SF Chronicle bans 'progressive', will use 'far left' or 'ultra liberal' instead

[Newsjock]

Source: San Francisco Bay Guardian

Audrey Cooper, assistant metro editor of the Chronicle/Hearst, has admitted that the Chronicle "has decided to stop using the word 'progressive' to describe the more liberal of San Francisco's political factions."

... Here's the email Cooper sent me this afternoon responding to questions from the Bruce blog and the Guardian.

... We decided to stop using the word 'progressive' to describe the more liberal of San Francisco's political factions because it is a politically loaded term that doesn't mean much to our readers. And while 'progressive' may be the preferred term of some politicians — and, of course, they are free to use it to describe themselves — it doesn't describe where they sit on the traditional political spectrum.

We believe using adjectives such as 'far left' and 'ultra liberal' more accurately describe city politicians and policies in that broader context.

Read more: http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/bruce/2008/08/extra_hearst_blacks_out_the_wo.html

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

1. Oh, really?

Can we just describe "conservatives" as "assholes" and "dipshits" now?

[liberal1973]

23. I already do that

[truebrit71]

24. How about Fascists and Nazis to descrive the conservatives?

I mean, if we want ot talk about "accuracy" and all that....:eyes:

[Matariki]

42. How about 'Far fascist' or 'Ultra-Nazi'?

LOL

[davidinalameda]

2. in my humble opinion

fuck the Bay Guardian

until I see confirmation from a more reliable source, I'm not going to buy this

it may be true but the Bay Guardian isn't the most reliable and honest source

the paper has its own agenda

[xfundy]

5. Hold on to yer hat, there

think maybe it was a "joke"? The SFBG has been known to do that from time to time.

Brugman, Dammit!

[EFerrari]

6. That's very true. It has a progressive agenda. n/t

[davidinalameda]

26. it has a moonbat agenda

very far left

I'd be surprised to see if it endorses Pelosi over Cindy Sheehan for congress

and I'm sure it endorsed Chris Daly's takeover of the city Democratic Central Committee

wasn't one of his threats that the Bay Guardian won't endorse anyone that voted against Peskin for committee chair?

[EFerrari]

27. Maybe you should suggest to Rosie that he use moonbat

instead of progressive.

And if you think I'm going to bother to argue with you about my friend Chris Daly, you must be really bored.

[davidinalameda]

44. you're known by the company you keep

and if you keep company with Chris Daly, that speaks volumes about you

Chris Daly is one of the reasons that San Francisco is in as poor shape as it is

[EFerrari]

46. LOL.

:hi:

[Luminous Animal]

8. And the Chronicle doesn't have an agenda?

The Bay Guardian is quite honest about theirs. But while you are making accusations about "reliable" and "honest", how about you provide actual evidence to the contrary.

By the way the Chronicle has already used the term "ultra-liberal"...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/15/BAFM12BBFN.DTL&hw=ultra+liberal&sn=002&sc=766

[EFerrari]

9. This is the same Chronicle that smeared Kevin Shelley,

tried to start up with Debra Bowen along the same lines, that continues to pretend Newsom's done squat about homelessness. When he wanted to foist the same failing voting machines that Chicago threw away, they went right along with him. The same Chronicle that hounds Chris for his wacky affordable housing projects and for trying to make it safe for sex workers to report assault and rape.

Yeah, that Chronicle.

[Luminous Animal]

10. It is embarrassing that a city like this...

has a newspaper like that.

[Runcible Spoon]

3. uhuh, yeah 'far left' and 'ultra liberal' sound SO much less "politically loaded"

:crazy: They can quibble about the historical semantics of the terms, but the fact of the matter is there is a generally accepted understanding of "progressive" and it's a FUCK of a lot more "palatable" in MSM than "far left" and "ultra liberal". Progressive=Obama, even though he is actually moderate. Far/Ultra left: PETA and Noam Chomsky. That's how the media currently categorized things.

Are they gonna start calling conservatives, who are in actuality mostly neoconservatives, "far right" or "ultra right"? Where is the frenzied debate on that one?

[XemaSab]

12. From the vantage point of the Bay Area "far left" and "ultra liberal"

are ALF and William Ayres, whereas PETA and Chomsky are practically mainstream thought. :P

[SteveM]

16. Actually, there are three branches of the American right:

The Right, the Far Right, and the Shit-in-your-pants-and-go-to-heaven Right.

[GreenPartyVoter]

36. Indeed

[EFerrari]

4. I'm going to stop using the word "newspaper", then.

lol

[tsuki]

14. Great. What will we call them? You're better at this than I am, but

I'll follow your lead.

[EFerrari]

17. "Litter" is kind of generic. "Fishwrap" is my favorite but there's a case

for birdcage liner and puppy diapers.

[a la izquierda]

38. Barf-catcher.

That's what we used papers for in my house. My dog always gives us warning, so we kept the Oklahoman nearby. Anyone who's familiar knows it's an extremely conservative piece of crap. Finally cancelled it when I promised my husband the local paper had a good sports section and coupons.

[EFerrari]

39. That works! An all in one kit!

:)

[hvn_nbr_2]

18. Ministry of Truth bulletin, propaganda rag, cage liner, fish wrap... nt

[DCKit]

7. "Journalistic integrity and profit be damned, we've got a political agenda." n/t

[VOX]

11. "...['Progressive'] doesn't describe where [some politicians] sit on the...political spectrum..."

What absolute rubbish! :grr:

And I suppose that the broad-based term "conservative" works just fine for your paper to describe every far-right wing weirdo and nutcase, from PNAC-signatory neocons to the rapture-ready crowd; from warmongers to atavistic racists; from the golf-playing billionaires to the "God is on our side" freaks who writhed and chanted on the hospital lawn during the Terry Schiavo ordeal.

Get real, Guardian, you fish-wrap piece of sh**. :nuke:

[Duncan]

19. What you siad.

:mad:

[EFerrari]

41. The Chronicle is the offender. The Guardian is the alternative.

:hi:

[baby_mouse]

13. Newspeak.

It's so blatant, but why is the Bay saying the chronicle's saying it?

[billyoc]

15. The actual far left parties should sue them for libel.

:evilgrin:

[Selatius]

20. Can we call the San Francisco Bay Guardian "Pravda" now? It's a much shorter name, too. nt

[slackmaster]

21. It's a shame such a fine city doesn't have a decent major newspaper

:argh:

[liberal1973]

22. WTF? So they are gonna be like the AP

Look at their opinion. Preferred term? by whom? Faux news.

[moondust]

25. Uh, who decides?

Who declares what is "far left" and what is "ultra liberal" from one day to the next and whose scale will they be using? One supplied by Fox Noise perhaps?

[ColbertWatcher]

28. "to describe the more liberal of San Francisco's political factions."

LOL!

Well, I guess it is San Franciscans describing their own.

But, still.

[EFerrari]

30. I don't know that it is us describing us.

I don't think Rosenthal is from here and the paper isn't locally owned.

The Chronicle has had a long feud with the actual liberals on the Board of Supervisors. This is just the last chapter of their juvenile cr@p.

[ColbertWatcher]

31. Oh, then I take it all back! Bastards. n/t

[EFerrari]

32. It is funny in a way that here they have to come up with new terms

to describe "liberal", though, because "progressive" and "liberal" are too tame. lol

[ColbertWatcher]

33. Which was my point.

But, I assumed the Chronicle was locally owned/operated, etc.

[EFerrari]

35. The Bay Guardian is as close as we get.

They've done good things, too. When I was more active in homelessness advocacy, one of their reporters used to call me up and tip me that Newsom was doing another roust in the dead of night again.

I met Brugman once at a SPJ meeting where we gave a little presentation about a column we were doing in the local homeless paper. It was probably his idea to invite us. He's a good guy.

[ljm2002]

29. Sooo, instead of "social conservative" (for example)...

...they will now use the terms "far right" and "reactionary" ... right? RIGHT???

Assholes.

Of course what they are really doing, is trying to smear those with liberal leanings. Using "far left" smacks of calling them commies, and "ultra liberal" of course just says they are extremist in their views.

[GreenPartyVoter]

37. ooh! Email that to them

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

34. I'll start referring to their product as "litter box liners" instead

More of that darn devil librul medya in action again

[Blue_In_AK]

40. Oh for heaven's sakes.

More media framing. And the Chronicle at that. I'm appalled.

[Aristus]

43. To hell with the Chronicle. It's a rag. Read the Gate instead.

n/t

[Dr Fate]

45. Wow-I didnt know Wyldwolf worked for the Chronicle.

I keed! I keed!

But seriously- I've watched the DLC types use this same approach for a couple of years now.

The problem is, once a left leaning moderate takes issue with a "liberal" who holds the microphone- he is brnaded "far left", etc.

I remember when DU's own DLC sympathisers accused me of being "far left" just for being opposed to the war, or for saying that DEMS should accuse Bush of lying. I can see something similar coming from the Chronicle...

These labels lose their meaning when they are merely used as a tool to separate conservative or right-to-moderate DEMS from anyone who disagrees with them.

[dionysus]

47. ROFL ROFL ROFL

:spray:

[EFerrari]

48. It's crap. We know who is on our side and who shows up for wine tasting.

Chris Daly is much maligned here. This is my Chris Daly story, or one of them.

I managed to put together a fundrasier for the Homeless Coalition and got EVERYTHING donated. Talent -- comics, musicians, it was so beautiful. Restaurants donated food for the greenroom. Craig Newmark came and he HATES public speaking.

Daly's office told me he had to cancel because his wife was in labor. Okay.

So I'm sitting at the Great American Music Hall and Chris bounces into the place. He said she'd slowed down a little so he decided to come anyway. (He actually said she wasn't "progressing", lol.)

He didn't know me from Adam at the time but he came here as a community organizer and especially one that advocated for poor people.

So, if my choice is between language nazis at the Chronicle that are trying to slow down liberals in San Francisco or even between the real limo libs and Chris Daly, it's so much a no-brainer for me.

[Dr Fate]

49. You should tell Cant trust em that story.

A DUer and great pal who is a huge Daly backer.

He is in red states campaigning for Obama right now, so he may not be DUing at present...

[EFerrari]

50. I was wondering where CTE has been. That's great.

:)