Does news media go overboard with use of "Alleged"? 2

[SantaMufasa]

On Headline News just now, the talking head said:

Additional alleged accusers of Jerry Sandusky's alleged acts against his alleged victims claim that Sandusky allegedly abused two additional alleged victims, allegedly referred to as victims "9" and "10".

What is this alledegly all about? Have we become so allegedly politically correct that we allegedly cannot express an alleged phrase without allegedly qualifying all alleged behaviour as alleged ? Sheesh !

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
“People may forget what you say, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

 

[JCreamerII]

They aren't actually "alleged accusers", because they have stood up and named him, they are his accusers. He is an alleged abuser, until he is convicted. I do hear what you're saying, it seems like they go crazy trying to be PC when they don't need to be.

Jim C.

 

[strongm]

Er, this isn't political correctness.

 

[CajunCenturion]

There are only two misuses of alleged. As Jim points out, the accusers are not alleged accusers; they are actual accusers. And the last two alleged victims are not allegedly being referred as victims 9 and 10; they are being referred to as alleged victim 9 and alleged victim 10.

I also agree with strongm, it's not political correctness. It's adhering to the notion of innocent until proven guilty. The media is not the jury.

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[BadBigBen]

but isn't it allegedly the reader, of that headline, that then becomes biased towards the alleged abuser...

and lets suppose, doubtfully, that their assertion is true, but not proven, then where does that leave the so called victims?

this is most likely the most confusing headline that I've ever came across... two alleged less and it all becomes clearer as mud... and if this is "PC", then where does one insert the HDD?



Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
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[SamBones]

I don't believe this is an attempt to be "PC". This is done as legal CYA. If they say with certainty that something happened, but have no real proof or substantiation, they can be guilty of libel or slander, depending on if it was written or spoken.

Google offers this...

al·leged /əˈlejd/
Adjective: (of an incident or a person) Said, without proof, to have taken place or to have a specified illegal or undesirable quality.

So my guess is that they want to report something without real proof, without being sued.

I guess they could be trying to push opinion one way or another, but protecting their legal exposure seems most likely to me.

 

[guitarzan]

Ben,

The quote Santa gave was not a headline, it was spoken. I would hope if it was a headline, at least some of the multiple alleged's would be caught and edited. Being spoken, I can give a bit more leeway. As CajunCenturion said, there are really only 2 extraneous uses of alleged, and "alleged" is used to give the accused the presumption of innocence.

The phrase would become

Additional accusers of Jerry Sandusky's alleged acts against his alleged victims claim that Sandusky allegedly abused two additional alleged victims, referred to as victims "9" and "10".

As far as "two alleged less and it all becomes clearer as mud", I kind of agree that even the adjusted quote above, although correct, could perhaps have the last "alleged" removed, and still give the presumption of innocence.

 

[JCreamerII]

My issue on the PC thing was with the accusers being called alleged. I thought that was all PC. Once they have stood up and identified the attacker, to say they are alleged accusers isn't correct. They are in fact accusers and to label them in that way is disingenous at best.

Jim C.

 

[aco2x]

I would say that there are two more extraneous "alleges" in the section of the sentence beginning with "alleged victims claim". The verb claim already implies allegation and makes them redundant. I would propose the sentence should be:

Additional accusers of Jerry Sandusky's alleged acts against his alleged victims claim the Sandusky abused two additional victims, referred to as victims "9" and "10".

 

[SkipVought]

Allegedly, the new media is out on a ledge or over a ledge on the use of allege.

Skip,
[sub]
Just traded in my old subtlety...
for a NUANCE![/sub]

 

[mattKnight]

However,

If there are no alleged acts, there can be no alleged victims (in this case).

so

Additional alleged accusers of Jerry Sandusky's alleged acts against his alleged victims claim that Sandusky allegedly abused two additional alleged victims, allegedly referred to as victims "9" and "10".

becomes

Additional accusers of Jerry Sandusky's alleged acts against his victims claim that Sandusky abused two additional victims, referred to as victims "9" and "10".

but better still

Additional accusers allege that Sandusky abused two additional victims, referred to as victims "9" and "10".

So I agree with Santa, whatever the reasons, there are too many "alleges"



Take Care

Matt
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