Lessons in BBC Newspeak. Don’t say pro-abortion, say pro-choice

Feb 6, 2016 by

By Kathy Gyngell, The Conservative Woman:

A couple of weeks ago Emily Watson wrote on this site that Britain is on the cusp of a re-education programme in Orwellian Newspeak.

Leading this programme is our national broadcaster – the BBC. The BBC is in a uniquely powerful position to alter perceptions and manipulate meanings.

That of course is what its Charter obligations are meant to protect it and us from – from exploiting its position as the national broadcaster, by stringently complying with the principle of impartiality.

But if we needed an example of how far the BBC has transgressed in this duty – which we don’t – it would be this extract from the BBC’s Style Guide (the document which dictates how BBC journalists write) on the issue of abortion.

This applies whatever your personal views are on the matter.

This, if a reporter is covering an abortion debate in Parliament for example, is what he must do:

“Avoid (the words) pro-abortion, and use pro-choice instead. (Because) Campaigners favour a woman’s right to choose, rather than abortion itself. And use anti-abortion rather than pro-life, except where it is part of the title of a group’s name”.

Unbiased? Neutral? Impartial? I think not. If they applied the same logic to so-called “pro-choice” groups, the BBC’s style guide would demand that they refer to “anti-abortion” groups as “pro-life” too.

Read here

 

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