Washington Times Plans To Ape NY Times

From the District’s Washington City Paper:

Washington Times “Scare Quotes” Are History

Posted by Erik Wemple on Feb. 25, 2008

John Solomon took over the Washington Times on Jan. 28.

But he arrived today, via a message from the paper’s copy operation.

The news, in short: No more scare quotes.

Longtime Washington Times readers know well what this is all about: Under the regime of Wesley Pruden, the Times, unwilling to acknowledge anything so radical and immoral as gay marriage, treated the term in its pages as gay “marriage.”

Likewise other terms. In the old Washington Times, there were no illegal immigrants, just “illegal aliens”; no gays, just “homosexuals.”

Now comes the following memo from the Solomon regime, wiping out this legacy in one flick of the wrist:

All:

Here are some recent updates to TWT style.

1) Clinton will be the headline word for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

2) Gay is approved for copy and preferred over homosexual, except in clinical references or references to sexual activity.

3) The quotation marks will come off gay marriage (preferred over homosexual marriage).

4) Moderate is approved, but centrist is still allowed.

5) We will use illegal immigrants, not illegal aliens.

What a big ‘mistake.’

Furthermore, wasn’t their former way more accurate? And isn’t that a goal of journalism, to be as accurate as possible?

For whatever homosexual ‘marriages’ are, they are not marriages in the usual sense of the word.

Similarly, the problem the country faces is not a problem with “illegal immigrants.” That would more accurately describe folks who want to come to this country with the full intention of becoming citizens — but who have somehow screwed up the process.

No, the problem is with “illegal aliens.”

But the most troubling aspect of this is that this follows the editorial change once the great Abe Rosenthal stepped down (or rather, was forced out) as the editor of the New York Times.

And we all know what has happened to them.

Can we not have at least one national newspaper that ’speaks truth to power’?