I don’t know much about Randy Michaels, the CEO of Tribune Company, but judging by the comments on this post, he’s not very well liked. And I don’t know much about the post’s author, Robert Feder, either.
But I do know English. Sure, I abuse it from time to time, but almost always on purpose, and only for effect. And one of my pet peeves is jargon in the news business. The reporters and editors who worked for me will be more than happy to tell you about the lists of words and phrases I banned from new pages during my time as a managing editor.
I’m shocked that Feder chose to poke fun at Michaels for banned 119 words and phrases from WGN news. Why shocked? Because I can’t imagine anyone who appreciates the English language could successfully argue that “shower activity” is a better way to say “rain.” Or “youth” instead of “child.”
Feder’s argument is that Michaels has better things to do:
Sure, you’d think the chief executive officer of a company struggling to emerge from bankruptcy and desperate to salvage an $8 billion buyout-gone-bad would have better things to do than pester his underlings with crazy proclamations. But in the case of Tribune Co. CEO Randy Michaels, you’d be wrong.
I disagree. I’ve said this before: The news business is struggling because it has lost the connection with the audience. By developing its own tortured language, the business is slowly removing itself from our livingrooms.
So Michaels’ point becomes a pretty good one: Talk like real humans, and real humans will appreciate it. If your audience likes you, word will get out and your audience will grow. A bigger audience means more ad dollars. More ad dollars is good for business.
The most appalling thing to me is that Michaels is actually being attacked for this in the comment section, by people claiming he’s micromanaging, that he’s destroying the company, that he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Really? Are you really defending use of “5 a.m. in the morning” on your news broadcast? Or “giving 110%”?
In my mind, the list shows Michaels is paying attention to the broadcasts on his stations. He sees problems and he wants them fixed. Would anyone argue if McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner told employees they weren’t allowed to spit in Big Macs anymore? Doubt it. Michaels is trying to keep his newscasters from spitting in your Big Mac. Your response should be simple: Thank you. It’s about time.
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4 comments
aplaceforthoughts says:
March 13, 2010 at 8:59 pm (UTC -5 )
Great post! And giving 110% – I hate that! I’m with you!
Daniel says:
March 14, 2010 at 1:43 pm (UTC -5 )
Ugh. There are so many of my pet peeves on the list! I’m glad somebody’s paying attention!
Freddy J. Nager, Atomic Tango LLC says:
March 15, 2010 at 11:22 pm (UTC -5 )
Say what you want, but the bottom line is, we’re on the same page here, so on a go forward basis let’s touch base regularly to make sure we both stay in the loop on the best practices and, at the end of the day, ensure a win-win for all…
Or as we say here in California, I’m with ya, bro.
Although I believe in free speech, I ban jargon from my marketing classes because, simply, jargon is bad for business. Better kick that habit early. If any of my students mention “best of breed,” they better be talking about chihuahuas.
As a former journalist, you might like this post I wrote about press releases:
http://atomictango.com/2008/05/20/pressrelease/
Hope all your missions are critical…
– Freddy
Daniel says:
March 16, 2010 at 8:13 am (UTC -5 )
At the end of the day, leveraging our respective knowledge bases in a planful manner is a clear win-win.
Great post on press releases. It took me back to my reporter/editor days, when everything that came across my desk followed that exact template.
My advice for writing press releases: Do the journalist’s job. Write a press release that reads like a news story. Answer all the questions. In today’s copy-and-paste newsroom, you’re more likely to get it published. Unfortunately, that doesn’t speak highly of the journalism profession, but it’s true.