AP Picks a Side, Sticks with It



On the issue of abortion, the bias shown by the liberal Associated Press is well known. Here, for example, is the entry for "abortion" in the AP Stylebook: "Use anti-abortion instead of pro-life and pro-abortion rights instead of pro-abortion or pro-choice. Avoid abortionist, which connotes a person who performs clandestine abortions."

And if that's not enough to get the reporter where he wants to go, he can always rely on what can only be called the AP Stylebook, Contortionist's Edition. Enjoy, for example, this lede: "The House voted Tuesday to define a fetus that is fully outside a woman's body as having been born alive, which would give the fetus legal protection."

I know, I know. You thought a fetus that is "fully outside a woman's body" was called—oh, what's the word?—a "baby."

In any case, earlier this week the AP's Tim Talley did his part for the cause. As an Oklahoman, I haven't seen misdirection like that since, well, since I had to endure this.

I can scarcely wait to read the AP's continuing coverage of the Planned Parenthood lawsuit against Oklahoma. A hearing is set for next month, five days before we commemorate the birth of an unwed teenager's unplanned fetus.

It's not just abortion, of course. The AP is reliably left-leaning on a host of issues. I'll provide updates below.

UPDATES: 
  • "Newspapers until the 1960s referred to creatures in women's wombs as 'babies' or 'unborn children,' Marvin Olasky points out. "Then they switched to 'fetus,' technically correct but linguistically distancing—and inconsistent, since they didn't go Latin by calling the mom a 'gravida' or having their crime reporters write about the 'corpus mortuum.'"
  • The AP helpfully reminds readers that "abortions are typically performed in utero. Beyond that, they're not much interested in an abortionist's house of horrors.
  • Cato Institute scholar Andrew J. Coulson is a tad bemused by the AP's "indifference to the facts."
  • The AP calls another born-alive baby a "fetus."
  • Over at the Accuracy in Media blog, I point out that the AP is uncomfortable with the adjective that dare not speak its name.
  • AP reporter Sean Murphy sure uses the phrase "right wing" a lot.
  • "The transgender movement is at war with the English language," Sohrab Ahmari writes. "With a new set of style guidelines, the Associated Press has joined the trenches—on the transgender side." The AP Stylebook now instructs journalists not to say a person was "born a girl or boy." 
  • AP Lingo Police: Use "Gender Confirmation" Surgery for Transgenders 
  • "The Associated Press is one of many 'news' outlets that has gone into overt opposition, now that we have a Republican rather than a Democrat in the White House," John Hinderaker observes ("Associated Press Says: Don't Cut Taxes!").
  • One liberal activist with an AP byline is appalled by what he calls "anti-LGBT legislation" and "so-called religious freedom laws." Bobby Ross's analysis of the article is spot-on.
  • Here's a stunning piece of advocacy journalism ("Resistance makes subtle impact even where Trump is popular") with an Edmond dateline.
  • "Oklahoma governor signs adoption law; AP's Sean Murphy hardest hit." At least that's the headline I would have used for this story. Bobby Ross has an excellent analysis here.
  • At the AP, the News Is What Didn’t Happen
  • And check out this lede:
  • "Enthusiasm to pass abortion bans in Republican-dominated states provides stark contrast to the more muted efforts," AP says, laughably, "to protect abortion rights in states controlled by Democrats."
  • This one is stunning even by the AP's standards:
  • The AP's Sean Murphy reports that the Oklahoma Education Association has "nearly 40,000 members." They don't.
  • The AP Stylebook is outright urging that reporters inject bias into stories on behalf of the goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

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