Every day, journalists make critical editorial
decisions - which angle to take in a political story, which sources to quote
and misquote, which emails from their editors to ignore and which group of
people to piss off more in a story.
Despite, or perhaps because of, journalists’ best
intentions, there is always a group of readers pissed off because of a phrase,
term or description. And it’s all thanks to political correctness.
Even when
using the Bible of the newsroom, journalists can find themselves in hot
political water.
The AP Stylebook gives journalists these options: Abortion rights supporter is preferred over Pro choice.
American Indian NOT Native American. African-American and black (NOT
capitalized) are both acceptable terms. And there is the old adage: rugs are Oriental, people
are Asian.
Race is not an issue discussed lightly in newsrooms. So much that
most newsrooms don’t see color. No really, don’t hardly see any color.
Still, even with guidance from the AP Stylebook,
journalists still find themselves the target of readers’ wrath. Even when writing a story that by all appearances seems
safe and non-offensive, journalists can expect their inbox and mail slot full
from readers who felt they were insulted, offended or not included.
Ten years ago, journalists and newspapers could get away with terms like gay community, crippled and dwarfs. It’s now the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community. And forget even handicapped or disabled. If those words appear in a newspaper, wheelchair-bound readers will be in arms about how journalists need to use the term differently abled. Readers either haven’t heard or understand the phrase, “brevity is the soul of wit.”
Oddly enough, journalists can still use dwarfs.
Still, journalists seem to always catch themselves on the wrong side of political correctness. But ultimately journalists like political correctness because its keeps them on their toes and promotes civility and mutual respect. Political correctness also fires up readers, causing them to write angry letters, make obscene phone calls and talk endlessly about some news story bias, racism, ageism or some other ism. At least it gets people to read the paper.
