When Journalists Embrace 'Reform'

Reviewing the language used by journalists used to describe legislative changes designed to marginalise Australian unions, Deirdre Macken writes that stories in Rupert Murdoch's News Limited publications and by the publicly funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation often use the term "workplace reform." A dictionary definition of "reform", she notes, is making something "better by removal of faults or errors." "Governments will always use the word reform in conjunction with legislative changes - think taxation reform, education reform, welfare reform - because it immediately gives them the moral high ground ... But the media should be more discerning. The first time they use the word 'reform', the debate is over," she writes.