The stabbing in Sydney is awful, and I don't want to detract from the trauma.
The phrasing in a CNN article about it, though, shows how bizarre media standards are when it comes to talking about cause and effect.
Referring to the officer who arrived first:
She shot the offender when he raised a knife at her.
“She discharged her firearm, and that person is now deceased,” Cooke said.
🤨
I use such evasive writing in my classes, though, so kudos to the media for that!
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/13/australia/australia-multiple-people-stabbed-intl-hnk/index.html
@MLClark Ah, yes. Cop writing.
That way, the media can feel like they're reporting accurately on the story while simultaneously removing the actor (the police) from any agency in the situation. Often the cops write the copy and the media just uncritically publishes it. It's quite popular around here and exceedingly vexing.
@MLClark Re "evasive writing" ... I was just thinking about my police dispatch days, how we used "evasive" language on the air when we didn't want anyone monitoring our radio to know we were responding to something truly awful. We didn't want the press swarming onto a homicide scene. (But they knew our codes anyway ...)