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Critical Thinking: Are Newspapers Wrong in Downplaying Vulgar Language in Print? </h1>
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<div class="gmail-feature-author">By:
<a href="https://www.editorandpublisher.com/author/jruiz/" title="Posts by Jesus Ruiz" rel="author">Jesus Ruiz</a></div>
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<p><a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CriticalThinking-Web-march-2018.jpg" title=""><img class="gmail-aligncenter gmail-size-large gmail-wp-image-187488" src="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CriticalThinking-Web-march-2018-1024x717.jpg" alt="CriticalThinking-march-2018" width="660" height="462"></a></p>
<p><strong>When President Trump used the word “shithole” recently, some
newspapers decided not to run the word in print or used edited versions.
Were newspapers wrong in downplaying the vulgarity?</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Kellie-Chudzinski_web.jpg" title=""><img class="gmail-alignleft gmail-size-thumbnail gmail-wp-image-187222" src="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Kellie-Chudzinski_web-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150"></a>Kellie Chudzinski, 21, junior, Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles, Calif.)</strong></p>
<p><em>Chudzinski is editor-in-chief at the </em>Los Angeles Loyolan<em>, the student-run newspaper of Loyola Marymount University and is a communications major.</em></p>
<p>After the <em>Washington Post</em> reported that Donald Trump
referred to African nations, Haiti and El Salvador as “shithole
countries,” in a conversation with senators at the White House, another
Trump-media-firestorm began. Media outlets, both digital and broadcast,
had to decide on publishing or broadcasting Trump’s reported remarks,
with some abstaining. For organizations that chose to not use the word, a
great disservice was done to readers.</p>
<p>While I understand the concern of editors not wanting to print
unnecessary vulgarity for their readers, ultimately, the reported
comments are integral to understanding the situation and the views of
the president. It does not benefit readers to sugarcoat real language
and conversations. It shouldn’t be an editorial decision to report the
president’s remarks, but rather how to use them and not to be careless
with them and perpetuate a problem in itself.</p>
<p>The words we use matter. The words used by the president of the
United States in an Oval Office meeting, on immigration with senators,
matters. Language is of the utmost importance in the immigration policy
decisions and legislation he is discussing.</p>
<p>News media has been tasked, especially recently, with not only
reporting accurately and responsibly what is happening for record, but
also of connecting what has happened to past and showing pattern of
behavior and how that connects more broadly to society. It should always
be the goal of journalists to inform unequivocally, there is no way to
report accurately by abbreviating comments of this nature. Knowledge is
power—to make informed decisions in our society being provided with the
information available is crucial. To downplay the comments or only
explain them in the context of a president using vulgarity is misleading
because his views do play a larger role in the way in which he will
move forward with legislation and policy.</p>
<p>It is important not to get wrapped up in the turmoil from one comment
coming from the president, but rather focus on the actual policy coming
from the administration, and if and when it deserves scrutiny, then
give it hell.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Joel-Christopher_web.jpg" title=""><img class="gmail-alignleft gmail-wp-image-187221 gmail-size-thumbnail" src="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Joel-Christopher_web-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150"></a></p>
<p><strong>Joel Christopher</strong><strong>, 46, executive editor, <em>Louisville</em> (Ky.) <em>Courier Journal</em></strong></p>
<p><em>Christopher has served as executive editor in Louisville since
December 2016, and in various editing roles in the USA TODAY NETWORK
since 2001.</em><strong> </strong></p>
<p>Without question, newspapers that declined to spell out shithole
erred in downplaying the vulgarity. It’s puzzling to see journalists
scrubbing words of their impact.</p>
<p>The president himself explicitly defines himself in contrast to other
political figures, and his explicit language is part of that
distinction. His base’s loyalty is rooted in his fearlessness about
speaking in a way unlike any other public official, so to enfeeble this
particular word runs counter to Donald Trump’s own carefully crafted
message and persona.</p>
<p>This particular word, too, carried such a connotative shock to the
conscience of some who heard the president use it that it derailed the
immigration deal that was under discussion. The events that followed,
including the government shutdown, demonstrated just how powerfully the
word landed. To convey the full impact it’s important for the reader to
experience it much like those in the room who heard it experienced it.</p>
<p>This wasn’t George W. Bush calling Adam Clymer a “major league
asshole” in front of a hot mic. This wasn’t Joe Biden telling President
Obama, also in range of an open mic, “This is a big fucking deal.” This
was the president of the United States using derogatory language to
characterize nations and peoples in an open conversation that included a
high-ranking member of the opposition party.</p>
<p>We too often underestimate our readers and their tolerance for
absorbing profanity, vulgarity and obscenity that’s contextually
presented.</p>
<p>When you delve into the fracture points in our society, they are
around issues and ideologies and values that often grind against one
another over word choice.</p>
<p>We owe it to our reverence for language and passion for truth in its full context to let words speak for themselves.</p></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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