Why good journalists don’t use junk English, or, the first sign we’re in trouble*
Monday, January 8th, 2007For those of you who are worried that the Star Tribune’s quality will suffer now that it’s been sold to Avista Capital Partners, here’s this from the new chairman, Chris Harte, as quoted in Kate Parry’s Sunday column:
“We want the product to stay at least as it is today and, if possible, improve….”
The product, in this case, is the newspaper. Or journalism. I think. Maybe journalistic integrity? Huh. Now I’m not so sure.
Maybe he’s referring to a checking account. Or to smiley blue bandana antenna ball toppers. Or maybe an Internet-connected in-car navigation system.
How can you trust a guy who uses the corporate catch-all “product” as a euphemism? Does he just use “the product” so he doesn’t slip up and accidentally say the movies or the the oil wells or the prescription pharmaceuticals or the class rings? Or did he miss a vocabulary lesson in fourth grade?
More on Junk English.
*I guess this is the second sign we’re in trouble. Here’s the first.