AP goes Catholic bashing again
I was just reading this AP article over at the “International Herald Tribune”, whatever that is. It got me to thinking. Now if I were to tell you that I was “taking up” Spanish, what would you assume from that statement? It might lead you to believe that I was trying to learn Spanish, maybe that I was trying to become a Spanish speaker. EIther way, it would probably mean that I was trying to create some association with the Spanish language. Right? Well then what you think of the sensational headline of the article I’ve linked above when you knew it read “World’s Roman Catholic bishops to take up anti-Semitism at 2008 meeting”.
What indeed….
The story of course goes on to talk about how a synod of Bishops next year will discuss way to fight anti-Semitism. But, how many times do you think this AP story has sown up in print, on the internet or in some other form of media? How many times do you think someone saw it and only read the headline? (chuckle chuckle, those crazy Catholics…there ought to be a law!)
Wouldn’t it have been more accurate to say, “World’s Roman Catholic bishops to take on anti-Semitism at 2008 meeting”? But that’s not as sensational. We all know that sensation is what sells the news.
April 30th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
[…] AP goes Catholic bashing again […]
April 30th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
You must not go to a lot of meetings. They always take up the next item on the agenda. Any time you read about a group taking something up at a meeting, it means they’re going to talk about it. I think you’re looking for something to be offended about here, and finding it somewhere where there’s nothing.
April 30th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
NM - I see your point, but it took you to point it out to me. I know full well that they did not intend to make it look like the Catohlic bishops look like anti-semites. But, it’s still sloppy journalism in my opinon. My main fear in this headline is that it would be used by those that have an anti-catholic agenda to make it look like the Catholic bishops are anti-semetic. Don’t tell me for a second that you can’t see that happening.
And I have to say this again, I was not offended by this headline. If I was offended every time some bashed the faith of my Church….If I turned red int eh face and got all flustered everytime that happened, I would have had a heart attack a long time ago.
April 30th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Frankly, I have a lot of trouble imagining that people might misunderstand the headline. Groups who “take up” things aren’t adopting them; they’re discussing them, studying them, examining them. The usage you are hung up on refers only to individuals. Think for a minute: is someone going to read “Congress takes up welfare” and think that either the Congress as a whole or its individual members are going on welfare? Is someone going to read “council takes up wiring” and think that the members of the council are going to become electricians?
April 30th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
NM - Like I said, I see your point. I just disagree with it. It all depends on the perception of the person reading the headline. If they see the word “Catholic Bishops” and think of a group of Church leaders gathered to discuss the issues that face the Church, then they would probably think things along the line of what you are saying. If however they think of Catholic Bishops as “those guys in pointy hats that let the child abuse scandal occur”, as the media often portrays them then their perception of what that headline means might be a little different. Let’s say the headline was “Convicts take up racism”. The initial thought is that they are dividing themselves up along racial lines and probably fighting across those lines. What if they were really getting together to work out differences caused by racial divides? A headline is supposed to be short, but it’s also supposed to be clear and concise. That’s my point. It’s like the use of the word “flap” that’s used with more regularity in headlines now. What does it mean. Don’t get me wrong, I can guess what it means and I would probably be write. But that guess would be based on the context I see it in in headlines. “Flap”….Who says that? If the answer is no one, then why does it keep ending up in headlines.