The Washington Post on Friday said the newspaper’s editorial board will no longer refer to the NFL team as the Redskins.
The editorial board released a statement on the Post’s website saying, “While we wait for the NFL to catch up with public opinion and common decency we have decided not to use the slur ourselves except when it is essential for clarity or effect.”
The Post editorial board’s opposition to the name began before current owner Daniel Snyder purchased the team. The first editorial stating opposition to the team’s name appeared in 1992, but most recently the board used Redskins in an Aug. 13 editorial, the newspaper reported.
The editorial board decision is separate from the Post’s news gathering entity. Executive editor Marty Baron has said that Redskins still will appear in sports and news stories.
“The Post’s newsroom and the editorial page operate independently of each other,” Baron said. “Standard operating policy in the newsroom has been to use the names that established institutions choose for themselves. That remains our policy, as we continue to vigorously cover controversy over the team’s name and avoid any advocacy role on this subject.”
The new policy does not apply to letters to the editor that use the name Redskins.
Editorial page editor Fred Hiatt said the decision was made now because opposition to the name has picked up steam recently.