My e-mail to KUHF, public radio in Houston....re: "Democrat lawmakers"

[Richardo]

Background is self-explanatory...


Dear Ms. Fraser <Debra Fraser, Station Manager>:

I was listening this morning to Jim Bell's 7:30 local news break when I heard a reference to "Democrat lawmakers" in one of his stories - it might have been the one about Rep. DeLay resisting a subpoena to testify in the Texas redistricting matter.

I am not sure what the KUHF style sheet says about the usage for the names of the political parties, but historically, the prevailing usage has "Democrat" as the noun and "Democratic" as the adjective.

The use of "Democrat" as an adjective is a recent development identified with right-wing media such as Fox News and AM talk radio, and some Republican public officials who take their cues from Roger Ailes and Karl Rove. I strongly object this usage, especially on publicly-subsidized media such as KUHF.

I, and the listening public who support NPR and KUHF, expect and deserve public radio that maintains strict objectivity in its news coverage. Please leave the overt bias to the masters on the AM dial and continue your largely even-handed coverage of the news.

Thank you,

Rich(ardo)

[Love Bug]

1. Excellent letter!

Well said! I've noticed this trend, too--I'm going to start making some calls to my local media when this happens.

[Another Bill C.]

2. My style books,

(Chicago Manual of Style and AP Style Book), as well as my dictionaries, don't directly address this but are consistent in using Democratic as the adjective form when discussing capitalization.