[Fiannan]

"Texas authorities on Tuesday indicted the leader of a polygamous sect ... on charges of felony sexual assault on a minor, the first criminal charges to stem from a massive raid on the group's West Texas compound," the Los Angeles Times reported last week.
The Associated Press and other press outlets used similar words: "indicted polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs ... charges of felony sexual assault of a child."
Straightforward reporting? In my "20/20" special "Sex in America," polygamy activist Mark Henkel said no, it's an ignorant distortion.
"The media kept saying, 'Polygamist leader, polygamist leader,'" Mr. Henkel told me. "But the case actually involved incest and arranged marriage of a girl with her 19-year-old cousin. There wasn't anything [that] had to do with polygamy. [Mr. Jeffs] wasn't called an incest leader. He wasn't called an underage-marriage leader. He was called a polygamist leader."
Mr. Henkel and his Web site, TruthBearer, campaign against the press and others who lump criminals like Mr. Jeffs with all polygamy.
Mr. Henkel won't disclose his own family situation. In Maine, where he lives, even purporting to have more than one wife is against the law. Mr. Henkel complains that American laws are hypocritical.

...

"If they're saying that's immoral, they're calling the greatest heroes in the Bible ... immoral! ... Saying that Abraham, with his three wives, was immoral. Jacob had four wives. David had seven known named wives before Bathsheba."
Mr. Ben-Israel calls plural marriage a civil-rights issue. "Who is this government that's in somebody's bedroom? ... It was illegal for me to marry a white woman at one time. ... It was illegal for me to vote at one time. And if I had accepted somebody else's definition of what was right and wrong, I would still be riding in the back of the bus.
"We're not saying this is for everybody. Everybody don't like football and basketball or tennis. But those who do ought to be free to do this."

How Many Wives Is Too Many? - July 30, 2008 - The New York Sun

Stossel, as usual, cuts through the propaganda, media distortions, and political grandstanding by hypocrits (Note: Harry Reid) and presents a very thoughtful investigation into polygamy. Wish there were more journalists like him.