manipulation
Language and the BBC
08/12/09 05:55 Filed in:Current Affairs
What language should the BBC use and not use...
Language is a most powerful thing. It helps us communicate and can be extremely powerful particularly when used by people who know how to use language to manipulate others.
As far as I am concerned, the BBC should be seen to be impartial on political issues and religion. Unfortunately, it is not. And this bugs me.
Lets look at an example from today's BBC News website;
"Gordon Brown is to begin setting out Labour's plans for slashing public spending by £12bn over four years, ahead of Wednesday's pre-Budget report."
The fact of the matter is that Mr Brown is threatening to reduce public spending. To slash means "cut drastically". By using the word "slash" the BBC is making a judgement. If the BBC used "reduce" it would have reported accurately and without wishing to manipulate the reader to draw a conclusion from its statement.
The example used is merely a very, very small example of what the BBC are continually doing. The way in which the BBC reports on Climate Change (used to be Global Warming but that is proving to be harder to prove) is equally manipulating.
More on using language to manipulate coming soon...
Language is a most powerful thing. It helps us communicate and can be extremely powerful particularly when used by people who know how to use language to manipulate others.
As far as I am concerned, the BBC should be seen to be impartial on political issues and religion. Unfortunately, it is not. And this bugs me.
Lets look at an example from today's BBC News website;
"Gordon Brown is to begin setting out Labour's plans for slashing public spending by £12bn over four years, ahead of Wednesday's pre-Budget report."
The fact of the matter is that Mr Brown is threatening to reduce public spending. To slash means "cut drastically". By using the word "slash" the BBC is making a judgement. If the BBC used "reduce" it would have reported accurately and without wishing to manipulate the reader to draw a conclusion from its statement.
The example used is merely a very, very small example of what the BBC are continually doing. The way in which the BBC reports on Climate Change (used to be Global Warming but that is proving to be harder to prove) is equally manipulating.
More on using language to manipulate coming soon...
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