Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center is usually loath to criticize its beloved Fox News -- all the better to keep the TV hits coming and the revolving door of employment rotating. On the rare occasions that it does, it's usually a Heathering situation, an attempt to keep the channel in lockstep with right-wing orthodoxy -- for instance, it lashed out at Fox News in June for failing to spew hate at a transgender teen. In a July 2 post, Tim Graham took Fox News to task for straying from biased right-wing terminology regarding abortion (something he's prone to doing):
Sometimes even Fox News uses all the liberal lingo in abortion stories. On Saturday, FoxNews.com posted an article headlined "Texas Supreme Court blocks ruling that said abortions could resume."
Fox's Lawrence Richard wrote a story that included a note at the end that "The Associated Press contributed to this report," but the whole article sounded like it worked from the liberal AP Stylebook. It began:
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday blocked a lower court order that permitted some abortions.
The decision is the latest development in a wild couple of weeks for the state of Texas.
On Friday, June 24, a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending constitutionally-protected abortion rights across the country.
Richard added the Texas law is commonly referred to as a "heartbeat law" as it "outlaws abortions once a heartbeat is detected in a fetus." So unborn babies were dehumanized, and abortionists were "service providers."
Graham will never admit that "fetus" is the correct, medically accepted term for an unborn child. We don't recall Graham ever complaining that referring to an undocumented migrant as an "illegal" -- as the MRC frequently does -- is "dehumanizing."
Graham also thinks it's "liberal lingo" for refer to anti-abortion activists as being "anti-abortion" and someone who favors abortion rights as favoring "abortion rights." He doesn't explain why these completely accurate terms are somehow "liberal."
Graham's sneering reference to the AP Stylebook as "liberal" reflects the point of view of a biased non-journalist (indeed, the journalism-hating MRC is filled with people who never worked a day in actual journalism jobs) who puts ideology beofre the facts. The stylebook offers a standard reference guide forjounralists to refer to a plethora of things -- something anathema to people like Graham who put ideology ahead of the truth and honesty.
Graham concluded by huffing:
If they are seeking a pro-life audience outside their offices in Manhattan, Fox News might want to at least attempt more neutral terms that abortion supporters find insensitive, like "abortion doctors" if not "abortionists." And there shouldn't be anything inflammatory about calling the womb occupants "babies."
Only in Graham's right-wing bubble is "abortionist" considered a "neutral" word. And it further demonstrates that he neither knows nor cares about journalism -- only about advancing a narrative and agenda.
