The Media's (mis)Use of Purported and Alleged
When there's a video, is there a need for doubt?
I can’t tell you how many times a day I see a headline that both conveys an established fact and doubt about that fact, all in one sentence. An allegation is an unsubstantiated statement. The same is true of purported, claimed, and other words we use when we write about something that is not proven.
More often than not, I suspect out of fear of litigation, media outlets inject an “allegation” here and a “purported” there, in order to escape real or (mostly) imagined legal liability.
In the case of KTLA’s article, they not only published portions of a video that was provided to them by a viewer, but they mention having received an additional one, as well, with footage of what the delivery driver left on the porch.
Over the last ten years, we’ve had many discussions about truth in reporting, alternative histories, alternative facts, as they relate to legal cases as well as reporting in the media. With something this trivial and straightforward, do we really need to inject caveats where none are needed?
Had this story been about a cat or dog visiting this homeowner’s porch would the words “purported” or “alleged” have appeared in this story?
I mean, really…
This reminds me of an American Scientific article I read recently:
Language Differences Control Your Brain’s Sentence-Prediction Habits
The brain’s response to information depends on language’s grammatical structure
Media organizations are rife with problems that have to do with bias, ownership and various other influences. This kind of thing, though emblematic, should not be one of them.
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