AP Announces It Will Capitalize Black But Not White

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
Jul. 20, 2020

The associated press (ap) announced Monday that it will capitalize the word "black" but not "white."

From the ap, "AP says it will capitalize Black but not white":

After changing its usage rules last month to capitalize the word "Black" when used in the context of race and culture, The Associated Press on Monday said it would not do the same for "white."

The AP said white people in general have much less shared history and culture, and don’t have the experience of being discriminated against because of skin color.

Protests following the death of George Floyd, which led to discussions of policing and Confederate symbols, also prompted many news organizations to examine their own practices and staffing. The Associated Press, whose Stylebook is widely influential in the industry, announced June 19 it would make Black uppercase.

I'm thinking I should stop capitalizing "ap" because they're no longer a real journalism outlet.

In some ways, the decision over "white" has been more ticklish. The National Association of Black Journalists and some Black scholars have said white should be capitalized, too.

"We agree that white people's skin color plays into systemic inequalities and injustices, and we want our journalism to robustly explore these problems," John Daniszewski, the AP's vice president for standards, said in a memo to staff Monday. "But capitalizing the term white, as is done by white supremacists, risks subtly conveying legitimacy to such beliefs."

Journalism.txt.

White people only have a "shared history and culture" when they're being accused of oppressing PoCs through their "white privilege."

Columbia Journalism Review, the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, NBC News and Chicago Tribune are among the organizations that have recently said they would capitalize Black but have not done so for white.

"White doesn't represent a shared culture and history in the way Black does," The New York Times said on July 5 in explaining its decision.

As the New York Post reported Saturday, the family which owns the new york times were slaveholders.

A word-scan of their articles published over the last decade or so clearly shows policing anti-blackness is not their main concern.

The ap continues:

CNN, Fox News and The San Diego Union-Tribune said they will give white the uppercase, noting it was consistent with Black, Asian, Latino and other ethnic groups. Fox cited NABJ's advice.

CBS News said it would capitalize white, although not when referring to white supremacists, white nationalists or white privilege.

On Thursday, the AP Stylebook recommend journos use "gender-neutral language" and replace words such as "man-made" with "human-made" and "mankind" with "humankind."

Some examples from our guidance on gender-neutral language: Instead of the word mankind, try; humanity, humankind, humans, human beings, people. Instead of man-made: human-made, human-caused, artificial, synthetic. Host, not hostess. Hero, not heroine. Firefighter, not fireman.
— APStylebook (@APStylebook) July 16, 2020

Earlier this year, as BLM rioters were engaged in widespread looting the AP put out a statement telling everyone to refer to the looters as "protesters" who "stole whatever."

Feels like a good time to post AP’s guidance on the word looting: pic.twitter.com/hjxQWbSYAx
— Kimberlee Kruesi (@kkruesi) May 31, 2020

This is what now passes for "journalism."

Everything printed must serve the narrative and anything which goes against the narrative must be buried or ignored.

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