Monthly Archives: October 2016

A strict law of journalese states that any rich guy in Hollywood must be identified as a mogul, even if the guy may not fit the dictionary definitions:  1) a Mongol; Mongolian. 2) a powerful or important person, especially one with autocratic power. 3) a kind of steam locomotive for pulling heavy trains. The Boston Business Journal obediently followed this law on Oct 29, 2016, with this headline: “Hollywood mogul sells Nantucket… Read Article →

Editors and reporters risk ending up with egg on their faces when they predict the outcome of an election. The Boston Globe takes this risk in its Oct. 26, 2016, page one, top story, with the headline: “Label for Nov. 8 not likely to be ‘landslide’.” The sub-head reads. “Even a big Clinton win would pale historically, political scientists say.” File this one for checking Nov. 9. As the TV… Read Article →

Journalese of the Day:  Fuchs Law As listed in Paul Dickson’s “Official Rules,”  Fuchs Law states that if a name can be misspelled it will be. Illustrating this is a correction in the Boston Globe, Oct 15, 2016: “Correction: Because of a reporting error, a story about the construction industry in Boston in the Sunday Business section, which was printed in advance, misspelled the first name of Suffolk Construction CEO… Read Article →

Once upon a time, newspapers would clearly label opinion as opinion. Now, opinion is permitted in the guise of news. An illustration of this is in a New York Times story, Oct. 16, 2016, about Hillary Clinton’s avoiding discussing reports of Trump’s sexual stuff. The story says: “Last summer, Clinton began her campaign by declaring that she wanted to create ‘an America where a father can tell his daughter: ‘yes, you… Read Article →