The rule is so simple it should not have to be stated: if you wouldn't say male, don't say female; if you wouldn't say white, don't say black; if you wouldn't describe his clothes- shoes- hairdo, don't describe hers.
What century is this, again??
Oh, and an amazing study from the Project for Excellence in Journalism:
In covering the Iraq war last year, 73 percent of the stories on Fox News included the opinions of the anchors and journalists reporting them, a new study says. By contrast, 29 percent of the war reports on MSNBC and 2 percent of those on CNN included the journalists' own views. These findings -- the figures were similar for coverage of other stories -- 'seem to challenge' Fox's slogan of 'we report, you decide' . . .
Well, I'm stunned.
Some Rights Reserved
I wonder how they determined what was fact and what was opinion. You can’t always tell.
In my “opinion” reporters on FOX probably let you know that they were expressing an opinion whereas on ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN the reporters simply didn’t bother.
So when a “study” is done determining who expresses the most opinions on the news FOX comes out way ahead.
Posted by: Scott | 15 March 2005 at 01:46 PM
Found you via Elayne's...
I love the way you put the rule into plain simple English.
I couldn't have said it better....I may just quote you.
Posted by: Mama JunkYard | 16 March 2005 at 12:39 PM
Hi SB!
interesting post! I thought about this very thing the other day at the gym (why i contemplate so much at the gym is beyond me)--my trainer was telling me about her 'female' doctor--and i thought, if the doc wasn't female, would she have said it? i've heard the same sort of thing with 'male' nurses.
Posted by: jenni | 17 March 2005 at 07:15 AM