Doesn't make any difference whether it's conscious or unconscious, though it may well be that the experts used the word "punts" rather than the reporter's injecting it into the story.

But if the reporter put it in, it's not a good thing. My mother, God rest her soul, was a journalist who was not above injecting things like this into a story. One she got in a spot of trouble for was a reference to a politician's friends as cronies rather than the more neutral term friends or colleagues. And she double damn sure did it on purpose. She and I had a few words about it, and the editor who let it through got a pretty good tongue-lashing. Mom came darned close to being fired.

TEd