17 Tuesday Jul 2018
A blog post about New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, has been doing the rounds on social media, and at a glance it’s great.
“She’s 37. She’s the youngest female head of government in the world. She’s also the first western woman to give birth while in power.”
But then with just one line it loses the point it’s trying to make.
28 Friday Jul 2017
I’m not sure where it stems from, but I have a real problem with the word fine.
It’s just one of those words that says… nothing really.
And while I’m the first to advocate clear and simple speech and writing, fine just doesn’t cut it.
02 Friday Sep 2016
Posted in Journalism, Language
The live cross to a journalist on location is a given these days, especially in commercial TV news. I don’t have too much of a problem with that providing they have something new to say.
Unfortunately though it’s often just used to show ‘they are there’ and adds very little to the rest of the report.
But more recently I’ve noticed something else that’s started creeping in to these live crosses and it’s driving me round the bend!
09 Wednesday Dec 2015
Posted in Journalism, Language, Media, Opinion
There’s nothing worse as a journalist than a mistake creeping into your copy and then published for all to see in print or online.
It would appear to be much easier to correct online, although realistically once live there’s no real recall.
It may have been sent out on distribution lists or caught by screengrab or a smartphone photo and shared ruthlessly on social media (yes, I’ve done it too).
And if it’s in print – it’s there to stay.
26 Friday Apr 2013
Posted in Journalism, Language, Opinion
Reading a newspaper the other day I came across an oft used phrase but with the wrong word in it.
In disgust, I hurled the paper to one side then emailed my husband and said “you’ll never guess what…” and told him what I’d read.
He didn’t get it.
I took a deep breath. What if it was me and I’d been wrong all along?
It does happen… occasionally.
So, of course, online I went to get to the bottom of this only to discover another language minefield.
23 Friday Mar 2012
Apart from one boyfriend in my distant past – I don’t think I’ve met anyone who truly believes they are perfect.
In fact anyone who even thinks this way is obviously so self-obsessed that it counts them out anyway.
So while I may rant on here about poor journalism, bad grammar or apostrophe abuse (three of my pet hates) I thought I would share some examples of my own foibles.
Probably my worst was my understanding of the word anxiety.
23 Thursday Feb 2012
Posted in Journalism, Language, Media, Opinion
I seem to have become a bit of a nag about language and pronunciation this month, but I have to admit it is something that really bothers me.
Some reading this headline will hopefully want to comment straight away that surely it should read ‘…wonder THAN wander’.
But maybe I was meaning it to be a sequential thing. I was wondering about something and then went wandering off…
Before I lose you completely, it drives me round the bend the number of times I see the use of the word then – when the person clearly means than.
18 Saturday Feb 2012
Posted in Journalism, Language, Media, Opinion, Politics
I’m all for language evolution, it really fascinates me, but something that concerns me is the increasingly common use of the word ‘aks’ instead of ask.
I heard this very occasionally in the UK and assumed it was dialectal, specific to certain communities, possibly derived from a pidgin or creole language. You commonly hear it now on TV or in films especially among some Americans.
But increasingly I hear it from university students that have no cultural background from where this could have emerged. I would be interested to hear their parents speak – do they say it – and if so, where did they pick it up from?
10 Friday Feb 2012
Posted in Journalism, Language, Media, Opinion
Now that would make a headline wouldn’t it?
But it makes me laugh just how often you hear journalists say this:
“Joe Bloggs joins me live on air…” or “joining me live in the studio…”
One would hope so!
And I have to admit as a former BBC radio presenter I’m guilty of doing this myself.
It’s our obsession to be “live” on air, as it’s happening, at the scene.
As I mentioned in my last blog Choppergate – a media minefield commercial networks in particular are obsessed with live crosses to a reporter at the scene who in turn live links into a pre-packaged report.
But sometimes it’s just not possible to do the cross “live”. The connection drops out, the talent is only available at a certain time etc.
In this case the best solution is an “as live” or a “look live”.
The cross/interview/segment is recorded at the scene as though it were live. It looks and sounds exactly the same as it would had it been done live.
Some may question the use of such techniques but I actually don’t have a problem with this.
I have recorded many “as lives”. Usually because there wasn’t a clear signal at the location to do the report live.
I would record the piece as though it were live. Drive down the road and as soon as I had a clear signal I would play the report down the line – either to a producer to use as and when – or sometimes I would play it directly into the program.
The crucial point is as long as you don’t actually state that you are crossing “live” to the person.
That’s when it becomes an ethical issue.
As long as the reporter has been at the scene talking to people and reports back accurately it doesn’t matter if they are doing it live or if they recorded it five minutes ago.
They are not going to say or do anything differently.
Chances are – if you say it’s live and it isn’t – something will go wrong with the recording and your audience will immediately realise it’s not live as you had claimed.
That’s a deception and that’s when it becomes unethical.
Just saying.
25 Wednesday Jan 2012
Posted in Journalism, Language, Media, Opinion, Politics
Sorry for the crude headline – but really – authorities should understand what they are saying/publishing.
This yesterday:
24 January 2012
Moreton Bay Regional Council is advising residents in Dale Street and immediate surrounds in Burpengary to self-evacuate this afternoon.
See: Burpengary residents urged to evacuate
It was a common error throughout the 2011 floods in Queensland. Constantly authorities were asking people to self-evacuate.
Think about it – to evacuate oneself – what are they actually asking people to do?