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Political Agenda

Words set agendas. Sometimes in ways we don't even notice. Recently, there have been a number of examples. Reports claimed that President Bush had cut short his holiday so he could sign into law a bill to "save Terri Schiavo". Equally accurately, he returned to sign a law to keep a dead woman's corpse artificially breathing against her stated wishes. The position of anti-abortion groups is described as "right to life". The intelligence used to justify the Iraq invasion is frequently referred to as "flawed" when the intelligence was correct, until politicians removed all the uncertainties and qualifications. I could go on.

By unthinkingly using language that favours one side of a debate, the media biases that debate. If politicians are to be held to account for their actions, it is essential that the media does not allow them to set the agenda by their choice of terms.

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