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The AP Stylebook Leans To The Left

I was surfing the net through Blogsoldiers the other day when a site had a bit about the AP Stylebook and briefing on Media Law. I wish I could remember the website where I found this but I have had a bit of trouble recalling it. If I come across it again I will certainly link to it. The site shows how the AP Stylebook is biased toward a liberal agenda. He makes this observation by showing how the AP says “abortion” is supposed to be addressed:

abortion Use anti-abortion instead of pro-life and abortion rights instead of pro-abortion or pro-choice. Avoid abortionist, which connotes a person who performs clandestine abortions; use a term such as abortion doctor or abortion practitioner.

It seems to me that the AP Stylebook tells writers how to make abortion sound like an acceptable practice that everyone should be comfortable with. It even goes so far as to deliberately cast those who do not favor abortion as ANTI-ABORTION instead of PRO-LIFE which is obviously an attempt to take the human factor out of the whole debate. We can’t have people believing that an unborn child is a life so call those knuckle draggers anti-abortion. The also say abortionist connotes a clandestine thing except the definition of an abortionist is one who induces abortion. The word clandestine does not appear in the definition.

I happen to have the AP Stylebook and it absolutely contains the above item. I had assumed that the Stylebook and briefing on Media Law would be a plain, cut and dry, depiction as to how things should be written. I never figured that it would actually show how to write things as part of the liberal agenda. Perhaps this was just a one time thing, but wait, the definition of gay in the Stylebook is:

gay Acceptable as popular synonym for both male and female homosexuals (n. and adj), although it is generally associated with males, while lesbian is the more common term for female homosexuals. Avoid references to gay, homosexual, or alternative “lifestyle.”

So the Stylebook tells us that we should not write gay, homosexual, or alternative “lifestyle.” Why exactly is this? That is a lifestyle and it is a lifestyle that people choose to live in. The AP seems to be making sure nothing is written that would offend the liberal base and their style book certainly slants to the left.

I have one but I recommend that anyone who wants to write invest in a different Stylebook. Read the definitions for abortion and gay and see how others describe that. This should give you a good idea as to how the book views writing and whether it is neutral, as it should be, or if it slants one way or another.

UPDATE: I found the original blogger who wrote about this. The Part-Time Pundit wrote the original.