In a move that stops just short of calling climate change doubters total blustering buffoons, The Associated Press has made a significant change to the “global warming” entry in its widely used style guide.

Effective today, the news wire service will no longer refer to people as climate change “deniers” or “skeptics.” Rather, it will call them “those who reject mainstream climate science” or simply “climate change doubters.”

The news organization gave some background on the change in a blog post on Tuesday. Namely, it says that using the word “skeptics” is a putdown to actual skeptics:

Scientists who consider themselves real skeptics – who debunk mysticism, ESP and other pseudoscience, such as those who are part of the Center for Skeptical Inquiry – complain that non-scientists who reject mainstream climate science have usurped the phrase skeptic. They say they aren’t skeptics because “proper skepticism promotes scientific inquiry, critical investigation and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims.” That group prefers the phrase “climate change deniers” for those who reject accepted global warming data and theory. But those who reject climate science say the phrase denier has the pejorative ring of Holocaust denier so The Associated Press prefers climate change doubter or someone who rejects mainstream science.

There’s no way around it: The note seems to take a direct jab at conservative politicians who express doubts about mainstream climate science while adding the asterisk that “I am not a scientist.”