Archive for the ‘Journalism Rules’ Category
The Reader’s Guide to Journalists
Rule No. 60: TV journalists never “interview” people. They always “sit down with” them.
The Reader’s Guide to Journalists
Rule No. 59: Real-world values rarely increase “exponentially.” It just sounds cooler than “a lot.”
The Reader’s Guide to Journalists
Rule No. 58: A public official is always “beleaguered” if anyone has said anything negative about him or her in the past two weeks.
The Reader’s Guide to Journalists
Rule No. 57: Adding “-gate” to a noun means we think something’s fishy here but no one’s been convicted yet.
The Reader’s Guide to Journalists
Rule No. 56: All heroes are “unsung” up until the moment they appear on morning network television.
The Reader’s Guide to Journalists
Rule No. 55: A person is “well-known” if spell-check doesn’t underline his or her name in red.
The Reader’s Guide to Journalists
Rule No. 54: “At first glance” means we started with this lede, but the reporting didn’t pan out.
The Reader’s Guide to Journalists
Rule No. 53: Any place that isn’t New York, Boston, Los Angeles or San Francisco is “the heartland.”
The Reader’s Guide to Journalists
Rule No. 52: All suburbs are “leafy.” They always have “well-manicured lawns.”
The Reader’s Guide to Journalists
Rule No. 51: When we describe something as “cutting edge,” we mean we don’t know how it works.
M. Alex Johnson - Journalist at Large 