Associated Press Tweaks Democrat's 87 Hour Success

Since the 1970s the mantras of "free market economics" and "less government" have been pervasive in the corporate media. So pervasive in fact that certain words have taken on deep cultural meaning. Through framing, repetition and other methods, some words now evoke negative thoughts among almost everyone: Taxes, Government Subsidies. And the notion of forcing anything has a general negative connotation.

I have to wonder how the following paragraph was crafted before it was published by the Associated Press:

Democrats accomplished their early legislative goals in 87 hours, adopting new ethics rules and passing bills raising the minimum wage, expanding taxpayer financed research into embryonic stem cells, forcing more homeland security measures, directing the federal government to negotiate for cheaper Medicare prescription drugs and lowering interest rates on subsidized student loans.

Being attentive to the media, and having followed the high-profile "Democratic Party First 100 Hours", that paragraph struck me. I've repeated it below with several words highlighted.

Democrats accomplished their early legislative goals in 87 hours, adopting new ethics rules and passing bills raising the minimum wage, expanding taxpayer financed research into embryonic stem cells, forcing more homeland security measures, directing the federal government to negotiate for cheaper Medicare prescription drugs and lowering interest rates on subsidized student loans.

Were these highlighted words chosen by AP writer Jim Kuhnhenn, or were they added by an editor? I think we should know. A more positive, or neutral writing of the paragraph might be as follows:

Democrats accomplished their early legislative goals in 87 hours, adopting new ethics rules and passing bills raising the minimum wage, expanding research into embryonic stem cells, enhancing homeland security measures, directing the federal government to negotiate for cheaper Medicare prescription drugs and lowering interest rates on student loans.

I've dropped most of those previously highlighted word, and shortened another. Remember, these are professional writers who almost invariably strive for concise text to minimize column space. Maybe the writer is just being a wordy, or maybe he is trying to be precise. Maybe AP has an editor who wants to tweak the Democrats.

Source:

"Energy, ethics and lobby bills advance" January 19, 2007, By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer Web LINK.