know in an age of online communications.
Notes: Videodisc release of a broadcast on the television program Frontline on November 14, 2006.

Editors, George O"Donnell and R. A. Fedde ; muisc, Gary Lionelli.

Narrator: Will Lyman.

DVD.