Reuters’ “Scare” “Quotes”
November 16, 2003 15:11 by ManagingTeamEach of the following two lines began Nov. 15 Reuters articles. Note which one gets scare quotes, distancing the news agency from the statement from the very start of the article:
From Many Britons Think Bush is Stupid :
More than one in three Britons think George W. Bush is stupid and a majority branded the U.S. president a threat to world peace, opinion poll results published have shown .
From Israel Denounces Blasts at Istanbul Synogogues :
Israel denounced blasts at Istanbul synagogues that killed at least 20 people on Saturday as “terrorist attacks” and said it was confident Turkey would find those responsible.
………….
Alan Jacobs on scare quotes:
Scare quotes have two functions, the first of which is quite straightforward: They allow their users very easily to express incredulity about, and often contempt for, the views of their political opponents. But they also allow those users to avoid the hard work of thinking up their own descriptions of events or people or ideas. And they’re parasitic: They suck all their nourishment from the host words, contributing nothing of their own.
Comments to: editor@reuters.com
batesline.com
6:56 am
Mar 16, 2004
More about “scare quotes”
Oklahoma City blogger Charles G. Hill over at Dustbury http://www.dustbury.com/archives/002387.html>linked to my item about scare quotes in the District 4 City Council race. His first paragraph links to an example of Reuters’ use of scare quotes, and t…
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dustbury.com
6:59 am
May 30, 2005
We’re just saying
So-called “scare quotes” are a useful rhetorical tool, put to use when you’d just as soon distance yourself from what’s being said. Reuters, an international “news agency,” has a reputation…
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