According to Media Matters, NPR has graciously decided to stop using the labels “Pro-Life” and “Pro-Choice” because people may mistakenly believe that the “Pro-Life” people are the good guys.
After kicking around other labels for Pro-Life like “Those anti-abortion bastards”, NPR settled on “Abortion rights supporter(s) or advocate(s)” and “abortion rights opponent(s)”. NPR really likes this term because “rights opponent(s)” sounds a lot more nefarious than “pro-life”.
For those of you who might be thinking or even hoping that this is a joke, the following is excerpted from memo by NPR Managing Editor David Sweeney:
NPR News is revising the terms we use to describe people and groups involved in the abortion debate.
This updated policy is aimed at ensuring the words we speak and write are as clear, consistent and neutral as possible. This is important given that written text is such an integral part of our work.
On the air, we should use “abortion rights supporter(s)/advocate(s)” and “abortion rights opponent(s)” or derivations thereof (for example: “advocates of abortion rights”). It is acceptable to use the phrase “anti-abortion”, but do not use the term “pro-abortion rights”.
NPR is reportedly still working on new phrases to describe conservatives and liberals. The most popular thus far are “closed-minded idiots” and “working hard to remake America as a godless, yet strangely beautiful society where everyone is equal except for leaders, who are far more equal than everyone else for obvious reasons”.
We’ve decided to start calling NPR an “almost news agency” which sounds so much better than “freaking liberal zealots”.
Source: Media Matters
