AP Tells Reporters Not To Use Word ‘Crisis’ About Boarder Situation
Hmm… When is a crisis not a crisis? When news organizations tell you so, apparently. Or at least, that’s what the Associated Press wants us to believe.
Fox News reported that the Associated Press agrees with President Biden’s White House that the situation along the U.S. southern border is not a “crisis,” and it instructed staffers not to use the dreaded c-word when reporting thousands of unaccompanied children have attempted to enter the country.
Journalist Julio Ricardo Varela tweeted a series of images from an internal memo the AP distributed warning staffers not to call the situation a crisis.
The subject line was “From the Standards Center: A note about the current increase in border entrances,” and the internal memo detailed why the AP felt the need to use “accurate and neutral language” in its coverage of the situation along the border.
It’s amazing how the AP suddenly finds itself concerned about neutrality.
One of the memo’s “tips” revolved around the word “crisis,” which the newsgathering service warned reporters not to use.
The memo read:
“The current events in the news – a sharp increase in the arrival of unaccompanied minors – is a problem for border officials, a political challenge for Biden and a dire situation for many migrants who make the journey, but it does not fit the classic dictionary definition of a crisis.”
“Therefore, we should avoid, or at least, be highly cautious, about referring to the present situation as a crisis on our own, although we may quote others using that language.”
