Reporter bias in local newspaper? (thesouthern.com)

submitted 1 year ago by displaced_city_mouse@midwest.social to c/mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world

2 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A story on a local organization reaching out to help the unhoused in my current area. The director of the organization is quoted using the term "unhoused", but the reporter (or their editor) decided to use the more charged term "homeless" in the by-line and the article.

top 2 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] ConTheLibrarian@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I used to do security at some shelters and the local Ministry for Social Development offices (Welfare office). Through those experiences I learned that there is a big, big difference between calling someone homeless/addict or saying "experiencing homelessness/addiction"

The title says it the correct way, the opening paragraph does not. That being said, "unhoused" doesn't colloquially imply homeless and could be misconstrued as people being evicted. Regardless, after reading the article I don't think the author intended to degrade people with their wording.

Anecdotally, I think we do a disservice to the people directly suffering from homelessness/addiction/mental health by misdirecting our frustrations towards the journalists increasing awareness of the problem.

Similarly, I think we do disservice to a lot of victimized and marginalized people by continually 'improving' the language surrounding specific issues and subsequently attacking people -who are engaging the topic in good faith- for not adopting the prescribed nomenclature fast enough.

[-] displaced_city_mouse@midwest.social 1 points 1 year ago

...there is a big, big difference between calling someone homeless/addict or saying “experiencing homelessness/addiction”

I agree with this -- my point in bringing this up was to highlight the differences in the language we use and the images and ideas those words conjure in the reader/listener. Your experiences are much more direct than mine, and I appreciate the insight.

... I don’t think the author intended to degrade people with their wording. ... I think we do a disservice to the people directly suffering from homelessness/addiction/mental health by misdirecting our frustrations towards the journalists increasing awareness of the problem.

I see your points. However, had the director of the facility also used the term "homeless", I would have never posted this. Its the changing of the word from what was said to what was written that gave me pause.

On the other hand, you have also given me some other ways to think about this story and how it was presented. Thanks for forcing me to confront some of my biases.

this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2023

2 points (100.0% liked)

Mildly Infuriating

35436 readers

843 users here now

Home to all things "Mildly Infuriating" Not infuriating, not enraging. Mildly Infuriating. All posts should reflect that.

I want my day mildly ruined, not completely ruined. Please remember to refrain from reposting old content. If you post a post from reddit it is good practice to include a link and credit the OP. I'm not about stealing content!

It's just good to get something in this website for casual viewing whilst refreshing original content is added overtime.

Rules:

1. Be Respectful

Refrain from using harmful language pertaining to a protected characteristic: e.g. race, gender, sexuality, disability or religion.

Refrain from being argumentative when responding or commenting to posts/replies. Personal attacks are not welcome here.

...

2. No Illegal Content

Content that violates the law. Any post/comment found to be in breach of common law will be removed and given to the authorities if required.

That means: -No promoting violence/threats against any individuals

-No CSA content or Revenge Porn

-No sharing private/personal information (Doxxing)

...

3. No Spam

Posting the same post, no matter the intent is against the rules.

-If you have posted content, please refrain from re-posting said content within this community.

-Do not spam posts with intent to harass, annoy, bully, advertise, scam or harm this community.

-No posting Scams/Advertisements/Phishing Links/IP Grabbers

-No Bots, Bots will be banned from the community.

...

4. No Porn/Explicit

Content

-Do not post explicit content. Lemmy.World is not the instance for NSFW content.

-Do not post Gore or Shock Content.

...

5. No Enciting Harassment,

Brigading, Doxxing or Witch Hunts

-Do not Brigade other Communities

-No calls to action against other communities/users within Lemmy or outside of Lemmy.

-No Witch Hunts against users/communities.

-No content that harasses members within or outside of the community.

...

6. NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.

-Content that is NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.

-Content that might be distressing should be kept behind NSFW tags.

...

7. Content should match the theme of this community.

-Content should be Mildly infuriating.

-At this time we permit content that is infuriating until an infuriating community is made available.

...

8. Reposting of Reddit content is permitted, try to credit the OC.

-Please consider crediting the OC when reposting content. A name of the user or a link to the original post is sufficient.

...

Also check out:

Partnered Communities:

1.Lemmy Review

2.Lemmy Be Wholesome

3.Lemmy Shitpost

4.No Stupid Questions

5.You Should Know

6.Credible Defense

Reach out to LillianVS for inclusion on the sidebar.

All communities included on the sidebar are to be made in compliance with the instance rules.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

LillianVS@lemmy.world

STRIKINGdebate2@lemmy.world

Tenthrow@lemmy.world