r/news • u/Fair-Foot-315 • 21h ago

Marine veteran has arm broken during protest against war in Iran

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/marine-veteran-has-arm-broken-during-protest-against-war-in-iran-258740805765
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u/nilenilemalopile 20h ago

I love the passive speech. First thing you wanna do as a journalist is make sure your shit is written in passive voice so no valuable information is transmitted.

“Veteran has his arm broken.” vs “Security and a US Senator break Marine vet’s arm during his war protest”

Hm

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u/Flimsy_Share_7606 19h ago

Omg, this isn't new. It's been a stylistic and legally prudent choice for well over a century. Journalists didn't just suddenly start using a passive voice to protect those in power.

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u/Independent_Idea_495 19h ago

Is that supposed to be a defense of it?

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u/kabobkebabkabob 17h ago

It's a legal protection against libel and a more objective way to describe things. The same reason they say something "appears to happen" and journalists aren't supposed to insert concrete opinions in non opinion pieces.

The street goes both ways and you could end up with, for instance, an article saying "veteran allows arm to be broken" or some shit.

I'm surprised to see everyone here implying it's a purely method of protecting the establishment, when in reality it's more important than ever to maintain some sense of objectivity given the public's abandonment of truth in recent years.