How the Associated Press Stylebook Warps Reality to Serve Power

This isn't neutral at all.

There are more specific issues, too. In its entry for “methane,” the Stylebook accepts the term “natural gas” for methane-based fuel, as if calling it “natural gas” were perfectly neutral and factual. But this is actually a disputed term. Many environmentalists say it contributes to harmful “greenwashing,” since the word “natural” makes the gas sound harmless and clean. In reality, “natural” gas is highly artificial, since it requires intensive industrial processing before it’s usable, and it’s still a fossil fuel, so burning it causes the release of carbon dioxide, just like with oil and coal.

But as a Capitalist institution the AP isn't allowed to acknowledge the causes of any social ills. Nor can it ever admit that what it strives for isn't "Neutrality" it's smoothing the edges off of the status quo. So instead of being able to examine why generational poverty amongst the black community is so rampant, they simply treat it like a force of nature -- "Black" like Gravity.

9 comments

Newsflash: AP strives for neutrality, sometimes makes missteps that bring derision from all directions, highlighting the successful effort to maintain neutrality.
- This isn't neutral at all.
  There are more specific issues, too. In its entry for “methane,” the Stylebook accepts the term “natural gas” for methane-based fuel, as if calling it “natural gas” were perfectly neutral and factual. But this is actually a disputed term. Many environmentalists say it contributes to harmful “greenwashing,” since the word “natural” makes the gas sound harmless and clean. In reality, “natural” gas is highly artificial, since it requires intensive industrial processing before it’s usable, and it’s still a fossil fuel, so burning it causes the release of carbon dioxide, just like with oil and coal.
  But as a Capitalist institution the AP isn't allowed to acknowledge the causes of any social ills. Nor can it ever admit that what it strives for isn't "Neutrality" it's smoothing the edges off of the status quo. So instead of being able to examine why generational poverty amongst the black community is so rampant, they simply treat it like a force of nature -- "Black" like Gravity.
  
  Oh wow, it's almost like
  Sometimes makes missteps
- Newsflash: It's impossible to be neutral, since defining what's neutral involves some form of bias from whose defining.
  
  Newsflash: that doesn't mean it's useless to make the effort