Helping a news organization change how it uses language of abuse

Jane Stevens 2/9/1210:30 AM

A headline in yesterday's Salisbury (NC) Post read: “Mother finds daughter performing sex act on man staying in home.” The girl is 11 years old.

After Poynter.org's associate editor Mallary Jean Tenore reached out to the newspaper's editor, Elizabeth Cook, the headline now reads: "Mother finds man sexually assaulting daughter".

Tenore described how the news organization decided to change the headline and how it reported the assault in her post: "The grammar of assault: Salisbury paper learns why 'performing a sex act' misrepresents the crime".

It's an interesting read. If you see inappropriate headlines or coverage of child trauma, you can let Tenore or me know.

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Comments (2)

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Chris EngelMember

Couldn't agree more with everything you said, Dr. Anda!

There's another good source from NOMAS on how we all need to change the language we use:

The Importance of Using Accountable Language

"Like all tools of oppression, unaccountable language is conditioned into our psyches, taught and learned as appropriate vocabulary and in socially acceptable sentence structure."

http://www.nomas.org/node/251

2/13/125:44 PM

Robert AndaMember

Words are important! As I write, travel, and speak about these kinds of issues I find that he language around abuse, trauma, and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can be difficult to express clearly. Terms like stress, trauma, abuse, maltreatment, etc can have different meanings to different people depending on their own experience, backgrounds, and training. My hope is that the language will become more unified and transparent.

2/12/127:26 AM

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