Aren't we living in strange and unsettling times? Every morning this week when I’ve checked my phone first thing in the morning (yes, I know I need to stop that), there is a media notification filling me in on Trump’s latest dictatorial crusade. Every day, the boundaries of madness are expanding as the notions of truth, justice and human rights fade. As far-right rhetoric sweeps the globe, polarisation spreads. Propaganda is the new news.
Critical thinking, ever more necessary, appears on the decline, and the strength and credibility of the media, once perceived as a rock-solid, indisputable source, is ebbing.
Language is one of humanity’s most potent tools. It connects us, informs us and, perhaps most crucially, influences how we see the world. Nowhere is this more evident than in the headlines in newspapers, on the news and on social media, where the combination of a few words can frame entire narratives, define public discourse and shape societal attitudes.
When it comes to the battle for hearts and minds in an era of conflict and violence, the sharpest weapon is often a carefully chosen word. Every headline is a miniature battlefield, where truth, bias and perception collide. Equally, the absence of words can shape understanding and opinion by their omission. As truth declines in importance, and fact-checking is relegated with contempt to a bygone era of conscience, words matter more than ever.
As global citizens, we must be more vigilant about how we consume words, because the........

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