Doublespeak is language that deliberately obscures, disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. Doublespeak may take the form of euphemisms (e.g., "downsizing" for layoffs and "servicing the target" for bombing), in which case it is primarily meant to make the truth sound more palatable. It may also refer to intentional ambiguity in language or to actual inversions of meaning. In such cases, doublespeak disguises the nature of the truth.
Doublespeak is most closely associated with political language.
The NCTE George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language (the Orwell Award for short), is an award given since 1975 by the Public Language Award Committee of the National Council of Teachers of English. It is awarded annually to "writers who have made outstanding contributions to the critical analysis of public discourse."[1]
Noam Chomsky, Donald Barlett, and James B. Steele are the only recipients to have won twice.
1970s
1975: David Wise for The Politics of Lying
1976: Hugh Rank for the "Intensify/Downplay" schema for analyzing communication, persuasion, and propaganda
1977: Walter Pincus, Washington Post "A patient, methodical journalist who knew his job and who knew the jargon of Washington. Mr. Pincus was the man responsible for bringing to public attention, and thus to a debate in the Senate, the appropriations funding for the neutron bomb."—Hugh Rank, chair, NCTE Committee on Public Doublespeak
1978: Sissela Bok for Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life
1979: Erving Goffman for Gender Advertisements
1980s
1980: Sheila Harty for Hucksters in the Classroom: A Review of Industry Propaganda in Schools
1981: Dwight Bolinger for Language--The Loaded Weapon
1982: Stephen Hilgartner, Richard C. Bell, and Rory O'Connor for Nukespeak: Nuclear Language, Visions and Mindset
1983: Haig Bosmajian for The Language of Oppression
1984: Ted Koppel, moderator, Nightline, ABC-TV. ". . . a model of intelligence, informed interest, social awareness, verbal fluency, fair and rigorous questioning of controversial figures. . . . [who has sought] honesty and openness, clarity and coherence, to raise the level of public discourse."—William Lutz, chair, NCTE Committee on Public Doublespeak
1985: Torben Vestergaard and Kim Schroder for The Language of Advertising
1986: Neil Postman for Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
1987: Noam Chomsky for On Power and Ideology: The Managua Lectures
1988: Donald Barlett and James B. Steele, Philadelphia Inquirer for a series of articles on the Tax Reform Act of 1986, in which they pointed out language disguising tax loopholes in the legislation
1989: Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky for Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media
1990s
1990: Charlotte Baecher, Consumers Union for Selling America's Kids: Commercial Pressures on Kids of the 90s
1991: David Aaron Kessler, Commissioner, Federal Food and Drug Administration. "Under the leadership of Commissioner Kessler," said William Lutz, chair of the NCTE Committee on Public Doublespeak, "the FDA has begun seizing products with misleading labels, developing new guidelines for clarity and accuracy in food labels, and exposing false, misleading, and deceptive health claims on food labels and in food advertising."
1992: Donald Barlett and James Steele, Philadelphia Inquirer for America: What Went Wrong?
1993: Eric Alterman: Sound and Fury: The Washington Punditocracy and the Collapse of American Politics
1994: Garry Trudeau, creator of the cartoon strip "Doonesbury" was cited for consistently attacking doublespeak in all aspects of American life and from all parts of the cultural and political spectrum.
1995: Lies of Our Times (LOOT) A Magazine to Correct the Record, was published between January 1990 and December 1994. It served not only as a general media critic, but as a watchdog of The New York Times, which the magazine referred to as "the most cited news medium in the U.S., our paper of record."
1996: William D. Lutz for The New Doublespeak: Why No One Knows What Anyone's Saying Anymore
1997: Gertrude Himmelfarb for "Professor Narcissus: In Today's Academy, Everything Is Personal," June 2, 1997, issue of The Weekly Standard
1998: Two winners
Juliet Schor for The Overspent American: Upscaling, Downshifting, and the New Consumer
Scott Adams for his role in "Mission Impertinent" (San Jose Mercury News West Magazine, November 16, 1997). The farce highlighted the absurdity of managerial language and the overuse of the "mission statement".
1999: Norman Solomon for The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media: Decoding Spin and Lies in the Mainstream News (published by Common Courage Press, 1999)
