When a reporter drives out into what they think of as "hicksville" looking for a quote that can be ginned up into a big story[0], that is one thing. When the subject of the story has to close up shop due to death threats for holding a position on gay marriage held by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton circa 2009, now we're shading into that "will decide how everyone lives" territory.
[0] http://reason.com/blog/2015/04/02/was-memories-pizza-a-victi...