FOX News spreads Bush's "terrorist surveillance program" buzzword
February 09, 2006
Now the term is infecting local papers, according to Media Matters:
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Media Matters for America reports that FOX News has enthusiastically embraced the administrations new term for domestic spying, "terrorist surveillance program".
Fox News reporters and anchors have increased their use of the Bush administration's term for its warrantless domestic spying program, which it calls a "terrorist [or terror] surveillance program," in their reporting and commentary. Some regional newspapers appear to be following Fox's lead.A brief history of a neologism: The term "terrorist surveillance program" is coined on NewsMax, December 22, 2005; it gains currency in the rightwing blogosphere; January 22, 2006, White House speech writers catch the meme; January 30 to February 6, FOX News increases its usage of the term "terrorist surveillance program" or "terror surveillance program" in reference to the NSA's warrantless domestic spying (at least 26 mentions on 15 different FOX News programs, by Media Matters' count).
Now the term is infecting local papers, according to Media Matters:
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), The Honolulu Advertiser, San Antonio Express-News, The Greenville News (South Carolina), and The Washington Times (as Media Matters previously noted here). With the exception of the San Antonio Express-News, all of the papers used the term in editorials defending or praising Bush's January 31 State of the Union address.[Media Matters, Think Progress]
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