negative becomes positive

Language is powerful. It carries information. Decisions are taken on that information. And therefore it is - although you can play with it - not a toy. Even when I listen and watch obvious entertainment, say the Tour de France, I expect the reporters to use language correctly.

Yesterday I noted : "The last two years there have not been a lot of doping-related articles in the press. This is due to the fact that there have not been any negative doping-tests in the Tour de France."

This might be what everybody is secretly thinking when you see the likes of Contador and Schleck ride up a mountain, but surely the reporter means : "... This is due to the fact that there have not been any positive doping-tests in the Tour de France". Right ?

A test that comes up clean is negative. If you are testing for pregnancy and you are not (pregnant), the test is negative. If you are (pregnant), the test is positive. There is no different rule for doping. No doping in the testresults is a negative test, doping in the testresults is a positive test.

I expect somebody speaking for our national broadcasting company - which still has education as its task - to know that.