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"Professional" writers/journalists and the English Language

Posted: June 25 08, 11:18 am
by Spider John
Headline on MSNBC:
Astronomers on verge of finding Earth's twin
Maybe it's the need to be brief that this headline reads this way, but this tells me that it is a fact that another earth exists, and they know where it is.

Another example, this time from the AP:
Youkilis had a CT scan on his face Monday night and doctors told him and the team that he would recover
Glad to hear that he would recover. Was there any doubt that he wouldn't recover?

I can understand what these writers are trying to say, but they didn't do a very good job of saying it. Could I do a better job? Probably not, but then I'm not a supposed professional.

Re: "Professional" writers/journalists and the English Language

Posted: June 25 08, 11:19 am
by thrill
If a web master, editor and or paginator can't make a sexual innuendo or some kind of pun out of it, they aren't going to put much thought into their headlines.

Re: "Professional" writers/journalists and the English Language

Posted: June 25 08, 11:44 am
by TheoSqua
It annoys me when I see an article written on a professional news site with a word used in the wrong context or a, comma in a completely wrong spot.

It happens a lot more than i'd like to admit.

Re: "Professional" writers/journalists and the English Language

Posted: June 26 08, 12:08 pm
by Radio_Bugtussle
TheoSqua wrote:It annoys me when I see an article written on a professional news site with a word used in the wrong context or a, comma in a completely wrong spot.

It happens a lot more than i'd like to admit.
It happens often enough that I've quit noticing.

...unless the result is funny.

Re: "Professional" writers/journalists and the English Language

Posted: June 26 08, 1:30 pm
by ThatGuy
When I wrote for my school's newspaper, I always had to change my article titles because they were too long and detailed. I guess I'm not cut out to be a journalist.