The Right Words

A global movement to change how abuse is reported.
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[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

Language matters.

When media, regulators, institutions, and communities use the right words, survivors are respected and perpetrators are held accountable.

This is our call to action:
✔️ Name the crime.
✔️ Point out the perpetrator.
✔️ Refuse to erase survivors in language.

Let’s reshape how abuse is reported on.

Join the campaign: https://t.co/9mLjr85WBh

#TheRightWords #LanguageMatters #Accountability

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

This is one of the most egregious examples we have come across.

A 12 year-old CHILD cannot consent. This was child r**ed.

When the perpetrator is a woman, suddenly language gets soft, poetic, even sympathetic.

Words matter. And when the media gets them wrong, it protects perpetrators and erases victims.

@DailyMail - we’d love for you to join our campaign, take the pledge, and use survivor-centred language.

Link in our bio.

#CallItForWhatItIs #WordsMatter
#MediaAccountability

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

Two men att*cked an 18-year-old woman.
The headline leads with “Woman, 18” - as if her age and existence are the action.

Parks don’t att*ck people.
Vulnerability doesn’t commit crimes.
People do.

Active voice doesn’t sensationalise vi0lence - it assigns responsibility where it belongs. Anything else quietly shifts focus away from the perpetrators and onto the person harmed.

Words matter. Especially here.

@BBCNews - we’d love to have you join our campaign. Link in our bio.

#TheRightWords #NameThePerpetrator #ActiveVoice

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

A man att*cked a woman in a hotel room in Sheffield. But the headline centres CCTV images instead of the man responsible.

Images didn’t commit the crime.
A perpetrator did.

If police can say they want to identify a man, they can also say what he did - directly and clearly.

Accountability starts with language.

@syptweet - we’d love to work with you on language that protects the dignity of survivors. Join us - link in our bio. 🤝

#TheRightWords #NameThePerpetrator #ActiveVoice

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

A man killed Victoria Hart in her own home.

Yet the headline leads with ‘British mother, 33, st*bbed to death’, as if her identity is some kind of explanation for the crime the man committed.

This isn’t passive tragedy.
This is a vi0lent act carried out by a perpetrator who made a choice.

Words shape accountability.

Lead with the offender. Name the action. Stop softening vi0lence with grammatical distance.

@thetimes - we’d love to work with you you on our campaign. Join us. Link in our bio.

#TheRightWords #ActiveVoice #NameThePerpetrator

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

The absurdity of this article!

Apparently the most important details were the £1.3 million house, the swimming pool, his salary, and his LinkedIn profile.

Three people losing their lives seemed almost secondary.

@LBC, readers really don’t need an estate agent’s brochure or a CV. They need clear, responsible reporting.

We invite you to join our campaign.
Link in our bio.

Name the crime. Point out the perpetrator. Rewrite the blame.

#TheRightWords #ResponsibleReporting #MediaLanguage

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

Calling Jimmy Savile a “children’s entertainer” is certainly one way to describe a man whose legacy includes hundreds of documented crimes against children.

It’s an impressively gentle euphemism for a prolific ab*ser - and a textbook example of how language launders reputations long after the facts are settled.

We expect better from @newscientist. If precision matters in science, it should matter in words too. This isn’t nuance. It’s minimisation.

#TheRightWords #WordsMatter #LanguageMatters

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

Ah yes. Women “experience” harassment and SA.
Just like weather. Or turbulence.

This headline tells us what happened but somehow manages to avoid saying who did it.

Women don’t “experience” vi0lence in a music scene.
Men harass, ass*ult, and att*ck women in that scene - and institutions allow it to continue.

Language matters.

When we erase perpetrators from the sentence, we quietly shift responsibility onto women’s bodies, choices and environments.

A headline that actually names the problem might look like this what we’ve suggested in the image.

Same facts.
Very different accountability.

If we’re serious about changing culture - in music, media, or anywhere else - we need to stop treating male vi0lence as an abstract condition women simply live through.

Active voice isn’t radical.
It’s just honest.
@BBCNews - This is exactly why we’re pushing for perpetrator-focused reporting as the standard, not the exception.

If you agree, stand with us and help change how these stories are told. Join the campaign via link in our bio.

#TheRightWords #NameThePerpetrator #EndViolenceAgainstWomen

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

Well, thank goodness we got the really important facts first!

The house price. Her wanting a divorce. Friends speculating about his feelings.

The headline somehow avoids properly linking the terrible crimes to the man who is actually accused of committing them.

That’s quite an achievement!

@DailyMail, the headline doesn’t need a property valuation or a sympathy-building backstory. IT NEEDS THE PERPETRATOR!

We invite you to join our campaign.

Name the crime. Point out the perpetrator. Rewrite the blame.

#TheRightWords #ResponsibleReporting #MediaLanguage

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

This is how responsible reporting looks.

The headline names the perpetrator.
It uses active voice.
It makes accountability unmistakable.

A man att*cked a woman.
A man st*bbed her when she resisted.
The reporting does not hide that.

This is exactly why language matters.
Passive phrasing doesn’t just change tone - it changes responsibility. Here, responsibility is clear.

We criticise poor reporting.
We recognise good reporting.

Credit to @BBCNews for getting this right.

We invite newsrooms to join our campaign:

Use active voice.
Name perpetrators.
Stop centring violence grammatically on victims.

Good journalism already exists.
Let’s make it the standard.

#CorrectWayToReport
#ActiveVoice
#NameThePerpetrator

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

Most survivors never reach criminal justice: less than 3% of the approximately 70,000 annual reported r*apes reach trial in the UK.

Many more are never reported.

• S*xual vi0lence has a high public cost: an estimated £100,000 - £250,000 per case.

• The total cost of s*xual ass*ult is approximately £400 billion per year in England and Wales across healthcare, safeguarding, and lost productivity, according to Rape Crisis England and Wales

• Civil justice exists - but is inaccessible: most survivors cannot afford civil legal action.

• Even small reductions create major savings: a 1% reduction could save £400m-£1bn annually; a 5-10% reduction could save £3-10bn per year.

• More civil cases increase deterrence over time: as civil action becomes more common, the likelihood of consequences rises, reducing repeat harm - especially where criminal justice cannot proceed.

We are calling for a national fund to provide free, specialist, trauma-informed civil legal support for survivors of s*xual vi0lence - justice shouldn't depend on wealth.

Help us share this far and wide

We have less than two weeks to get enough signatures for Government to look at this.

Sign the petition today: https://t.co/K0Pde2fD36

#FundFreeCivilLegalSupport #Petition

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

Quotation marks do not make reporting safer - they make it weaker.

This headline distances itself from the crime at every turn:

- It puts the ass*ult in quotes
- It uses passive voice
- It replaces vi0lence with vague phrasing
- And it lets perpetrators fade into the background

A woman was att*cked.
Men did this.

Responsible reporting does not hedge, soften, or dramatise at the expense of truth. It names the crime, uses the active voice, and centres accountability - not spectacle.

Words shape understanding.

And right now, too many headlines are shaping confusion instead of clarity.
@Daily_Express - join our campaign. Link in our bio.

#NameThePerpetrator
#ActiveVoiceMatters
#TheRightWords

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

Quotation marks around the word r*pe are not neutral.
They cast doubt on whether the crime happened at all.

Passive voice removes the perpetrator from the sentence.

And centering a “police statement” instead of the vi0lence itself shifts attention away from accountability.

In this case, a man has been arrested.
There is no legal requirement to obscure responsibility, soften language, or lead with institutional responses instead of the crime.

Words shape understanding.
And when reporting on vi0lence, clarity is not optional - it’s essential.

We’re asking newsrooms to do one simple thing:
Name the perpetrator. Use the active voice. Say what happened.

That is how responsibility stays visible.
@DailyMirror - we’d love to have you join our campaign. Link in our bio.

#NameThePerpetrator
#ActiveVoiceMatters

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

Credit where it’s due.

Staffordshire Police got this right.

This headline:
• Uses active voice
• Names the perpetrator first
• Describes the vi0lence clearly and accurately
• Avoids euphemisms, minimisation, or passive framing
• Treats the crime with the seriousness it deserves

This is what accountability looks like in practice.
No hedging. No distancing. No language that obscures responsibility.

When police and media communicate like this, they help the public understand vi0lence for what it is - something done by someone, not something that just “happens”.

This is the standard.
Others should follow it.

@StaffsPolice - we’d love for you to join our campaign. Link in our bio.

#NameThePerpetrator
#TheRightWords #WordsAreJustice

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

This is where reporting repeatedly fails children.

A nine-year-old girl was murdered.
A teenage boy has been charged.

Yet the headline leads with family grief - and buries the perpetrator far down the article, as if responsibility is secondary to sentiment.

Grief matters. Families matter.
But accountability must come first.

When media delays naming the crime and the person charged with it, vi0lence is softened and responsibility is blurred. Children are not “lost”. They are not victims of fate. Someone k*lled them.

We ask the @BBCNews - again, directly and respectfully - to apply the same standard we praised yesterday:
• Active voice
• Perpetrator first
• Crime named clearly
• No euphemisms

This is not about tone.
It is about truth.

Language shapes justice.
And children deserve nothing less.

Link in our bio to learn more about the campaign.

#NameThePerpetrator
#ActiveVoiceMatters
#WordsAreJustice

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

This headline is closer to what it should be - and that matters, because small language choices shape public understanding.

@sussex_police, your headline moves in the right direction by centring the suspect. But it still slips into the passive: “after a woman is r*ped.”

R*pe doesn’t “happen.”
Men commit r*pe.

A clearer, stronger alternative puts responsibility where it belongs.

This isn’t about blame before charge.
It’s about accuracy, accountability, and refusing language that distances perpetrators from their actions.

You were almost there.
We’re asking you - respectfully - to go the final step.

Because words matter, especially from the Police.
And survivors deserve clarity, not caution wrapped in passivity.

Join the campaign - link in our bio.

#NameThePerpetrator
#ActiveVoiceMatters

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

A child did not ‘d*e’. Someone k*lled her.

‘9-year-old m*rdered’ tells us nothing about who acted.
‘Pictured: Schoolgirl, nine’ centres imagery and emotion over truth.

The result is a story where vi0lence appears inevitable - not committed.

Children deserve dignity in d*ath.
Readers deserve clarity.
Justice begins with naming actions.

This story could have been reported without sensationalism, without passive language, and without turning a child’s k*lling into a spectacle.

Words shape how vi0lence is understood.
And here, the words fail.

@DailyMail - join our campaign. Link in our bio.

#WordsMatter #NameTheAction #StopPassiveVoice

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

We recently praised @BBCNews for getting it right - for naming the perpetrator, using active language, and showing that clear reporting on vi0lence is possible.

This headline falls short.

It centres the harm while removing the person who committed it.

The passive construction hides responsibility and turns a vi0lent act into something that simply “happened”.

Words matter. Especially from trusted outlets.

BBC News, you have shown that you know how to do this better. We’re asking you to apply the same standard consistently - because accountability should never depend on the day, the case, or the editor.

We’ll keep praising good reporting.
And we’ll keep calling it out when it misses the mark.

Join our campaign, link in our bio.

#TheRightWords #LanguageMatters

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

@ChadNews - we’re asking for a small but important shift.

Your headline reports a serious act of racial abuse, but it does so without naming who committed it. When headlines remove the perpetrator, they unintentionally dilute accountability and place the focus back on the person harmed.

A simple change - using verbs and naming the action - makes a measurable difference.

This isn’t about tone or blame. It’s about accuracy, responsibility, and refusing language that obscures harm.

We’re inviting Chad to join a growing number of outlets choosing clearer, more accountable reporting - reporting that informs without erasing who did what.

Words matter. And getting them right matters even more.

Join the campaign - link inour bio.

#WordsMatter #NameTheAction #NameThePerpetrator

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

@BTP - this is an opportunity to strengthen how offences are described.

This was not an “upskirting incident.”
A man filmed up a woman’s skirt without her knowledge. That is an offence, not an abstract event.

When official headlines soften language, they unintentionally minimise the harm and shift attention away from the person who committed the crime. Clear wording matters - especially from law enforcement - because it sets the standard for how the public understands vi0lence.

We welcome appeals for witnesses. We also encourage language that:
• names the action
• reflects the seriousness of the offence
• avoids framing crimes as things that simply “happen”

British Transport Police can lead here by modelling precise, survivor-centred language - and by showing that offences on public transport will be named for what they are.

Join our campaign - link in our bio.

#WordsMatter #NameTheAction
#PublicTransportSafety

[The Right Words @TheRight_Words_]

@sharrond62 We posted about this too - horrendous reporting. Our campaign calls out headlines like this - join us.