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No. 32 for September 2004

Common Sense Journalism

When the phrasing is suspect

By Doug Fisher

Are you a suspected abuser – of words, that is?

What! I’m no abuser, you say. I watch what I write, take care in every word, seek to be as fair as possible.

Great. Only I didn’t call you an abuser. I asked if you were a suspected abuser. What you heard was abuser. And therein lies the problem with that phrasing, which, since the Sept. 11 attacks, I read and hear more and more often.

Here’s a recent newspaper cutline: “A U.S. Army soldier watches detainees at Guantanamo before hearings begin for four suspected terrorists.”

National Public Radio used the phrase five or six times, I lost count, in a recent story. The network news shows are just as bad.

No matter how much we despise what we think they have done, however, decency requires that we acknowledge that they are not terrorists, but suspects, and until they plead guilty or are convicted, they are terrorism suspects.

The AP stylebook warns against the misuse of “accused” this way. Suspected, alleged, accused, reported – all fine verbs – as adjectives have the potential to get us into trouble. Perhaps not legal trouble, but they signal a lack of attention to our craft, to the power of words, a subtle but pervasive bias to our discerning readers. They say we’ve bought the spin of the police, prosecutors or whatever power elite is running things, whatever administration is in office. They say, in essence, OK, we’ve convicted you, now let the trial begin.

This rather cavalier use of the language goes beyond the bounds of those enmeshed in the web of terrorism.

Suspected serial robber caught screamed the headline in a recent paper. Try Serial robbery suspect caught. It’s only a count shorter.

Accused abductor denied bail becomes Abduction suspect denied bail. It’s a couple of counts shorter, but a whole lot fairer. It’s the same with changing Accused bomber ruled incompetent into Bombing suspect ruled incompetent.

And then there’s one that hit the unfairness perfecta: Suspected drunk driver / kills mother, 3 children. Not only does that one label the person a drunken (not drunk) driver, it also convicts him of killing the mother and her children. This one was a more difficult rewrite because it’s not as simple as just switching a few words. Sometimes, you have to start over, and this was one of those cases where the desk needed a different tack: Mother, 3 children die / as van runs down family.

It’s also worth repeating the admonition not to overreach in using suspect. Police tend to throw the word around as so much verbal candy, but we shouldn’t. Unless the police know pretty well whom they are looking for, there is no suspect. So saying the robbery suspect sped away is incorrect if police have not identified a specific person, even if they have not released the name.

Instead, you should write the robber sped away. That might sound as though you are calling someone a robber, but you’re not. If there was a robbery, there was a robber. As long as you are not referring to a specific person, by name or implication, you are only stating fact. Once a suspect is identified, however, ditch “robber” and go to robbery suspect.

We always should watch our words. But in these emotionally charged and spin-laden times, we owe it to our readers even more for the sake of fairness, civility and even-handed discourse. Don’t be a suspected abuser – of words, that is.

J-School Year

I wanted to let you know about a new project colleague Ernie Wiggins and I have started at the University of South Carolina. Called “A J-School Year,” it’s a Web log written by students who are chronicling what a year is like in a modern American journalism school.

You can find it at http://jschoolyear.blogspot.com

This is not just for students. We hope professionals will check in and post comments on some of the entries. You need to know what your potential future employees are thinking. It might surprise you. In fact, the idea came about because one newspaper recruiter asked me why it was getting harder to attract young people into some parts of the profession. I realized I could only speculate, and professor Wiggins and I decided what better way to find out than to give students a chance to tell us themselves?

Among the posts already is one from a freshman who is frustrated she can’t take any journalism courses her first year while she loads up on liberal arts and one from a student who suggests that if we are to get and keep readers, maybe it’s time writers inject a little personal opinion into their work.

We hope you’ll stop by occasionally and offer feedback. It’s important for us and the students.