I don’t mean those brave people who douse blazes and rescue us from distress. I mean the term ‘firemen’. Many readers object to gender specific terms for occupations. Erika thoughtfully drew to our attention an instance where for the sake of brevity in a headline we used ‘firemen’ when we should have used ‘firefighters.’ Although other news agencies suggest that ‘firemen’ is acceptable when space is at premium, as in a newspaper headline, the Reuters style guide says we should use firefighters at all times.
Are we being over scrupulous and politically correct? I don’t think so. While we do not euphemise we also avoid giving unnecessary offence. At Reuters we use standard language, which of course evolves over time. So where we would once have written ‘workmen’ we now write ‘workers’ and where in the past postmen delivered mail we now reflect the opening of many professions to women by writing ‘postal workers’. Some prefer ‘chair’ to describe the person in charge of a company’s board; we prefer ‘chairman’ or ‘chairwoman’.
Language is not fixed in stone, which is why we welcome debate with our audience. Many of you write to editor@reuters.com when you spot errors or object to our handling of a story. We post the responses on the Good, the Bad and the Ugly blog. You can also leave comment on this blog. A good recent example of where reader comment prompted me to question our handling of a story was the use of the tag ‘elephant man’ to describe a Chinese man having a huge, life-threatening tumour removed from his face. The ‘elephant man’ reference is to the David Lynch film of the life of John Merrick. But at no point in our story did we refer to Merrick and his horrible facial disfigurement. Arguably our reference became an insensitive cultural allusion. Arguably it was also wrong. Huang Chuncai was suffering from neurofibromatosis. Recent research suggests Merrick was afflicted by Proteus syndrome, a rare disorder identified less than 30 years ago.
Sean Maguire is Editor, Political and General News
Photo: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger thanks U.S. Forest Service Firefighter Kristin Brownlee for her efforts on the Angora Fire at South Lake Tahoe High School in California June 27, 2007. REUTERS/Max Whittaker
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3 comments so far
“Some prefer chair to describe the person in charge of a companys board; we prefer chairman or chairwoman.”
I am commenting on this particular snippet as many people dont realise the true meaning of the word ‘chairman’. The title of ‘chairman’ is an abbreviation. The full name for the ‘chairman’ is in fact ‘chairmanager’ but that is a little bit of a mouthful and so it was shortened to ‘chairman’. Thus demands ‘chairwoman’ be used make little sense when ‘chairman’ is not a gender dependant title. It is like Nurse, Accountant or Receptionist, Not Fireman, Policeman, Postman or even Superman for that matter.
- Posted by KFSo why then are they still called ‘linesman’ at Reuters rather than ‘referee’s assistant’?
- Posted by erikMaybe because linesman is an abbreviation for line manager?
Even if it is not, I don’t think women are actually allowed to be “referee assistants” in male football (soccer). So the term shouldn’t offend here. The question is what are they (or should they be) called in female football, lineswomen?
- Posted by Dastarblazer