Washington Times “Scare Quotes” Are History

Washington City Paper ^ | Feb. 25, 2008

[NoWayMcCain]

John Solomon took over the Washington Times on Jan. 28.

But he arrived today, via a message from the paper’s copy operation.

The news, in short: No more scare quotes.

Longtime Washington Times readers know well what this is all about: Under the regime of Wesley Pruden, the Times, unwilling to acknowledge anything so radical and immoral as gay marriage, treated the term in its pages as gay “marriage.”

Likewise other terms. In the old Washington Times, there were no illegal immigrants, just “illegal aliens”; no gays, just “homosexuals.”

Now comes the following memo from the Solomon regime, wiping out this legacy in one flick of the wrist:

All:

Here are some recent updates to TWT style.

1) Clinton will be the headline word for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

2) Gay is approved for copy and preferred over homosexual, except in clinical references or references to sexual activity.

3) The quotation marks will come off gay marriage (preferred over homosexual marriage).

4) Moderate is approved, but centrist is still allowed.

5) We will use illegal immigrants, not illegal aliens.

[Steely Tom]

I always thought they were “sneer quotes.”

[ClearCase_guy]

So nice to see the media pushing further to the Left. That ought to help their bottomline.

[KarlInOhio]

Well, so much for the Washington "Times".

5) We will use illegal immigrants, not illegal aliens.

Actually aliens is generally more accurate. "Illegal immigrants" assume that they are here to stay rather than just here to work for a while. "Illegal alien" makes no assumptions about their long term plans.

[SE Mom]

So...The Washington Times will now emulate the wildly successful New York Times editorial-as-news policy??

[SamuraiScot]

flick of the wrist

Would that be a limp wrist?

[JZelle]

No biggie, I can stop reading them too.

[Sgt_Schultze]

5) We will use illegal immigrants, not illegal aliens.

I wonder if they will refer to uninvited guests instead of burglars. Shame on the Times for going Post on us.

[Dane]

So nice to see the media pushing further to the Left. That ought to help their bottomline

Or maybe the Wash Times sees the writing on the wall, especially after the "true" conservative losses in the GOP primaries, that hyperbolic language does not sell papers.

[Greg F]

The Washington Times has never been a favorite of mine because of Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s ownership (the guy that runs the Moonie cult).

[donna]

Words mean things.

[QBFimi]

And just why in the hell should I continue to subscribe if I’m going to be fed the same crap as all the other Lefty rags, Mr. Solomon?

(Loyal reader since 1990)

[NoWayMcCain]

“that hyperbolic language does not sell papers.”

So why does the New York Post outsell the New York Times in New York City?

[KC_Conspirator]

Joseph Goebbels would be very proud today.

[DancesWithBolsheviks]

This is all fine as long as they use ‘agenda driven commentary’ in place of ‘news.’

[Grampa Dave]

“Now comes the following memo from the Solomon regime, wiping out this legacy in one flick of the wrist:”

Decoded: Solomon wiped out the conservative legacy of the Washington Times with a flick of his left wing liberal wrist wearing pink and rainbow bracelets!

If this continues, the Washington Times will look like the NY Slimes and LA Slimes in a very short time.

It appears that Solomon has opted for the Dixie Chick marketing strategy re poing the conservative readers and advertisers.

[Dane]

So why does the New York Post outsell the New York Times in New York City?

Uh because the NYP doesn't parrot the hyperbolic rhetoric as much as the Pruden led Wash Times did.

[Senator Goldwater]

Fire that bastard.

Bring back Wes Pruden, the only man in Washington who gets it.

[NoWayMcCain]

John Solomon, I believe, worked for the Washington Post recently. Looks like he’s bringing it over to the Washington Times.