Thread: Why do news media capitalize ‘Occupy Wall Street’ but not ‘tea party’?

For a two-and- a-half-year-old movement, the tea party has already left a massive imprint on American politics. No Republican contender for the presidency can afford to betray its positions against taxation, against liberalizing immigration policies, against a loose interpretation of the Constitution. Tea party backers in 2010 helped vault a number of Republican candidates into the House of Representatives, which now boasts a thriving Tea Party Caucus. Need more evidence of its mainstream emergence? Just weeks ago, CNN teamed up with Tea Party Express to sponsor a GOP presidential debate.

Well "tea party" wasn't capitalized, but "Tea Party Express was." Seems kind of... arbitrary. Has anyone here considered that it may just be our crappy education system failing to properly educate writers on the use of proper nouns?

Originally Posted by nonpareil

Liberal bias at work.

Same reason the called President Bush " Mr Bush" and they call Obama "President Barrack Obama".

The Tea Party® should be capitalized as well, it's true. So should Tea Party Nation® , Tea Party Express® and Tea Party Patriots® .

Originally Posted by sawyerloggingon

Same reason the called President Bush " Mr Bush" and they call Obama "President Barrack Obama".

I remember hearing "President Bush" over and over again for 8 years. Just the other day, I heard "Mr. Obama" on NPR (remember, the most evil Liberals on the planet).

There's a lot of liberal bias, but seriously, the lengths you guys will go to are incredible.

Originally Posted by spud_meister

The only people to blame for the liberal bias in American media is the conservatives for not setting up more outlets to spread their bias.

I still think that's true. It's a free market, and a free press. Now that the fairness doctrine is dead, I can't picture there being less liberal bias.

From the Heritage Foundation in 1993:

With the wide diversity of views available today in the expanding broadcast system, there is a simple solution for any family seeking an alternative viewpoint or for any lawmaker irritated by a pugnacious talk-show host. Turn the dial.

Why The Fairness Doctrine Is Anything But Fair

So even a well-known Conservative think tank says you have options.

Originally Posted by Grim17

The liberal media rallies around liberal causes, and tries to discredit causes that don't conform the liberal ideology... It's really just that simple.

As usual, you are using the conservative "I'm a victim" playbook. The ideology of the media is earning money and the stories they cover are meant to increase print circulation and ratings. Conservatives constantly whine about a liberal media when none exits.

Notice that in Iraq you never saw the real horrors of war. You saw vehicles after a suicide bomber blew it up, but you never saw all the body parts thrown around. The media loves covering the war because it sells copy and increases ratings, however they don't want to make it look so bad as to turn off the public.

The media is all about money, money,money and more money.

Neither in it's current state is a "grass roots" movement, The Tea Party in it's early stages was something I could identify with, Now it's nothing but hysterics and the ill-informed.

Originally Posted by GhostlyJoe

Yeah ... that has absolutely nothing to do with it. Proper nouns get capitalized. Thus, Tea Party Patriots gets caps. Tea Party Express gets caps. But tea party, which is not an organization but a generic name, doesn't.

We can just dispense with the notion that capitalization means "Important" or "We Likey!!" Capitalization faciliates understanding, which is usually the goal of communication. It's not an endorsement.

I thought the OP was a joke. I can't believe people take this seriously.

I find sense of humor seems to be negatively correlated with partisanship.

Originally Posted by sawyerloggingon

Same reason the called President Bush " Mr Bush" and they call Obama "President Barrack Obama".

What paper has as its policy that Bush should be styled as Mr, but Obama as President? Or are you seeing what you want to see?


Seriously people, it's a funny article about a non-issue (except to grammar-Nazis).

Originally Posted by Hare

Neither in it's current state is a "grass roots" movement, The Tea Party in it's early stages was something I could identify with, Now it's nothing but hysterics and the ill-informed.

It was always hysterical and ill-informed. It's a group of people who came up with the slogan Taxed Enough Already at a time when they'd never paid less taxes in their entire lives.