Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

NPR Memo Instructs Writers How to Frame Abortion Debate with Biased Language
www.faithwire.com ^ | May 22, 2019 | By Tré Goins-Phillips Editor

Posted on 05/23/2019 10:39:29 AM PDT by Red Badger

After reading a “guidance reminder” posted last week by NPR, it’s become even more obvious why those in favor of abortion and those opposed to it are increasingly at odds with one another.

Mark Memmott, supervising senior editor of standards and practices for NPR, put together the guide after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) signed into law the most stringently pro-life legislation in the country and not long after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed a bill into law barring abortion after a heartbeat is detectable, which usually occurs around six weeks into pregnancy.

The style guide makes one thing abundantly, painstakingly clear: NPR writers are to go out of their way to make sure it never, ever sounds like the collection of cells inside a mother’s womb is a human life.

Perhaps the most absurd — and absurdly bias — rule in the NPR manual is the injunction against the word “unborn,” which journalists are to avoid like the plague, according to Memmott, because it “implies that there is a baby inside a pregnant woman.”

“They’re fetuses,” he lectured. “Incorrectly calling a fetus a ‘baby’ or ‘the unborn’ is part of the strategy used by antiabortion groups to shift language/legality/public opinion.” (Just FYI: Even the Mayo Clinic refers to fetuses who have, according to Memmott, not yet turned into humans as babies.)

The moratorium on the sinister words can only be lifted “when referring to the title of the bill.” The fact he used the word “strategy” only to refer to those opposed to abortion should be telling, as if there’s a clandestine plan by pro-lifers, but those who support abortion are just trying to protect some inalienable right.

Memmott also takes issue with “pro-life” and “pro-choice” descriptors. Instead, he said those who are opposed to abortion should be referred to as “abortion rights opponents” or people who are “anti-abortion rights.” Both of those phrases, of course, are clearly editorialized. By unnecessarily inserting the word “rights” into the descriptors, it sends the message pro-lifers are opposed to “rights.”

By contrast, those who are in favor of abortion are to be called “abortion rights supporter(s)/advocate(s).” The upside in those titles is obvious.

The language Memmott selected for NPR journalists reveals two things: (1) Many in the media have already chosen their side and (2) those in the pro-abortion camp have a fundamental misunderstanding of the pro-life movement. It has nothing to do with suppressing a woman’s — a mother’s — “rights.” Rather, the pro-life movement is about protecting the rights of the child who has not yet been born and is unable to defend his or her inalienable rights. Anything else?

The NPR editor encouraged journalists not to use the phrase “abortion clinic” because the facilities “perform other procedures and not just abortions.” Memmott also took issue with the title “abortion doctor.” Instead, abortionists should be referred to people who operate clinics “where abortions are performed.”

Memmott is also not a big fan of the phrase “late-term abortion.”

“Though we initially believed this term carried less ideological baggage when compared with partial-birth,” he explained, “it still conveys the sense that the fetus is viable when the abortion is performed.”

He said late-term abortion should be referred to only as “a procedure known medically as intact dilation and extraction.”

All of this language achieves one goal: Making the human inside a mother’s womb sound as nonhuman as possible.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: agitprop; corporateliberalism; defundpbsnpr; despotism; fakenews; nbcbias; nprbias; prodeath; propaganda; taxdollarsatwork; youpayforthis
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-37 next last
Disgusting......................but NOT SURPRISING................
1 posted on 05/23/2019 10:39:29 AM PDT by Red Badger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Huh? NPR? Don’t we pay fo.................. Oh.


2 posted on 05/23/2019 10:41:06 AM PDT by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Why am I subsidizing this?


3 posted on 05/23/2019 10:43:26 AM PDT by Brilliant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
Do you mean objections to the slaughter of innocent babies?

Those "reproductive rights"?

4 posted on 05/23/2019 10:44:06 AM PDT by G Larry (There is no great virtue in bargaining with the Devil)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Smell the fear...


5 posted on 05/23/2019 10:45:56 AM PDT by rockrr ( Everything is different now...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rktman

This should surprise no one-If they didn’t skew the language, who on earth would listen to them?


6 posted on 05/23/2019 10:49:18 AM PDT by SMARTY ("Nobility is defined by the demands it makes on us - by obligations, not by rights".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

The memo: https://www.npr.org/sections/memmos/2019/05/15/723678750/guidance-reminder-on-abortion-procedures-terminology-rights


7 posted on 05/23/2019 10:55:07 AM PDT by Mr.Unique (The government, by its very nature, cannot give except what it first takes.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

NPR?

Nancy Pelosi Radio?


8 posted on 05/23/2019 10:58:02 AM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pontiac

National Proletariat Radio...................


9 posted on 05/23/2019 10:59:02 AM PDT by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

If we don’t say “baby killing” but instead use the term - rainbow expelling then people will better accept our infanticide values and rights.


10 posted on 05/23/2019 10:59:56 AM PDT by Skywise
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
Anyone funding NPR is funding an organization that believes:

The term “unborn” implies that there is a baby inside a pregnant woman, not a fetus. Babies are not babies until they are born. They're fetuses. Incorrectly calling a fetus a “baby” or “the unborn” is part of the strategy used by antiabortion groups to shift language/legality/public opinion.

They also believe that jamming a knife into a baby's head, then sucking her brain out with a vacuum is “reproductive health care.”

11 posted on 05/23/2019 11:00:02 AM PDT by Mr.Unique (The government, by its very nature, cannot give except what it first takes.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Using fetus instead of unborn, even though fetus literally means unborn. This is a epic fail that will not have the desired effect.


12 posted on 05/23/2019 11:00:13 AM PDT by Valpal1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
...the injunction against the word “unborn,” which journalists are to avoid like the plague, according to Memmott, because it “implies that there is a baby inside a pregnant woman.”

Whoa, he has us there. I'll have to admit that I was under the impression that that's where babies come from. Glad to be shown the error of my ways.

13 posted on 05/23/2019 11:00:25 AM PDT by Billthedrill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
“They’re fetuses,” he lectured. “Incorrectly calling a fetus a ‘baby’ or ‘the unborn’ is part of the strategy used by antiabortion groups to shift language/legality/public opinion.”

“Fetus” is Latin for baby.

14 posted on 05/23/2019 11:03:43 AM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

So the NPR portion of the swamp is still full.


15 posted on 05/23/2019 11:03:45 AM PDT by Midwesterner53
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

The style guide makes one thing abundantly, painstakingly clear: NPR writers are to go out of their way to make sure it never, ever sounds like the collection of cells inside a mother’s womb is a human life.

~~~

Except that someone who kills a pregnant woman is usually charged with double homicide, and I think you would find that most people on the left or right, include those at NPR, would agree with the charges.

hmmm...


16 posted on 05/23/2019 11:05:07 AM PDT by z3n
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

We are for the rights of the unborn.

This is the language we can use to counter their demonic euphemisms.


17 posted on 05/23/2019 11:05:26 AM PDT by FranklinsTower
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

I wonder if we could get away with saying that abortion kills transgender babies.


18 posted on 05/23/2019 11:10:14 AM PDT by Skywise
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

I guess that NPR doesn’t think that their writers are sharp enough to pull that off on their own.

So why on earth are WE still providing NPR with OUR Tax dollars?


19 posted on 05/23/2019 11:12:48 AM PDT by Howie66 ("...Against All Enemies, Foreign and Democrat.....")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

According to this article, about 25% of the NPR budget comes directly or indirectly from taxpayer funds.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2010/10/how_public_is_nprs_funding.html

And their 501(c)(3) status is questionable to me.

---------------------

If they want to finance their liberal agenda from their own means, fine. They have freedom of speech. But don't finance their liberal, often anti-American agenda with my dime.

20 posted on 05/23/2019 11:17:52 AM PDT by Sa-teef
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-37 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson