The National Council of Teachers of English named the U.S. State Department the winner of its 11th annual “Doublespeak Award” for inventing a new euphemism for killing.
The State Department announced that it will replace the word “killing” in its official reports on the status of human rights around the world with the phrase, “unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of life,” according to William Lutz, chairman of n.c.t.e.'s Committee on Public Doublespeak, who presented the award at the group’s annual convention in Detroit last month.
The Doublespeak Award is made annually by the national committee of teachers and professors of English to call attention to “dishonest and inhumane use of language,” and to highlight the relationship of language to public policy, Mr. Lutz said.
The association’s annual “George Orwell Award” for distinguished contribution to honesty and clarity in public language went to Ted Koppel, host of ABC News’ “Nightline” program.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children is setting up what will be the first national computerized clearinghouse on child care; officials plan to put the system into operation in mid-1985.
The Child Care Information Service, as the clearinghouse is called, will work with other child-care and early-childhood organizations around the country to disseminate information about children, child6care, and early education.
The service, which is funded by a $690,000, three-year grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, will become fully operational in five years, the planners estimate.
“We want to provide high-quality, accurate, and timely information about child care to practitioners, parents, policymakers, media representatives, and other interested audiences,” said Deborah Phillips, director of the service, in a prepared statement.
In addition to providing information, the service’s goals, according to Ms. Phillips, are to: increase public recognition of the importance of child-care services and professionals, improve the quality of public and corporate child-care policies, and expand the size and diversity of the population interested in child-care issues.
The child-care clearinghouse will offer audiovisual and printed materials, a toll-free telephone number, and computerized information searches; it will be located in Washington, D.C.
