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It's an editorial style that some publications (including CNN) are adopting in service of racial sensitivity. CNN has mandated that all staff must capitalize bo

It's an editorial style that some publications (including CNN) are adopting in service of racial sensitivity. CNN has mandated that all staff must capitalize both "Black" and "White" [1]: > Both words denote a racial or ethnic identity and therefore should be upper case when referring to a person, community, culture, etc., in the same way CNN capitalizes other descriptors of race, ethnicity and shared identity, including African American, Native American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian, Asian American, African, and other terms [1] https://www.thewrap.com/cnn-capitalize-black-white-race/ https://www.thewrap.com/cnn-capitalize-black-white-race/

hn_throwaway_99 6y ago
At least CNN is being consistent. NY Times is capitalizing Black but not White, and they seem to be using tortured logic in my opinion to explain the discrepancy: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/insider/capitalized-black.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/insider/capitalized-black...
- throwawaysea 6y ago
  The AP similarly used mental gymnastics to justify capitalizing black but not white: see https://apnews.com/article/7e36c00c5af0436abc09e051261fff1f https://apnews.com/article/7e36c00c5af0436abc09e051261fff1f and https://apnews.com/article/9105661462 https://apnews.com/article/9105661462 It’s remarkable that journalists can claim, as the AP does, that white peoples don’t have a shared culture when they also write articles ascribing a culture to white people and blaming it for all of society’s problems. The obvious inconsistency just seems like racism against white people.
- gnicholas 6y ago
  I was surprised that so many NYT reader comments (including almost all of the 'NYT Picks' comments) disagree with the decision. I read the NYT comments somewhat regularly and cannot recall ever seeing such a high proportion of the highlighted comments criticizing the NYT's position. I give the NYT credit for highlighting these many critical comments, which appear to reflect the sentiment of the 'Reader Picks' comments as well.

hn_throwaway_99 6y ago

At least CNN is being consistent. NY Times is capitalizing Black but not White, and they seem to be using tortured logic in my opinion to explain the discrepancy: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/insider/capitalized-black.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/insider/capitalized-black...

throwawaysea 6y ago
The AP similarly used mental gymnastics to justify capitalizing black but not white: see https://apnews.com/article/7e36c00c5af0436abc09e051261fff1f https://apnews.com/article/7e36c00c5af0436abc09e051261fff1f and https://apnews.com/article/9105661462 https://apnews.com/article/9105661462 It’s remarkable that journalists can claim, as the AP does, that white peoples don’t have a shared culture when they also write articles ascribing a culture to white people and blaming it for all of society’s problems. The obvious inconsistency just seems like racism against white people.
gnicholas 6y ago
I was surprised that so many NYT reader comments (including almost all of the 'NYT Picks' comments) disagree with the decision. I read the NYT comments somewhat regularly and cannot recall ever seeing such a high proportion of the highlighted comments criticizing the NYT's position. I give the NYT credit for highlighting these many critical comments, which appear to reflect the sentiment of the 'Reader Picks' comments as well.