WATCH: How Do Certain 51吃瓜s Make Things Seem Less Trustworthy?
by Ashley Austrew
What is a 辫辞蝉蝉颈产濒别听hate crime? A听possible sexual assault? A possible terrorist attack?
Crime-related news is often reported in the media using tentative language鈥�like the word possible鈥�that makes it seem as if there is room for doubt as to whether or not a crime was actually committed. But in many instances, either through video, photos, or the victim’s own words and evidence, it is obvious to everyone that a crime was definitely committed.
So, why do journalists keep using the word听possible?
For many years, a common word journalists used in crime reporting was 补濒濒别驳别.听 To allege听means “to assert something without proof,” especially when a person has been accused of or arrested for, but not legally听 convicted of, some crime.
But, the Columbia Journalism Review stated in 2009 that allege was being misused. As the review explains, alleged听is, in this context,听, and “calling someone ‘an alleged thief’ is all but saying ‘we know you did it.'”听
The Associated Press (AP) Stylebook, moreover, cautions that journalists should avoid any suggestion that they are personally making an allegation or accusation. For this reason, the to instead听use words like 补辫辫补谤别苍迟,听ostensible,听辞谤听reputed. P辞蝉蝉颈产濒别听is also a similar qualifier in this vein, and it likely evolved from those instructions.
What does听possible mean?
Journalists use a qualifier like possible听for information that is unconfirmed or claims that are unproven.听Possible听comes from the Latin听
possibilis, “that may be done,” in turn from the verb posse, “to be able.” Recorded in English by the late 1300s,听possible听more generally describes something “
that may or can be, exist, happen, or be done.”
But, the adjective has evolved to imply that something may or may not be true鈥�and that’s why many people find听possible problematic when it’s used in regard to crimes.
When actor Jussie Smollet, for instance, was hospitalized in late January 2019, many people were outraged when media outlets reported on the attack as a “possible hate crime.”
Prayers for healing for Jussie.
Vice…do better. Y鈥檃ll really tried it with this headline. It is INSANE that journalists are more afraid to call the most obvious display of racism 鈥榬acism.鈥�
— Darien LaBeach 鈥� he.him.his (@dlabeach)
Smollet said attackers yelled racist and homophobic slurs as they beat him, poured chemicals on him, and wrapped a noose around his neck, as if lynching him. Many headlines that used the word possible, though,听included quotation marks because they were directly quoting police, who said they were as a possible hate crime.
Still, reporters often use听possible to describe acts of crime even when not quoting police, such as when reporting in early January 2019 that a woman in a vegetative state gave birth at an Arizona healthcare facility near the end of December 2018. Many outlets reported the woman was a victim of a “possible sexual assault.”
Police investigating possible sexual assault after woman in coma for 14 years gives birth: report
— The Hill (@thehill)
Libel is to blame
The main reason that journalists use language like possible is to avoid being sued for libel.听Libel听is “defamation by written or printed words or photos.” (Slander is the spoken equivalent.) Writing that someone committed a crime, for instance, when they didn’t, is bad because such false statements can damage a person’s reputation鈥攁nd even their livelihood.Libel听is something journalists must always be cautious to avoid. When journalists are reporting on a crime, they often are stating what has appeared in an official report or has been told to them by police. Unless a person has been formally convicted of a crime, a journalist cannot take an accusation and state it as undisputed fact. As First Amendment scholar David L. Hudson Jr. wrote for the Freedom Forum Institute in 2002, “individuals possess a right not to be subjected to falsehoods that impugn their character.”
Nevertheless, there are many who feel that journalists’ use of language like听possible is too timid or passive, that is, it’s not actively or aggressively calling out wrongdoing. This complaint is especially directed incidents听of racism, homophobia, transphobia, and sexual violence.
In the case of the victim who gave birth while in a vegetative state, the woman was physically incapable of consenting to sexual contact. How else could she have given birth, then, if someone didn’t rape her? To say she was “possibly raped” or “possibly sexually assaulted” seems to cast doubt on what the victim experienced rather than signaling, as is usually intended, that many details of the case were still unknown.
Similarly, some outlets wrote that Smollet was a 听rather than saying it was outright racist. For many, this language came across as unwillingness to call out racist violence.
Journalists, can we PLEASE BAN the following terms:
"Racially-charged" is racist.
"Alt-right" is white supremacist.
"Gender bias" is sexism.
"Anti-Muslim" is Islamophobic.
There's no "possible hate crime" when people of color/LGBTQ are being attacked by folks who use slurs.— Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens)
How do we stop downplaying racism, violence, and hatred?
Journalists may use terms like racially charged听and听 alt-right听because they fear that calling someone听racist could constitute libel, which is itself a crime.
But, the AP itself has taken the position that听听in reporting because “it is meant as a euphemism to disguise racist aims.” The AP Stylebook instructs:…when writing on extreme groups, be precise and provide evidence to support the characterization. Report their actions, associations, history and positions to reveal their actual beliefs and philosophy, as well as how others see them.And so, while journalists need to rely on words like听possible in crime reporting so they don’t publish false or unestablished information, it is critically important in today’s culture,听amid the threat of misinformation and growing respect for marginalized identities,听to assess when our language qualifies information鈥�and when it diminishes a victim’s credibility or the severity of a crime. We should correct and clarify that language when necessary.
Having an objective and impartial media is indispensable, but it should never come at the expense of recognizing racism and other forms of violence and hatred. Not for what they possibly are, but what they really are.
Ashley Austrew is a freelance writer from Omaha, Nebraska. Her work has been published at Cosmopolitan, Scary Mommy, Scholastic, and other outlets.For more by听Ashley, read: “Why Can’t Women Swear?” | “Is It Time For All Couples To Use The Term听“Partner”?听| “Is “Crude” The Right 51吃瓜 To Use To Describe Someone’s Language?”听| “What Does It Mean To Be Electable?”听| “Has The 51吃瓜 ‘Expert’ Lost Its Meaning In 2019?”
