View Full Version : Newspaper Language
SixofNine
02-21-2004, 10:44 AM
A letter writer in today's Washington Post made a very astute observation. In a February 13th front page story entitled "Most Think Truth Was Stretched to Justify Iraq War," the words "most" and "majority" are used in the article title and first paragraph to describe the 54% of survey respondents who thought the President exaggerated the evidence against Iraq.
However, later in the article the modifier "barely half" is used to describe the 52% of survey respondents who now believe that Bush is honest and trustworthy.
As the letter writer wonders, what would the reporters use to describe 53%? :rolleyes:
Brian
BigDeputyDog
02-21-2004, 10:50 AM
It would depend on the topic and their agenda, Brian... If it is something that they want to push, then it would be "an overwhelming majority". If it was something they didn't want to admit being over half, then they would use "slightly over"... :rolleyes:
BDD...
ethics
02-21-2004, 01:26 PM
Brian, would love to read the whole thing in a link, got one? :)
SixofNine
02-21-2004, 01:40 PM
Brian, would love to read the whole thing in a link, got one? :)
But of course! I assume you're asking for the February 13th article, not today's letter to the editor. Here it is:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37340-2004Feb12.html
Looks like the Post is now requiring registration a la The New York Times.
Brian
Steve
02-21-2004, 03:45 PM
I've noticed that newspaper articles also use the following conventions:
When a criminal is 18 or 19, the criminal is referred to as a teenager.
When a citizen who does something good is 18 or 19, the citizen is referred to as a "young adult".
I've noticed this univerally, regardless of source.
Techie2000
02-21-2004, 04:04 PM
I've noticed that newspaper articles also use the following conventions:
When a criminal is 18 or 19, the criminal is referred to as a teenager.
When a citizen who does something good is 18 or 19, the citizen is referred to as a "young adult".
I've noticed this univerally, regardless of source.Of course. I thought you would have figured out by now that teenagers are evil creatures that are responsible for everything bad in this world.