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Friday, June 3, 2005

Language Matters in Politics, and Fact-Checking Matters in Journalism

Two slightly unrelated items (both involve communication):

This good essay by Andrew C. McCarthy is about the "gang of fourteen" who agreed to dodge the recent Senate fight over filibusters, but it is of more general interest for its attention to the language of modern politics.

This Daily Herald article is about the building of Lowe's and Costco stores on the Lehi border near American Fork, which required some wrangling between the two cities over borders and such. The story includes this sentence:

Powell joked that Lehi Mayor Ted Barratt "went to bat with the mayor of American Fork, literally with a bat, I think," to allow Lehi to annex a small section of land that divided one side of the project between two cities.

Powell here is Peter Powell, a developer. Ted Barratt is the mayor of American Fork, not Lehi. This raises the question, Which mayor took the bat to whom?

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