The Use of Politically Correct Speech in Media

In this paper, the authors analyze the use of politically correct speech in media. The media and society are interconnected and conditioning each other. In this theoretical environment, McLuhan states that the medium is the message while implying speech as a core medium in a symbolic process of shaping reality into a culture. Throughout history, especially after Gutenberg’s printing press machine, media shaped cultural change from “biographies of the famous” to “personal biographies”. Such a social shift required politically correct speech as a form of self-control in public communication, and awareness that the language can harm, and offend others, especially races, genders, and ethnic groups. Even though politically incorrect speech overlaps with hate speech to some extent, it is not legally sanctioned like hate speech. Politically incorrect speakers are just considered rude. Language codes in American universities in the 1980s began shaping a culture of political correctness that slowly accumulated the power of social pressure and intolerance for politically incorrect speech. Political correctness is interconnected with cultural imperialism and multiculturalism. It raises awareness that the dominant culture in the media promotes its values as universal and neutral, being exclusive and oppressive towards different cultures. While explaining and comparing the media context of establishing politically correct speech as a cultural norm this paper provides examples of incorrect speech in media and its misuse to be recognized and understood in its opposites. The critique of politically correct speech is that it affects the quality of education, social interaction, and freedom of speech.