The Washington Post’s editorial board announced Friday it will no longer use the term “Redskins” to describe the D.C. football team. “[W]hile we wait for the National Football League to catch up with thoughtful opinion and common decency, we have decided that, except when it is essential for clarity or effect, we will no longer use the slur ourselves,” the board writes.
The change won’t affect the newsroom, the board writes: “Unlike our colleagues who cover sports and other news, we on the editorial board have the luxury of writing about the world as we would like it to be. Nor do we intend to impose our policy on our readers. If you write a letter about football and want to use the team name, we aren’t going to stop you.”
Post Executive Editor Marty Baron told the Post’s Annys Shin that “Standard operating policy in the newsroom has been to use the names that established institutions choose for themselves. That remains our policy, as we continue to vigorously cover controversy over the team’s name and avoid any advocacy role on this subject.”
Related: Poynter’s list of outlets that won’t use the term “Redskins”
