Breaking the Logjam of Journalese
Does the language in this fabricated news story sound familiar?
“An embattled Congressional panel, huddled behind closed doors, is seeking solutions to the towering crisis of the nation’s ailing infrastructure as the economy claws its way back from the recession and cash-strapped states demand answers.
“In a strongly worded statement, committee chair Blither P. Blunderbuss pledged that Congress will hammer out an 11th-hour solution that brings sweeping changes to the political landscape. Meanwhile, advocacy groups, vowing to keep this issue front and center, have mounted growing pressure to break the legislative logjam.”
This is journalese — a bland paste of buzzwords, jargon and overused words served up by newspapers, TV stations and websites every day.
Veteran writers Paul Dickson and Robert Skole have collected and defined hundreds of journalistic clich’s in their new book “Journalese: A Dictionary for Deciphering the News” (Marion Street Press, $14.95). We read and hear these terms all the time, of course, but “eyeballing” this “laundry list” provides us with “growing evidence” of a “widespread problem.”
In today’s news stories, Dickson and Skole write, “Temperatures still soar. Costs still skyrocket. Tornadoes still cut swaths, leaving rescue workers to sift through the rubble and survivors looking for answers.”
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On the business page, banks are always financially troubled, markets take nose dives, price tags are jaw-dropping, events send shock waves and market solutions produce credit crunches and red ink.
Perhaps most disturbing are the weaselly phrases reporters use as innuendo: “rumors persist,” “some observers say,” “this has raised questions,” “widely considered,” “this could be seen as,” “cannot be ruled out,” “in what could be.” And then there are the interview classics: “How would you respond to those who say …?” and “Help us to understand …”
But, as Dickson and Skole point out, journalese does furnish reporters with a convenient shorthand that allows them to convey drama and a point of view. When it comes to journalese, “there are no easy answers,” and “it’s not going away anytime soon.”
Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
Copyright 2013 Creators Syndicate Inc.