The Associated Press Style Book is the journalists' go

to book for grammar and wording.

But there are some new rules implemented in the 2017 edition

that direct writers to avoid words

like pro-life, migrant, refugee, Islamist, and terrorist.

Apparently these words are quote, biased.

Now here are the words they encourage writers to use now.

They're anti-abortion, militant instead of terrorist, lone wolf

or attacker instead of terrorist Or Islamist.

Well, here with us to discuss this

is Editor in Chief Sterling Beard from Campus Reform.

Sterling, thank you so much for joining us.

So are we going to see some of these changes at Campus Reform?

Absolutely not.

While we do generally stick to AP style,

we believe in conveying a story accurately to our readers.

And language changes like these are no longer

about conveying a story accurately,

which is the whole conceit of the style guide.

It's about laying the groundwork for the argument in such a way

that your preferred policy, or your side,

gains an automatic edge in the argument.

That's what this is doing.

It seems like a little PC here.

Now the ironic part about this whole thing

is the AP is inserting their own opinion

that these words are offensive.

So do you see this affecting journalism students now

on campus?

How do they tell the truth?

Well, I think that you're absolutely

going to see a problem with journalism students on campus.

Of course, these changes are just

going to now go into effect.

But you know, when you're a journalism student,

you're supposed to learn the AP Style Book.

And then, of course, you go out into the job market

where you are expected to exercise AP style.

So yes, I think that this is going to cause problems

for journalism students, especially

conservative journalism students, as few of them

as there are.

This might even push a few of them out.

Seems like a little brainwashing

here for the future journalists.

We're even seeing college students now

at Washington State University getting

punished for using some of these terms like illegal,

illegal alien, male, female.

How can we find this, Sterling?

Well, to fight it, you have to push back.

And of course, at universities like Washington State that

are public, the state legislatures

have got to get involved and exercise their oversight.

Of course, with private universities

it's a little more difficult because those

don't have state oversight, but that's

where alumni donations come in.

If you are an alumni at a university,

you call, you let them know how displeased you are

with the moves they're making.

You tell them you're going to be withholding

your donation this year until they make a change.

And we'll see if maybe some massive campaigns can

lead to that sort of change that alumni and conservatives would

desire to see in the Academy.

On another issue, Sterling, and I

know you're on top of this one.

A new Pew poll shows 58% of Republicans

think colleges have a negative impact on the country compared

to 45% last year.

So that's up.

Why do you think the number has increased?

Well, I can tell you exactly why it's increased.

And it's the sort of thing that we

see every day at the Leadership Institute's Campus Reform,

is all the bias that is now being exposed by Campus Reform,

by other outlets, by conservative media, that shows

just how insanely progressive, insanely left wing

most of academia is.

If you look at that poll you'll notice

that the numbers were fairly consistently positive

for universities up until about 2015.

2015 you saw a downward trend again.

2016 it was almost split evenly.

And this year you saw the negative numbers take the lead.

That's because 2015, what happened?

You had the protests at Mizzou, the University of Missouri,

where the campus just about exploded

in protest and all sorts of accusations of racism.

And it ticked people off.

Mizzou has a ton of problems right now with budgeting

and a low freshman enrollment.

That's what you're starting to see there.

Then you had the 2016 election where

you saw professors blasting conservatives

on a regular basis.

You saw conservatives having a hard time getting their message

out on college campuses.

You saw liberal and progressive students

going into apoplexy over Donald Trump's name being written

on the sidewalks in chalk.

People were paying attention.

That's why the numbers are so low.

I believe it's Mark Stein who constantly

refers to them as four-year country clubs or four-year day

cares.

That's what conservatives are beginning to view them as.

And professors.

Holding them accountable, too.

Well, Sterling, thank you so much for being with us.

My pleasure.

Thank you for having me.