ADL praises news outlets for calling ‘alt-right’ by its racist name

The Anti-Defamation League is praising the Associated Press and other news organizations for making sure to describe “alt-right” as a racist and bigoted movement.

“’Alt-right’ has the sound of something that’s cool and trendy, and we know that’s deliberate on the part of the racists who try and couch their bigotry in more palatable terms in an effort to appeal to a broader audience and young people,” Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the anti-hate watchdog group says in a statement. “News organizations bear a special responsibility to ensure that readers don’t misconstrue this term and deserve praise for recognizing this and providing clear guidelines for the proper usage of the term.”

The AP recently sent out a style note telling writers and editors to include a definition of “alt-right” as a “white nationalist movement.”

“Avoid using the term generically and without definition, however, because it is not well known and the term may exist primarily as a public-relations device to make its supporters’ actual beliefs less clear and more acceptable to a broader audience. In the past we have called such beliefs racist, neo-Nazi or white supremacist,” a blog post on the subject from the AP’s VP for standards reads.

The AP Stylebook is considered an industry standard for many of the world’s top news organizations.