An internal style memo from New York Times editors tells reporters not to use words like āgenocideā or āPalestineā when covering Israelās war on Gaza.
I donāt want to come across as supporting the NYT, but this sounds like the memo is a style guide against biased language which is pretty common.
News is supposed to give you information, not persuade you to take an opinion and normally a style guide helps do that in a consistent voice. Iād be interested in seeing the entire memo.
That being said it seems like the NYT does a poor job of following its own guidelines in presenting unbiased news.
The linked article makes very clear that style guides are common.
However, the specifics of this style guide also happen to follow pretty exactly how Israel likes things presented - there is no āPalestineā, they didnāt turn the Palestinians into ārefugeesā, they didnāt āslaughterā the 15000 children that they killed, with the opposite standard for the Palestinians.
That being said it seems like the NYT does a poor job of following its own guidelines in presenting unbiased news
I donāt have a copy of the entire style guide so I canāt comment on the specifics of how they intend to cover Israel. Could you share your copy of the style guide so we can have the specifics that you mentioned?
Apparently you have a copy of the linked article that I donāt have access to since the article I read only has snippets of the style guide as reported by anonymous sources.
steer clear of the term ārefugee campsā to describe areas of Gaza historically settled by displaced Palestinians expelled from other parts of Palestine during previous IsraeliāArab wars. The areas are recognized by the United Nations as refugee camps and house hundreds of thousands of registered refugees.
It really doesnāt seem the guidance aims for not persuading you to take an opinion
I donāt want to come across as supporting the NYT, but this sounds like the memo is a style guide against biased language which is pretty common.
News is supposed to give you information, not persuade you to take an opinion and normally a style guide helps do that in a consistent voice. Iād be interested in seeing the entire memo.
That being said it seems like the NYT does a poor job of following its own guidelines in presenting unbiased news.
The linked article makes very clear that style guides are common.
However, the specifics of this style guide also happen to follow pretty exactly how Israel likes things presented - there is no āPalestineā, they didnāt turn the Palestinians into ārefugeesā, they didnāt āslaughterā the 15000 children that they killed, with the opposite standard for the Palestinians.
I donāt have a copy of the entire style guide so I canāt comment on the specifics of how they intend to cover Israel. Could you share your copy of the style guide so we can have the specifics that you mentioned?
I just read the linked article.
Apparently you have a copy of the linked article that I donāt have access to since the article I read only has snippets of the style guide as reported by anonymous sources.
It really doesnāt seem the guidance aims for not persuading you to take an opinion