What This Means in Plain English
Inclusive language in journalism is not about political correctness — it is about accuracy. The words you choose to describe a person or community shape how readers perceive them. Inaccurate, outdated, or pejorative language can harm the individuals described, erode audience trust, and expose your publication to regulatory complaints.
IPSO’s Editors’ Code Clause 12 is the principal regulatory framework in press. It prohibits prejudicial or pejorative references to an individual’s race, colour, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any physical or mental illness or disability. Importantly, it also requires that such details are not mentioned unless genuinely relevant to the story.
Preferred terminology evolves. What was acceptable in 2005 may now be offensive or simply inaccurate. Checking with community organisations, consulting updated style guides (The Guardian Style Guide, the Inclusive Language Guide from the NUJ), and — above all — asking the people being written about is the gold standard.
When This Matters Most
Crime reporting
Mentioning ethnicity, religion or nationality of suspects only when part of a police description or directly relevant to the offence.
Health and disability stories
Describing people with chronic illness, neurodivergence or physical disability in terms they would recognise and accept.
Mental health coverage
Particularly suicide and self-harm: Samaritans Media Guidelines set out specific do's and don'ts.
Immigration and asylum
The distinction between "refugee", "asylum seeker", "economic migrant", and "illegal immigrant" is legally and ethically significant.
LGBTQ+ coverage
Terminology has shifted significantly in a decade; ask preferred pronouns and describe identity as the person defines it.
Religion and extremism
Distinguishing the actions of individuals from the beliefs of millions; avoiding conflation of religious identity with extremism.
Red Flags
- !Mentioning race, religion, or sexuality when it is not relevant to the story
- !Using a single source from a minority community as the voice of the entire group (tokenism)
- !Describing trans people using their deadname or wrong pronouns after transition
- !Using "illegal immigrant" rather than "undocumented person" or "person seeking asylum"
- !Quoting slurs in full when paraphrasing or using an initial letter would serve equally well
- !Using mental illness as a pejorative adjective ("crazy", "psychotic", "schizophrenic" to mean erratic)
- !Identifying a person's disability before their name or role ("wheelchair-bound reporter")
- !Conflating the religion of a perpetrator with the motivation for a crime without clear evidence
- !Using "spokesman" or "manpower" as default when gender-neutral alternatives exist
- !Relying on charity or campaign-group spokespeople as the sole voice of a lived-experience community
Pre-Publication Checklist
- Have I mentioned any personal characteristic (race, religion, sexuality, disability) only where it is genuinely relevant?
- Have I used the terminology preferred by the individual or community being described — not the terminology I'm used to?
- For trans individuals: have I used correct pronouns and name throughout, including in archive references?
- For disability coverage: have I asked the person whether they prefer person-first or identity-first language?
- For mental health stories: have I read the relevant Samaritans / Time to Change guidance before writing?
- For immigration stories: have I used legally accurate terminology (refugee / asylum seeker / undocumented)?
- Have I sought more than one source from within any minority community I'm covering?
- Have I avoided using a community spokesperson from a charity as a proxy for lived experience?
- Have I checked the IPSO guidance on transgender reporting (published 2023)?
- Is any historical language in archive quotes clearly contextualised as the language of the time?
Need to issue a correction for outdated language?
If you’ve identified that a published story contains prejudicial or outdated language, our Corrections Generator can help you draft a proportionate, IPSO-aligned correction notice.
Open Corrections Generator →Common Mistakes
- ›Assuming "they/them" pronouns are grammatically incorrect — they are standard English and have been for centuries.
- ›Treating the Traveller community as a monolith: Romany Gypsies, Irish Travellers, Roma, and New Travellers are distinct groups with different histories and cultures.
- ›Applying person-first language universally: many Deaf and autistic people explicitly prefer identity-first language.
- ›Using "committed suicide" — most style guides now prefer "died by suicide" or "took their own life".
- ›Treating UNHCR's definitions of "refugee" and "asylum seeker" as interchangeable: they are not legally synonymous.
- ›Correcting language in old quotes: if you correct a slur in a historical quotation, note you have done so.
- ›Conflating class with accent or education: describing someone's speech patterns or vocabulary as an editorial comment is discriminatory.