Memo puts WGN news staffers at a loss for words
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.
Randy Michaels (photo from Los Angeles Times)
The man at the top of the troubled media empire took time out of his real job this week to issue a list of words and phrases — 119 of them, to be exact — that must never, ever be uttered by anchors or reporters on WGN-AM (720), the news/talk radio station located five floors below his office in Tribune Tower.
Believe me, I’m not making this up.
WGN news director Charlie Meyerson, good soldier that he is, passed on what he identified as Michaels’ “list of forbidden ‘newsspeak’ words and phrases” in a memo to his staff Monday, with the explicit warning: “Don’t say them on WGN.”
Meyerson, a veteran Chicago newsman, has long championed the idea of delivering the news in a down-to-earth, conversational manner. That’s all well and good. As Meyerson explained in his memo:
“The real goal here is to avoid using words that make you sound like you’re reading, instead of talking — that shatter the image you’re speaking knowledgeably to one person. By not using ‘newsspeak,’ you enhance your reputation as a communicator.”
But Meyerson takes it a step further, directing his staff to keep tabs on each other’s compliance: They’re to report any on-air infractions by their co-workers, making sure to note the precise time and date on “bingo cards” he provided that contain a random assortment of Michaels’ forbidden words. If you ask me, that’s just plain creepy.
What’s even more disturbing is that the CEO of a major institution would engage in such petty and insulting micromanaging of subordinates. Here, without further ado, is Randy Michaels’ complete list of unacceptable expressions on the Tribune Co.’s flagship radio station:
- “Flee” meaning “run away”
- “Good” or “bad” news
- “Laud” meaning “praise”
- “Seek” meaning “look for”
- “Some” meaning “about”
- “Two to one margin” . . . “Two to one” is a ratio, not a margin. A margin is measured in points. It’s not a ratio.
- “Yesterday” in a lead sentence
- “Youth” meaning “child”
- 5 a.m. in the morning
- After the break
- After these commercial messages
- Aftermath
- All of you
- Allegations
- Alleged
- Area residents
- As expected
- At risk
- At this point in time
- Authorities
- Auto accident
- Bare naked
- Behind bars
- Behind closed doors
- Behind the podium (you mean lecturn) [sic]
- Best kept secret
- Campaign trail
- Clash with police
- Close proximity
- Complete surprise
- Completely destroyed, completely abolished, completely finished or any other completely redundant use
- Death toll
- Definitely possible
- Diva
- Down in (location)
- Down there
- Dubbaya when you mean double you
- Everybody (when referring to the audience)
- Eye Rack or Eye Ran
- False pretenses
- Famed
- Fatal death
- Fled on foot
- Folks
- Giving 110%
- Going forward
- Gunman, especially lone gunman
- Guys
- Hunnert when you mean hundred
- Icon
- In a surprise move
- In harm’s way
- In other news
- In the wake of (unless it’s a boating story)
- Incarcerated
- Informed sources say . . .
- Killing spree
- Legendary
- Lend a helping hand
- Literally
- Lucky to be alive
- Manhunt
- Marred
- Medical hospital
- Mother of all (anything)
- Motorist
- Mute point. (It’s moot point, but don’t say that either)
- Near miss
- No brainer
- Officials
- Our top story tonight
- Out in (location)
- Out there
- Over in
- Pedestrian
- Perfect storm
- Perished
- Perpetrator
- Plagued
- Really
- Reeling
- Reportedly
- Seek
- Senseless murder
- Shots rang out
- Shower activity
- Sketchy details
- Some (meaning about)
- Some of you
- Sources say . . .
- Speaking out
- Stay tuned
- The fact of the matter
- Those of you
- Thus
- Time for a break
- To be fair
- Torrential rain
- Touch base
- Under fire
- Under siege
- Underwent surgery
- Undisclosed
- Undocumented alien
- Unrest
- Untimely death
- Up in (location)
- Up there
- Utilize (you mean use)
- Vehicle
- We’ll be right back
- Welcome back
- Welcome back everybody
- We’ll be back
- Went terribly wrong
- We’re back
- White stuff
- World class
- You folks
Who the hell would want to work for this idiot or WGN? But in this economy the bosses have employees over a barrel. Encouraging snitching on co-workers creates a hostile work environment. Kinda reminds me of the office scenes in Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil”. The news people use “newsspeak” because they’re in the news biz! Imagine trying to deliver the days events and worry about being reprimanded for slipping up on every word. Maybe Michaels will have a “newsspeak swear jar”. So stupid. Where’s the list of words for fat, brain-dead CEOs to avoid??
It would be awesome if the staff got fed up and just rose from their desks and walked out in protest.
BTW… Randy Michaels photo caption: “I wanna pizza THIS big!”
To be fair, the guy is a world class certifiable idiot.
In other news…just forget it. Get outta town.
Great that you lent him a helping hand and put it out there, Feder.
Wait… If this is not a joke, why is it so damned funny? TribCo execs can’t be clever! What’s going on over there, er, up there… is there no there there?
I agree with most of these rules. Get an education.
Several of them are actually intelligent & do need to be enforced.
Shower activity is diarrhea of the mouth & can be replaced by the far more sensible & shorter “showers”.
Undocumented alien is just PC speech for illegal alien.
Senseless murder implies that there are sensible murders.
Auto accidents are really crashes or wrecks.
And the pronunciation guide ones make sense, but then why would you hire someone to be a on air newscaster if they say hunnert or eye-rak?
But I fail to see the dislike for flee or pedestrian.
Does he want them to say “ran away”? Or call the people in a crosswalk, “walkers”?
Or was he referring to pedestrian as an adjective?
He listed “Some as in about” twice. Maybe he should proof read before he hands a list of censored words to his staff.
What’s the issue here? Every media organisation has lists of banned words. At The Australian nobody’s allowed to use “controversial”, for instance. Why? Because its a cliche. And most of the above are also cliches.
Funny thing is, Michaels is dead on regarding most of this misused or overused broadcast vernacular. Guess when things feel out of control at the top, you look for something you can control.
How bizarre is this management team? Can you imagine what Brandmeier would have done with this memo? It’s no wonder he didn’t sign with WGN. Forget the fact that the money they offered him was a joke! What about these ridiculous directives?
This almost smacks of the initial volley in an ultimate effort to totally eliminate all local news coverage on AM720 and just pull a network news feed at the top and bottom of the hour. I know it`s hard to conceive of the flagship broadcast property of the Chicago Tribune without any local news, but this new edict will certainly make WGN-AM reporters and anchors the laughing stock of Chicago radio. I know WGN`s numbers are very poor in the highly sought-after money demographic (25-54, male & female), but banning whole phrases of the English language are NOT going to change that.
You know what, guys? In a surprise move, it’s definitely possible that I actually completely approve of this world-class list.
All I have to say is… WTF? I mean, micromanagement doesn’t even come close to describing this!
Oh, and this list makes me want to get on WGN and say them. How are people not laughing this guy out?
What about makeshift?
As Emperor of RacketMag.com, I find it my mission to balance out Mr. Michaels’ insanity by ensuring my writers utilize these phrases as much as possible to make it seem like we know what we’re talking about. The fact of the matter is that this is definitely possible down in SoCal. We’ll be back.
-The Emperor!
Is this for real? Its not April Fool’s day.
It seems they are memo crazy at the Tribune. WGN radio personalities were told
not to exchange pleasant greetings with callers – who are their bread and butter.
They are censoring some very common everyday expressions and asking collegues to turn
each other in over trivial nonsense. Are we bringing back journalism McCarthyism ?
You might be missing the trees for the forest here. Michels’ involvement aside, the list is excellent. It spotlights the worst cliches that radio news has offered up for years in lieu of good writing. I will be copying it and referring to it often in my radio job. My only addition would be ‘parent’s worst nightmare.’ I’ve always wondered what a parent’s best nightmare might be.
Our top story tonight: Pig Virus has no clue. Stay tuned.
he wants to get rid of all the radiospeak, but he goes by two first names
Wow, Micheals. Seriously? Maybe your free time would be better spent at the gym working off that fat gut instead of in front of a computer slowly pecking with two fingers, a list of words you don’t want the news staff to use.
As a working broadcaster, I agree that most of the phrases are cliche and can and should be avoided.
Ratting out your co-workers, that’s a different topic.
Impossible to monitor and enforce. No self respecting in-house snitch could write fast enough to catch all of those constructions as they’re used each hour of the broadcast day. A few on his list do need to go away (“senseless murder” When does a murder ever make sense?). But “alleged” needs to stay for obvious reasons. I understand what the guy is trying to do. He wants better use of language. Not so much reliance on battered cliches. Unfortunately, he’s making his argument about 25 years too late. We’ve all gotten lazy in the way we write and speak. That’s a cultural shift. His list of words won’t change any of the people he’s targeting. He’s being a fussy old jerk. He should shrug and walk back into his office and close the door.
To be fair,the best kept secret is that the legendary Dr Milt Rosenberg would utter the phrase bare naked usually after a commercial break. Really. That’s every parent’s nightmare.
He gets paid for this? Maybe WGN shouldn’t allow their exec’s to smoke that stuff in the building.
Stay classy, Chicago.
Why does the World’s Greatest Newspaper keep this piece of crap? Water seeks it own level, just look at his new hires. What a shame to see such a great station fall into the toilet. Parent company needs to flush them all away……
WGN has become the Goldblatt’s of Chicago radio. Soon they will suffer the same fate as the once proud, yet incredibly low end, department store. The list of people rolling over in their graves is far too long to post.
Frankly, Michaels is dead-on and I laud Charlie Meyerson (oops!) for trying to do a good job. The broadcast news outlets in this town are embarrassingly sloppy and ill-informed. Most on-air personalities are regarded as ignoramuses who probably could not hold a job were it not for their looks and ability to read a script on air. Even the latter is apparently not that big of a job requirement. Hats off to Charlie Meyerson, one of the few outstanding broadcast journalists left in this great city.
For real? Alleged and Allegedly? I mean, aren’t these words of journalistic fairness? Hell, fairness!
I agree completely with the list. And while we’re at it can we demand that all TV reporters stop doing the “vagina pose” with their hands? Putting your hands together at the finger tips does not make you look sincere – it makes you look like a douche-bag!
The list is one thing, one paragraph is what made me shake my head:
>>But Meyerson takes it a step further, directing his staff to keep tabs on each other’s compliance: They’re to report any on-air infractions by their co-workers, making sure to note the precise time and date on “bingo cards” he provided that contain a random assortment of Michaels’ forbidden words. If you ask me, that’s just plain creepy.<<
To be honest, I would be looking for another gig if I did news at WGN. What is he (Myerson) trying to do? Make everone on his newsteam have to look over thier shoulders? These people are professionals and don't need that.
Puleeeeazzeeee.
Doesn’t Micheals have more important things to do than to make up a list of clichés? Perhaps he needs more paperclips to count.
If Zell had a bigger “set” he would fire Micheals and the rest of the management idiots running loose at the “Tower”before all is lost.
What was Micheals thinking? Of course this would get out. And yes, it make him look like a micro-managing despot and major idiot!
Has anyone brought this to the attention of Ricky Gervais? We have some great material he for the next “Office!”
Thank goodness DIVA is on the list…..I was just thinking last week that Judy Pielach really over uses that word in her reports.
Living in Cincinnati I know how ole Benjamin Humel (Randy’s real name) trashed a local 50,000 stations named 700 WLW. Pure junk when he finished with it. Also, when at WFLA in Tampa, he once thumb tacked a female on-air personalities panties to the bulletin board. Nice guy? No way. WGN will be junk when he is finished carving!
The untimely death I can understand. I have never heard of a timely death. Some of the things the pig is asking for is dumb.Such as”white stuff”. I have lived hear all my life and I’ve heard people use that all my life. Maybe he can get Murru Slaughter to write the news and he would use “raging inferno” instead of fire.
This must be a joke.
Or just another preposterous example of poor management. Whatever merit exists with regard to the list itself is obscured by the way the message is being presented to staff.
Here’s a question….if this is so important to him, why doesn’t he just watch the shows and police the situation himself instead of having the employees tell on each other??
Let’s hope that Randy is also working on a “do not use list” for Greg Jarrett that includes every word that could be pronounced with a Spanish accent! He is so annoying when he breaks into his “I am fluent in spanish” speak!
If WGN reporters were already giving 110 percent, they wouldn’t be putting themselves at risk here, would they? The bad news…they can’t seek other employment…because, fact of the matter is, there are no radio news jobs left in this market. It’s really too bad. They’re plagued by lard-enhanced micromanagers (not a complete surprise). Going forward, you watch. We only have the sketchy details. The whole staff is in harms way. It’s a no brainer. Allegedly and reportedly the place is run by the mother of all doofuses and it’s definitely possible major changes will come in close proximity to publication of this senseless list.
Didn’t Johnny Sunshine get in trouble at an LA radio station for using the word “booger?” Shouldn’t that be on the WGN list or is it ok to use it?
He missed one. Most of these had me chuckling, but the one that REALLY needs to be enforced at every tv/radio in town is the use of the term “all but” — NONE of them use it correctly. Following ‘all but’ should be the one thing that did NOT happen, but instead they follow it w/what did happen. For example, reporters would incorrectly say “the WGN CEO all but sent out a riduculous memo” when in fact it should be “the WGN CEO all but wore a shirt that read ‘kick me, I’m an idiot’” Oh well, enough of my muttering – I’m off to look up the definitions of podium and lectern.
After nine years in newspapers, I don’t entirely disagree with some of the suggestions on this list — some of these are Associated Press style, a media bible of sorts. What I do agree with is how ridiculous it is that the CEO is focused on this stuff instead of figuring out how to keep the company alive. If the STMG higher-ups had been doing this during our bankruptcy last year, I probably would have “completely destroyed” something “in the wake of” their stupidity.
Robert, I am surprised that a writer as good as you would take issue with a media executive demanding good use of the mother tongue. Now, if somebody can get broadcasters to stop splitting infinitives, ending sentences with prepositions and using “who” as an object we might be getting someplace.
I notice Michaels left off my pet peeve: “Span” meaning “bridge.” Who the says “span?”
The vehemence with which so many of your other readers denounced Michaels and his list shows high school English teachers have not been doing their jobs for at least the past two generations.
Agree with this action or disagree, Michaels’ lists is generous compared to some of the stylistic dictates Colonel McCormick used to impose on print writers in the same building.
I will agree this is something the news director should have done, not an executive at Michaels’ level.
I had a boss like this in advertising. On the one hand, it’s nice to see management show some reflection of the actual craft of the business, and challenging people to abandon their crutch cliches is good. On the other hand, if all it does is remind you of the 58 problems that management isn’t making better, it’s maybe the right answer at the wrong time.
I have to say that I agree with most of the list. It adds little to your typical conversation or news report.
There are two problems:
1. It shouldn’t be coming from the CEO. Doesn’t he have better things to do?
2. It’s disturbing that fellow journalists are expected to rat one another out. Like the CEO, they have better things to do.
Almost makes me want to tune in again just to hear those poor sob’s try to do their jobs with this jerks sword hanging over their heads…
I resent that they had to ruin my radio station….stopped listening months ago and will now only listen on cub days.
Hope the cubs leave for another outlet soon!
To Dean Richards, Steve Cochran, Steve Bertrand, and John Williams, …you guys have talent and poise….you will find employment elsewhere…
sorry for your loss..
On one hand, he is micromanaging. On the other, he’s right. Television “journalists” also would do well to drop these words from their “reports.”
He is absolutely right. He even came up with a few I hadn’t thought of. These are purely crutch words.. and his newscasts (and the anchors) will be better off without them.
Not a big fan of ratting out coworkers.. but it seems more intended to keep everyone in check as opposed to some kind of disciplinary action.
Newsspeak is out.
Newspeak is in!
Ma nish ta na ha lilah ha zeh ? (Why is this night different from all other nights?
By the way, how did he manage to omit the misuse of the word “unique”?
Looks like it’s time to bring back the “Phrase the Pays”
This isn’t odd or unusual in radio. Program Directors I worked for in the Chicago area and beyond have all been complete buzzkills. And people wonder where the “new talent” is? Radio doesn’t embrace talent, it kills it.
Randy Michaels ?? See all of you were short sighted when you thought that ‘Bozo’ was let go by WGN..
They forgot a forbidden phrase on the list..”This is Greg Jarrett”. The reason he has someone else monitoring the radio for infractions is because Randy Michaels won’t listen to his own station. Someone writes, look at his new hires. Don’t have to go that far, look at the new fires. When you let go the high caliber people he’s told to hit the road, that speaks volumes. If I had to follow that list, I’d be let go the first newscast. They’re going to sound like robots. It keeps getting worse.
WGN has got to come alive – do watch the Noon news everday in my office – In my opinion, great reporters, but who is responsible for their syle of dress?? – Allison Payne is a beautiful woman who consistently wears fabric that I would have on my couch, or a carpet – Robert Jordan has no idea how to look classy, and Julian and Muriel speak in such a monotone, that it is time to snooze – Steve Sanders at least relates, as does Skilling.
WGN should represent Chicago – not Des Moines. A decent newscast, but if the reporter’s attire doesn’t represent this great city, what’s the point?
It’s not just that the list is asinine. It’s not just that tattle-telling is perverse. It’s that this numb-nut offers no SOLUTIONS. Any management leader knows that you don’t just present the problem, you offer a SOLUTION. This is nothing but harassment to get the staff to quit, so they can hire people at $11 an hour. I’d like to see someone follow Michaels around for a week, and do some cliche-counting. Perhaps there’s a memo or two that discusses “growing” the business, etc.
Check his record on turning aging-demo AM stations around and argue with the success.
Yes, some is this basic announcer school stuff, but shouldn’t it be coming from the program Director or news Director instead of top management. I had a station owner who wrote us up for letting the dreaded “Dubba-you” slip out; even though politically, he’d've thought “Dubya” was the name of a great leader. He also insisted on pronouncing “coo-pon” instead out “Q-pon.”
But in my lexicon, “white stuff” is vital! It’s the mysterious fifth food group of the working broadcaster, right after Sugars, Salts, Greases and Caffeines. White Stuff is ususally found in the filling of Oreos and Twinkies, in marshmallows, and in instant mashed potatoes. Oh, wait… it means “snow?” Never mind.
I guess there isnt much else going on WGN these days. No wonder this station (and others) are in such a state of dis-repair. I’m sure Wally or Uncle Bobby would drive Randy nuts for showing some personality on the air.
Perhaps WGN is trying to gain some “traction” in an effort to change their “corporate culture”. Hey, I’ve “been there, done that” and I’m sure Michael’s is simply trying to take a “Pro-active” approach to improving WGN’s “Core Competencies”. “Thinking outside the box” is obviously part of his “Skill Sets” and the reason he is the “top dog”. He may appear to be “Playing hardball”, but he is actually a “Square peg in a round hole”. WGN should be planning his “Exit Strategy”.
Get with the program and hey, Let’s do lunch
Just try listening to Greg Jarrett and not fill in the bingo card! All he does is read stories in the morning because he doesn’t have a clue about Chicago! WGN should start by fixing that!
The fact of the matter is that some of these entries are completely sensible, and the best-kept secret is that some of the carpers in this comment thread would agree with at least a few of them. To be fair, we’re reeling from the death toll that divas such as Randy Michaels have inflicted upon journalism, and that’s having a bare naked impact on the judgment of all of you world class folks out there.
Know what?
As a former tv new director, I am in sympathy with the CEO’s directive. Insulting?
Yes.
Micromanaging?
Oh yeah
But if you heard this kind of hackneyed swill day after day from people who should know something about good writing, but are just plain lazy, you might be driven to desperate measures yourself.
At least he didn’t fire the news director who evidently lets this kind of lousy, cliched writing foul the airwaves.
@emacee1701: “Robert, I am surprised that a writer as good as you would take issue with a media executive demanding good use of the mother tongue. Now, if somebody can get broadcasters to stop splitting infinitives, ending sentences with prepositions and using ‘who’ as an object we might be getting someplace.”
.
I really hope this is brilliant satire.
Yeah, some of it is PC, some overused and misused. But, it’s is STUPID MANAGEMENT
It’s a style guide. Don’t tell me the New York Times doesn’t have a list of words writers are supposed to avoid and copy-editors are supposed to remove. In fact, a good chunk of these are just simple grammar issues.
BTW, a person isn’t an “alleged bank robber”, they’re an “accused bank robber”. Facts are alleged, people are accused. You can’t ban the word completely, but it’s used wrongly more often than not. You’re more likely to have an “accused bank robber” than an “alleged bank robbery” and in the latter case, you can have an “apparent bank robbery” or an “unconfirmed bank robbery”.
(Sorry)…that is just trying to justify a salary and position. Radio is known for some of the stupidest ways to communicate. The more mgmt tells air staff what to say and how to say it, the quicker I guess the real question is: Is WGN a better radio station now or before Michaels arrived? I’ve been listening to WGN for 50 years and it is at best, not interesting.
My bad, sticky computer keys this morning. Please delete.
This really isn’t that bad. Yes, it’s micromanagement. But, with regard to many of those banned phrases, he’s absolutely right. In essence, he’s just reminding anchors to avoid cliches and constipated wording, which is fine. Print reporters get hammered with e-mails like that all the time. Many reporters, in fact, are sticklers for that kind of stuff by themselves. The fact that he’s banning those phrases and words — for the most part; some are dumb — is not the problem. It’s the insane accountability measures on which he insists. That’s a lot of needless work, and it should be up to the station chiefs to keep note of that, not the Tribune administration.
I don’t like micro-managers but this reads as more of a ’style guide’ for news copy which, as owner, he’s entitled to issue. The bingo cards and informants are another matter. I agree with almost everyone of these. News writing can be incredibly cliched.
I didn’t see “douche bag” on that list…fair game, Randy? I’ll wait for another memo.
–without further ado–
Add THAT to the list.
Pedestrian? f*** off
I don’t know wbout this; it doesn’t sound too extreme. Many people have commented above in defense of the elimination of cliches, and I think they’re right.
The memo seems a little heavy-handed coming from the CEO, but it sounds like Charlie, and the rest of the great personalities in that news room, will find a productive way to address the (legitimate) core concern.
Come on, a bingo card? Could you imagine Steve Bertrand yelling out “Bingo!” right after Jim Gudas reports sketchy details on a fleeing perpetrator?
All of us are fans of good news writing. Michaels’ methods should probably be questioned, but I applaud Charlie Meyerson for playing ball against ugly management and a tough economy, and the entire news room for being real professionals.
I do not understand the objection you are making. News organizations have used style books for many years to ensure that news writers (and news readers)adhere to standard forms of usage that represent either proper grammar, locally accepted conventions or a combination of the two. Such practices were thought to enhance both the gravitas and credibility of news reports.
Hey Randy and Charlie. Did Legal vet this list?
I always thought it was the lawyers who preferred using “alleged” and “reportedly” to help avoid having to use terms like “slander lawsuit” and “millions of dollars in damages.”
Silly me.
I would also think that a news manager with real proficiency in the language would suggest replacements for the words he orders his people not to use. For example, “coaching” and “encouraging” are always better than “demanding” and “threatening” when it comes to improving a subordinate’s skills.
For that matter, the phrase “encouraging co-workers to comply” or even RFeder’s own, “keep tabs on others compliance” certainly is preferable to the word “snitch” although the latter is far more applicable.
Speaking of useful terms, I wonder if the editors of this blog will allow me to use the one I think is most appropriate: “corporate masturbation.”
What? A media CEO with a crappy financial outlook who micromanages? That’s never happened!
While having control over grammar is one thing, having “bingo cards” to rat out your coworkers is awful. What a terrible work environment that promotes.
Don’t be surprised when your favorite on air personalities leave and start showing up in car ads or as a hospital spokesman.
The list is solid; it’s good journalism. The problem here isn’t in creating the list — that’s a very good step — it’s the way he’s instituting it.
Billy Barnes: “Don’t tell me the New York Times doesn’t have a list of words writers are supposed to avoid and copy-editors are supposed to remove.”
Cue Emerson.
Feder, you’ve finally lost it.
Stations like WGN-AM need to get with the times, not talk like it’s 1975 anymore.
What else would you have them do?
How about “ek-setera” and “things went horribly wrong”?
This guy is a world-class douchebag. No question about it. It’s a very good list. But giving people bingo cards to turn people in just makes him look like TribCo’s McCarthy.
The issue isn’t the style guide. It’s the manner in which a floundering, arrogant management team presented the list to their employees.
For crying out loud, people! Get a jar and fine all the on-air folks a quarter for every time they mess up.
Michaels and Myerson might not like that idea but I bet Sam sure would.
Too bad the list doesn’t exclude “The Big Dance” in place of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. In fact, it appears the list doesn’t exclude any tired sports cliches, which is a shame really, since that’s where language is sloppiest.
Increase the dosage…….
First, I think it’s interesting that with everything going on in media and radio Michaels thinks this will make any difference. Make fewer people turn on their iPod or change to another station. Big thinking!
Second, I’m all for eliminating corporate speak, cliches and bad grammar. That’s easy to do when you type up a post or an article or write a 1/2 hour scripted newscast. But sometimes people use these because they have to do traffic every 10 minutes for 6 hours (36 times!) and don’t want to to be repetitive and boring. And how do you eliminate all this stuff from people who have to talk off the cuff for 4 hours? Or go to commercial and back 50 times a day?
Maybe he should worry more about Garry Meier’s lame, lame jokes and Steve Cochran’s lame, lame jokes and content-by-press-release style.
I don’t see anything wrong with banning these cliches. At a newspaper, an editor might have a list even longer than this. The fact that this is broadcast should make no difference. And he left out “passed away” when used instead of “died”.
Hey, whatever it takes to boost ratings, right? (LOL!)
In total agreement with the list. Thirty-two year broadcast veteran here. A growing, living language is one thing; overused, meaningless cliches are another. Dreck from entry-level, literacy-challenged re-writers in the radio department of the nation’s rip-and-read news services should be edited out before it gets read on the air.
Is this only for the news people or does it apply to all on-air personnel? Will it also apply to Pat and Ron during the Cubs broadcasts? I can’t imagine Ronny will put up with this nonsense for very long, or at all.
For crying out loud, people! Get a jar and fine all the on-air folks a quarter every time they mess up.
Use the money to hire a news director smart enough not to add snitching on co-workers to a job description
This has probably already been said several times… but I do agree with most of this list. I would find it hard, however, to eliminate the use of both authorities AND officials. I guess the only way to do that is to say “the district says” or “the police say” instead of “district officials” and such.
I cringe every time I see the AP use “fire officials” in stories. I mean, really?
Actually, we’d all do well to print this list and follow it. As for Meyerson’s attempt to have staffers narc on each other, that barely registers on the Richter scale of outrageous management. To characterize his scorecards as “creepy” leads me to conclude you’ve worked for very few news directors or you’ve been lucky enough to lead a very sheltered, very blessed life.
@Fershlugginer Potrzebie: “A growing, living language is one thing; overused, meaningless cliches are another.”
.
Yah, but this itself is an overused, meaningless cliche.
When out-of-their-league big, fat white guys run the show, this is whatcha get: underwear-sniffing, aka being a “Randy”.
What we have here is a failure to communicate.
–Strother Martin, Paul Newman; Cool Hand Luke
If this news director had been doing his job, the style guide would have come from him. And if he had any idea how to manage people effectively, he wouldn’t have to use ‘bingo cards’ to ensure compliance.
Those bingo cards that were passed out so the staff could rat on their colleagues was a very poor investment because they’ll never get used. Does Michaels think he’s supervising a bunch of 4th-graders? Too funny.
Some good ideas on the list but a simple memo or meeting describing the goal would have been sufficient, especially for anyone good enough to work on the air at WGN.
these actually make a lot of sense.
He was probably jotting them all down when his anchors were misusing the english language left and right, and it left him with a 119-word list of pet peeves.
it’s too bad he couldn’t just issue guidelines, rather than directives. But that, ofc, is his perogative.
This is a non-story. Who cares? Of course, a significant portion of the postings lament the absence of the dinosaurs that roamed the dial in days of yesteryear. I would think people would have enough intelligence to either filter and correct what is offending to their sensibilities or turn the dial to another station that soothes their senses. There is nothing like a story that features AM radio to get the posting flowing….
“Fershlugginer Potrzebie” Dave Baum is that you?
radio,television seems to be out of control, nothing new, overkill on the bad.
very very little on the good out in the world.
Most of his banned words or phrases make sense. Persons who use them sound uneducated and not bright enough to be taken seriously. This, unfortunately, includes most of the TV, Radio and Print media. (What ever happened to Editors?) I would like to add any use of the suffix …gate. Its use implies that you haven’t the wit to see anything that is not shoved under your nose.
I do agree that he has more urgent things to occupy his time but can’t blame him if he cringes as bad as I do on hearing most of the items on the list.
tv
After another look at the list….near miss drives me crazy. A near miss is a hit. But senseless murder? Some could be justified. Ask the woman that just got raped or abused.
@Boris: No it’s not.
@Dr Bob: Nope, which will probably be a relief to Dave Baum.
@Boris: Okay, I’ll allow “growing living language” as a cliche. Got a better variant? No fair employing “elegant variation.” H. W. Fowler is watching, and Mencken will whack you if Fowler calls a foul.
I have to agree with the list. Clean up the media’s overused vocabulary! The bingo cards, okay, that’s a little creepy. But yes to the list.
These are actually just rules of making correct use of the English language (something Americans need to learn) and not using confusing or meaningless language. These rules make a lot of sense, and I don’t think there is anything crazy or Dilbert-like about them. Randy knows more about radio than most of the people who post here put together. A wise person would listen to his advice, and heed most of it.
QUOTE: [Let’s hope that Randy is also working on a “do not use list” for Greg Jarrett that includes every word that could be pronounced with a Spanish accent! He is so annoying when he breaks into his “I am fluent in spanish” speak!]
But then he pronounces “bistro” as BIS-stro rather than BEE-stro. Guess French isn’t a language he can lord over his audience!
There’s nothing wrong with any of this. Oh, his list should include “DA Bears.” “Cheese fries” (judging by his photo, he may want to exclude those from his diet, too) and “Dikka.” Dat is right, my friends. Da Bulls!
He should keep the word “jowls,” though. He has a small apartment growing between his lower jaw and what used to be his neck. Jowly guy!
I worked at a Randy Michaels station more than 20 years ago. He’s not one of my favorite people, but I do think he’s dead on when it comes to knowing radio. I’m still in the radio news biz and think this list is pretty good. Too many broadcast reporters, writers, and anchors write things they’d never say in normal conversation. Good for him for making the (very good) WGN news staff think about what they write and read. The bingo cards, though? Yeah, creepy.
Oh please, don’t tell me that I’m the only (other) one on this thread who recognizes “Fershlugginer Potrzebie” as words originated by MAD MAGAZINE!
I hope this humor-challenged “manager” will still allow the midnight newscaster to open his report with “It’s Tomorrow.” Original!
Has anyone else noticed that in the last couple years, radio newscasters (esp. on WGN) are often trying to offer subtle “commentary” with their newscasts in the tradition of the late Paul Harvey?
Yeah, this list is pretty lame. I wish it would have included MY pet peeve, “One of the only.” If there’s one, then it’s only. The proper phrase is “One of the FEW.”
Regarding “senseless murder” – George Carlin nailed this one many years ago with his fake newscast bit:
“Another senseless murder was solved last night when police arrested Irving Senseless and charged him…” or something like that.
In other words, don’t talk like you would naturally. STUPID.
Dunno, seems like a CEO should be concerned about the editorial tone/direction of his news organization. Maybe this list would’ve made sense more from a VP of Communication or something, but not sure what the fuss is about.
I agree with an earlier commenter that the actual weird parts of the memo are where coworkers are invited to rat on each other. But I’d wager the people saying the CEO is wasting his time with this are neither copyrighters nor people who understand there should be a central role in directing an organization’s message.
After reading the list, I recall my RTV 101/Journalism 101 days. I have to agree with the LIONS share of what Mr. Michaels has banned. MOst of these phrases are derived by self absorbed “I’m more important as I have a better voice than you” copy writers. Not reporters.
There are a few which make sense to use however. Without 100% proof of something as being a fact, “alledged, et al.” get’s them out from libel/slander litgation. Me thinks Randy didn’t run this past corporate counsel and there will be a new shorter list coming soon.
I have to admit, asking broadcasters to stay away from some of the words does make some sense. Good broadcasters should not be using news-speak or cliched, tired radio words. I teach broadcasting, after years of working in the industry, and we talk to students all the time about “tired” phrases. BUT – how this was handled, and the fact that there is some EDICT FROM ON-HIGH, and that the management is asking staffers to “police” others on this, well, that, my friend, makes me want to run and hide – and only come back – “right after these messages…”
No,…you need to say it just like Imus: double-you…eENNNNNNNNN-bee-see! Randy’s just doing to WGN what he did for Clear Channel; creating the worst work environment in radio. “Divide and conquer” is not a loyalty-inducing model for media.
So, if the Bare Naked Ladies come to the studio, how do you introduce them?
I’m thinking that Michaels is just a F’n moron …
Bill Berg is a class act and would never stand for this.
Time is the tyrant.
With all the criticism I see, what do Chicagoans have against precise and correct language usage?
The man has no editors?
Feder, as always a fun column. Just pull the pin and watch the comments flow in. Newsspeak might be offensive to true journalists. But Pizza Boy handled it wrong.
Gotta say, that ChiTownGal… funny lady… LAYYDDEEEEE!
George Carlin: “One armed man arrested in Central Park today for rowing boat in circle”.
This list is going to destroy a many a good drinking game (e.g., fatal death, senseless murder). I’m surprised “innocent bystander” is not on the list?
Randy Michaels stuck his square head into the gaping round hole where the WGN audience used to be. How does he do that?
What is the difference between these rules and a stylebook? Most newspapers have stylebooks, and I agree with many of his “rules.”
Maybe the complaints are with a CEO taking the time from a busy schedule on this matter, but somebody needs to do it.
We are a nation of many illiterates.
Are some of you people looking for a chance to complain?
Yes, some of these words and phrases should be abolished on the air. But where did Michaels find time to think of them and write them down? I didn’t have time to read them all.
Well, at least they HAVE a news dept. and staff. I have no staff, much less a newsperson.
OMG!!!!!!!! Sorry but that’s all I can come up with. What an idiot!
<> … but can one use Animal Hospital? LOL.
Not all of the list is evil, but who it came from is the evil aspect.
There are a lot of other things Power Pig himself can focus on and try to improve besides this which is low on the list and should be relegated to the available soldiers under him.
Warm Regards,
President Pedro
@#129 – I quoted “Medical Hospital” compared to “Animal Hospital” but the formatting prevented it from showing up.
Sorry! :)
President Pedro
But they are right about the catch phrases and jargon and crutches. Creepy big brother implementation, yes. But crutches suck.
Actually, hearing a handful of these being broadcast are pet peeves of mine, especially those mispronunciations (such as ‘dubbaya’), and redundancies (such as ‘fatal death’). While some of the words/phrases on the list are laughable due to their pointlessness, some are words/phrases gone cold through the ages.
He should have added, for Brian Noonan’s sake, don’t say, “I already said that,” or “We all know that,” after a caller’s comments (especially when Brian didn’t just say that or it’s not true that everyone knows that). Again, I ask, why is Noonan on the air? Maybe he’s related to this memo writer on another floor and isn’t being fired just to keep harmony in the family? Whatever, Noonan ought to be out.
Now, if the head of WLS-AM would just tell the afternoon staff to not say: “Ron Magers is walking into the studio…” Now “that” daily occurrence needs to stop!
Style Guide? Good! Bingo Cards? Bad! Suggest electroshock instead. For each use of a banned word, a little electrical stimulation will improve memory yet not impede long-term function. Tasers can be used in more extreme cases.
Count me among your readers who agree with most of Mr. Michaels’ forbidden words and phrases. I have preached the same philosophy to journalists in my various shops for years. Conversational writing creates a connection with the audience that is very positive, but the use of cliches, official-sounding words and non-words like “hunnert” is just plain BAD. Call it micromanagement if you want, but I applaud Mr. Michaels for his edict.
I’m particularly fond of “mute point” and “you folks.” Otherwise, I like George Carlin’s list of seven better.
Love the list. Add…AMAZING.
You must be kidding and for this he gets paid A LOT. What a nut. If that’s all he has to do each day he could come over here and help me with some of the work on my desk.
I LOVE this LIST. Long overdue. I don’t see it as mico-managing — he cares about the quality of his service and he totally nailed it.
BINGO!!! Just heard my 5th word on Garry’s show. When do I get my Seymour Pasin scarf?????
What about “the rain didn’t dampen the spirits of…” when referring to a public gathering of any kind subject to a rainshower? It’s the most abused phrase in broadcasting.
Some words on Michael’s hit list are simply poor English, lazy cultural phrases, or overused colloquialisms. But words such as “alleged” and “reportedly” are necessary legal newswriting buffers. Oh, but wait, Michaels is management and has no clue how to write news.
What a joke. What a way to boost morale and instill confidence in your employees.
I worked for Tribune once and it was a train wreck of an experience. The real problem is that when business turns sour and is troubled, they need to fire people from the top, not the bottom. Tribune is not going through a bad time right now because reporters and producers are using these 119 words. It’s gone wrong because of the bad management and stupid decisions the executives have made.
The only words they need to ban over there are “Randy Michaels”.
I agree with virtually all of Randy’s forbidden words and cliche’s list. I’m appalled at the desecration of our language and believe that electronic media folk need to pay more attention to what they say and how they say it and/or be critiqued by their manager for some of these inexcusable gaffs. Eckcetera is one that comes to mind.
Dale ‘Dan’ Tucker
Sacramento
50 Years in Radio this month..
Thank goodness “speaking out,” is on that list. Nobody says anything on television, they are all “speaking out tonight about …” It’s really old.
I agree with all of them and would add one: “hanged”, not “hung”.
And some idiot judge is giving this ass-clown and his team of Disc Jockeys raises.
For taking the company private with employee cash, swallowing its stock, then adding “laughingstock” to the corporate description.
Talk about mixed emotions!
These guys now running WGN Radio do, at times, appears as if they have no notion of being a warm, compassionate, fellow-worker is all about. Their memos are so “above the rest.” They seem to have a whip close by.
On the other hand, this recent memo of forbidden words and phrases is absolutely ON TARGET!!!!
Virtually each word and expression is a cliché! And, clichés are a sing of a mind at rest! I recall the Herman Kogan era at WFLD-TV when, as VP of News Kogan corrected and graded our news scripts, deducting points for every cliché used. The clichés on the WGN list are, to be sure, linguistic crutches of journalists and broadcasters who should know better. So, on that point WGN radio’s current management should be given a pat on the back (oops, sorry) … should be given credit for reminding the staff that they are professionals.
However…and here’s “the other hand”…the manner in which directives are set out strongly suggests a management that , while trying to polish the sound, needs some really in-depth person-to-person polishing themselves! It would not hurt WGN to send their leadership to some “finishing school’ before their less-than-collegial attitudes create more severe problems than the over-use of clichés!
As the saying goes, “been there; done that,” I’ve worked for – seldom with – management types who rule by a hammer rather than a helping hand. The former never, ever, win; they never accomplish their goals. They usually end up creating angst and enmity, while walking away with a fat check.
So, yes, keep down the cliché’s, but do it in a manner that speaks of a compassionate co-worker! In other words, do it as a real professional!
Bob Hale
(There is a flock of “W”s on the resume here; the very first -WGN-TV)
This is a great list if you want to turn the clock back 35 years to the days when local journalists were allowed to have funny hair, thick eyeglasses and odd voices, as long as they knew how to report and how to write. Happy Talk News changed all that in the mid-1970s, and dinner theaters around the country went dark as would-be actors and actresses started majoring in broadcasting instead. When you hire people who should have majored in theater, you can’t turn around and ask them to write without crutches and cliches.
As long as we’re clarifying…
“Potrzebie” was a unit of weight in MAD Magazine. I seem to remember it being used on some satire on baseball cards, circa 1967 or 1968.
SO…that means that Mr. Potrzebie must be around 55 years old. Bill Berg & Dave Baum are a tad more…advanced.
Y’know, it’s a good list with good advice. It takes a world-class moron to send these commandments down from on-high in a society where “free speech” is a treasure of the realm. Get this guy some counseling before he does something even more stupid.
I’d like to add one to the list that’s been bugging me for years–”Chicagoland area”. This phrase is terribly redundant: of course ChicagoLAND is the Chicago AREA! And the word “Chicagoland” makes the whole region sound like a theme park. Dump it altogether and just stick with “Chicago area,” already.
He left out “shocking.” Really, though, most of this stuff is newspaper language best left out of broadcast writing. I’ve worked for news directors who had their own lists of banned words. So what if the list comes from the big guy’s office?
The worst is not on the list. “Graphic picture” as in “we warn the audience that these pictures are graphic” Every picture is, by definition, graphic!
It’s even worse to work for them than you think. The General (Randy) allows a drugged out Colonel (Lee Abrams) to go around to all their properties and “innovate”. Meaning, move the deck chairs around and terrorize employees and managers. Randy makes this possible cause everyone knows you can’t say no to any crazy Lee idea or you’re taken out and executed because “you don’t get it”.. They’ve created a corporate culture where no one is allowed to disagree with crazy Lee or you’re fired. Imagine working for these people? So they now have hundreds of managers and employees who hate them and are waiting their chance sometime down the road to repay the karma. Lee puts out a weekly “RANT” published to everyone in the entire company where he shows off whatever stupid suggestions come to him, and BLASTS and berates employees. We have to all go out to dinner with him when he flies into our market and sit and smile. Lee blasts the Tribune TV stations about not being original and then makes it mandatory that all stations come up with a version of the NBC chimes to play at the end of news promos. I’m not making this up. All of the managers are radio friends of Randy from Tampa or Cincinnati with no experience but all walk with the swagger of “you don’t know anything and we work for Randy Michaels”. NONE of Lee Abram’s innovations are going to make ONE BIT OF ratings difference. NONE. Look at Lee’s personal model project, the Miami TV station. They now have a zero point zero rating. I guess no one is allowed to call him on that. But worse, they are meanest jerks. And don’t think you could fit in, cause you’re not one of the radio buddies from Tampa. So you don’t get it either.
(further meanderings): In a culture where TV News is more entertainment than information, more marketshare than communication, and more style over substance, it seems that Mr. Michael’s inelegant attempt to “educate” his newswriting staff on the subject of “American English Word Usage in Broadcast Journalism: 101″ has, apparently, created more harm than good. It is always advisable to dispense with the cliche, the hip phrase, and the local lingo when writing broadcast news stories. This is, after all, a “serious” endeavor which used to require a Journalism degree along with the proven ability to communicate in the language of the land, American-English. But with more news staff and air-talent coming from places other than a degreed Jouanalism school, it’s easy to see how “bad, lazy-speak” has infected the airwaves. Often it appears that writers and broadcaster simply don’t know any better. Certainly, though, the sledgehammer approach of Mr. Michaels could be achieved with less bombast and more sensitivity, keying on the focus of broascast news, communication.
OMG – what has this world come to……does this guy have anything else to do. apparently not.
as a broadcaster – this list makes sense. end story.
I just realized that “Youth” is on the no-no list. Why? It has a long tradition as being the best way to describe someone who is NOT a “child” but may be anywhere from around 12 to 18 (when “young adult” may be preferable). Non-sexist, non-age-specific, very politically correct. Yeah, this guy’s a few headlines short of a newspaper…
To the people complaining about micromanagement:
You have a point. He should be managing, and his first exercise should be the retraining or dismissal of the news editors who have been letting the crap-speak on his list be heard on the air. He shouldn’t have to tell the on-air people anything; that’s the editors’ job.
The list itself should be posted in every news room in the country, especially all-news radio stations. Most of them need it.
And another thing: Did the WGN staffers sign an “honor code” like the students at West Point? I doubt it. I also doubt that the cadets at West Point use “bingo cards” to turn in their peers.
Along with “Eksetra” I would add “Expearamint”(“ETCetera” of course, is the Alien from Chicago who sings “Glory of Love”…& I think it is up to the audience to judge it the murder was “Senseless”.
The concept of “The List” is brilliant & Landmark…& if any reader doesn’t like this or that entry, simply comment on it…”Get rid of this one, add one”, for example.
Anyone on this page calling the guy an “Idiot” or worse is just commenting on himself I would ask Arianna to maintain a list of the “100 Worst Terms in Modern English”…& identify to users on a weekly basis.
“Undocumeted” for “Illegal” has to be the Worst of All.
Nothing difficult is ever easy.
SHORT THIS MANAGEMENT TEAM!
Feder, you whine too much.
When I started in radio, every DJ taped their on-air breaks, and those breaks were reviewed by managers. Other DJs would let each other know what was working and what wasn’t. This isn’t that much different, and you know it. You’re just being a lazy writer.
If you think this is micro-managing, I suggest you get your micro-management detector recalibrated. Besides, most TV journalists don’t do any REAL journalism, so, if they can’t be held accountable for poor communicating, for what CAN they be held accountable?
so, no one will flee the scene. definite improvement
and shots will not ring out.
and no one and no place will be under siege.
oh, what a wonderful world it would be!
Funny, I thought we wanted accurate reporting. And good pronunciation, so we would say, “Two youths fled the scene.” not “Two yoods fled da scene.”
I must say I agree with most of the list. Ratting out fellow reporters is a different story though. The sad thing is that this misuse of the language is starting to permeate the printed media too.
Darn! I could’ve used Randy as a guide when I anchored the weekend news at Tribune’s Los Angeles station a year and a half ago. I spent a great deal of time rewriting copy because the newswriters “loved” cliches. But I’ve got to admit — I loved the phrase “Our Top Story Tonight….” — Maybe that’s the reason they cut me???
Walter:)
Watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYgT7TWFOsg
Randy Michaels, former broadcast “bad boy” when Radio was, well, Radio — should be “fish-chow at the bottom of Lake Michigan” for his effort to be relevant in radio micromanagement. Half of the words described are used in everyday “conversation” talk — not merely in “newsread.” Michaels lost touch with radio after the Jacor days and with Clear Channel, which ate is brain. I apologize that several of these words appear on the new “Do Not Say” list. Here’s to shorter news, now, on 720/WGN. Way to go, Randy! Now, about that bankruptcy …
All of this is stuff we learned — or should have — in Journalism 101. I’ve heard every one of these, and a good many more, in the recent past on Sacramento television. They’re tired, overused, redundant and unnecessary but today’s reporters and writers seem to be just too lazy to use everyday language.
I hope that news directors and editors will post this list in broadcast newsrooms across the country and I salute Randy Michaels for doing this.
ROTFLMAO, What are they thinking! If they had kept track of their administrative salaries and bonuses like they are tracking these words, maybe they could have kept some journalist with more experience who knew what the words meant.
Poor WGN reporters must be tongue-tied. Imagine having to avoid cliches, triteness, bad grammar, redundancies! What is a poor reporter to do? Be creative? Be descriptive? Be resourceful? Imagine the frustration of the boss who was forced to come up with such a list. Likely it didn’t take long. And that doesn’t include all the sports cliches …
I like the list. It’s good to take the repetition out of our lives. It will be a challenge for the announcers, but that’s what they get paid for. My contribution to the phrases to ditch is “Gone missing.”
“Welcome back everybody.”
I agree about some of the cliches. But I find that TV news anchors are more offensive with their overly dramatic body language and tone of voice. You’ve seen the type… eye rolling head tilting, exaggerated hand waving and over enunciating. It looks like a bad soap opera audition. It shows up at all levels of TV news. Just take a look at CNN, FOX and MSNBC and the big 3. The anchors/reporters on our local affiliates know that if they want to make the big time (ex. Robin Meade, Tamron Hall) on a network, then that’s what kind of behavior is expected. Christi Paul, Megyn Kelly, Shepard Smith, Diane Sawyer and the worst, Rick Sanchez all do the overly emotional, faked sincerity performance. Christi Paul has this thing she does while speaking… dramatically looking off camera to the side. It’s pretentious and distracting. I find this kind of melodramatic behavior the worst and it’s insulting to the viewers.
“Time for a break.”
I don’t see any issues with many of these words. There are too many clichés in media these days. Newsrooms are full of style guides. Maybe WGN needed an update to theirs.
Randy, you forgot “…Locked Securely” or “Securely Locked” as in “Chicago police say keep your cars locked securely.” Man, I love this old “Strunk & White’s Elements of Style” book. Glad you found a copy in a drawer in the Trib Building. If I ever hear this on WGN, I’ll “surely” let you know. Is there a reward for snitching, incidentally? And this applies to the pros on AM 720, but is there a separate list for Channel 9? Just sayin’. And KTLA could use your help here in Los Angeles, as well. Maybe WGN Radio could have a contest on this concept! The winner could be “Ace Reporter for the Day!”
Why would WGN hire anyone so untrained/uneducated to use these words? Trying to fix it from
the top down–is like making repairs to a car’s engine–through the muffler. This memo is doomed
to perfect-storm-disaster & senseless murder.
Hey Rob,
This is not about that, although it is painful for me to listen to Garry Meier try to talk about baseball…but can you do some research and find out how much time Scott Shannon is on the air on that oldies station? Its like he is on all weekend. Hope you are doing well and I miss you.
Dave
I don’t mind the list, it makes some sense. What I don’t like is how evil-mean (the right word) these guys are. My Market Manager hates these buffoons because of all their abuse but it’s funny to see him/her kiss their ass on facebook like he/she does. Love you Randy, Love you Lee, Love you Sean. If they only knew. Someone said they’re mean. If you’re not from the radio world then you don’t get it and you need to be fired. Lee Abrams didn’t have the power to hire and fire when he was at XM radio. We mostly patted him on the head and let him come up with names for shows. But Randy lets Lee travel around to the papers, the radio station and the TVs and reports back who didn’t like his idea about playing Serbian Goat music behind the commercials and therefor needs to get the gas chamber. Shame on you Randy. They brag that the General Managers never had more autonomy under their leadership to innovate! Bullshit. In reality they have never been more terrified and only have the autonomy to say “Right you are Randy!” Even the Lee Abram kissasses at the company are waiting for their moment to be Brutus. Are we having fun yet? Oh, wait, a bunch of these words are on Randy’s list.
you mean to say this guy is actually expecting on-air people to be articulate, accurate and not lean on trite, handy word or phrase crutches?
i’m not necessarily in favor of the man’s style in getting his point across but the bottom line? it’s about time to expect substance from tv reporters.
Meanwhile, for all his puffery and bravado, he spelled “lectern” wrong. How seriously is the public supposed to take a media chief who can’t spell?
Heck…how seriously are his employees supposed to take him?
Looks like Randy Michaels was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Was that Bob Hale??? The REAL Bob Hale??? Just a bit star-struck here. Wow.
I’m in awe.
He forgot “Nuke-yu-lar, when you mean nuclear” (Nuke-lee-er.)
Bottom line: there’s an AP for that, as in, the AP Stylebook.
Just sayin’.
Speaking as a former news producer and newsroom manager, one may have issues with the messenger but his message is right on target. Too many writers fall back on words that they, nevermind listeners & viewers, would EVER use in a conversation.
Now, I don’t know about the snitching on coworkers via banned-word-bingo… maybe Mr. Meyerson is trying to make it fun? Yeah, I’m not sure about that. But think about it: news is Tribune’s product and more listeners & viewers equals more revenue, which in turn gives the company a chance to climb out of the red. Mr. Feder you know that.
If these lists came from someone other than the head of Tribune Co., would anyone care? As a number of posters have said, much of what is on here is good advice. And every journalistic organization since time began has had internal pecadillos. On one hand I would be happy that the head of my company was interested in how its efforts could better connect with its customers, as opposed to simply sitting around moving numbers on an Excel file. I would be very unhappy that he asked me to be a stoolie. But the only reason this merits noting is that it’s the hated Tribune Co., Sam Zell, mouths watering over the Death of Old Media — all the paradigms it fits, the main one being that nothing is bigger than Me.
Say what you will about Michaels, he’s right. Most of that list is borrowed newspaper jargon. News directors have been trying for decades to kill it. Obviously he heard something on WGN that set him off and he decided to act on it. Sometimes, ya just gotta do it yourself.
This isn’t micromanaging; it’s good management. Cliche news speak is both irritating to the ear and often inaccurate, not to mention lazy writing.
Wheh! So glad they can still use: “If you think (fill in the blank)… think again!”
Seriously?
You’re mocking a CEO for insisting that his staff use clear, concise, jargon-free language?
His only failing was not to have a second person proofread. Spell czech won’t cache everything, and when you proofread your own writing you will see the words that are supposed to be there, rather than the words that are there.
The comments about the management practices of Mr. Michaels and his senior staff are a separate issue, and a deeply troubling one. In this one narrow area, though, he is right.
I agree with him on about half of the words and phrased. Not using alleged will get the station into legal trouble. Asking reporters to turn in other reporters is a very bad idea and a waste of valuable time.
Pam Henry
Retired News Director
Oklahoma City, OK
The Onion has provided below how Cable news works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U4Ha9HQvMo&feature=player_embedded
He’s about 15 years late to the party. The definitive list of “Groaners” has existed at http://newswriting.com/groaners.htm for a long time.
Seriously…the list makes sense…it IS 2010…it just seems weird coming from the PRESIDENT OF THE COMPANY and not, say, a news director or assistant program director.
Agree with each and every word. Good for Randy. Who cares what people think. Change is hard and sometimes feels like an attack, but the devil is in the details my friend. You think Superbowl winning coaches sweat the little things? You bet your a** they do.
As pointed out by a previous post, “alleged” and “allegedly” are actually words that a TRAINED journalist uses as a way to convey a situation as not confirmed. If they don’t use those words, then a situation can be misconstrued and factually incorrect. So I must protest. Meanwhile, in the interest of clear communication, while many of those words are indeed ‘crutch’ words, they are not what I would call ‘trashy’ words either. Many times, in order to convey what you mean (which appears to be difficult for most) it is best to use simple language. Those words, albeit overused, do exactly that.
WGN News Flash:
Randy Michaels CEO of Tribune owned WGN is banning the letter L from the alphabet and vocabulary of all spoken words over WGN. Randy was heard uttering “That damn letter L. That’s why the ratings keep falling”.
Stay tuned for further advancements in broadcasting, from the desk of Randy Michaels.
In other news……Kevin Metheny was considering changing the WGN call letters to HUH.
Eye-Ran…Eye Rock? And it didn’t include: “Eye-Talian”!
I fully agree with Mr. Michaels.
Most on-air (television and radio) commentators have an embarrassingly low understanding of the correct use of the English language. Grammar and syntax are sacrificed in nearly every sentence used by today’s “talking heads”.
There is not a grammatical error that you cannot hear in nearly every newscast or sportscast.
It is a scandal and it is about time that someone with authority observes it and takes steps to correct it.
Keep it up Mr. Michaels, and at your next meeting with your fellow broadcast executives in other media, give them a copy of your list and suggest that they present it to their employees.
Bravo!
“One-year anniversary”, or “5-year anniversary”, or whatever-year anniversary. Just say “first anniversary” or “fifth anniversary”. Even worse, is “One-month anniversary of this or that event”. And yes, let’s get rid of “guy” (“man” is a nice word to describe a man. After all, “woman” seems to be fine for a female adult) and let’s farewell to “you guys”.
This is quite unbelievable (can I say that word???). I think the guy is a moron and if he’s representative of management at the Tribune/WGN, they’re in a world of hurt (can I use those words???).
WOW
How rare today–suggesting that there should actually be journalistic standards! Michaels apparently has had enough and doesn’t like what he’s been reading or hearing. But how could he have missed “passed away” for “died?” That’s pretty popular among new journalists, isn’t it?
@Fershlugginer Potrzebie: “Okay, I’ll allow ‘growing living language’ as a cliche. Got a better variant? No fair employing ‘elegant variation.’ H. W. Fowler is watching, and Mencken will whack you if Fowler calls a foul.”
.
It’s actually the whole plugged prescriptivist song and dance that I was referring to. Not only do collections of bête noirs fail to provide a substitute for common sense or education, they often make the situation worse. If you’ve ever seen an editor shambling around putatively “de-fusing participles” (speaking of Fowler), you’ll probably get my drift.
.
Are some of these constructions shopworn? Sure. Big deal. WGN has a greater problem with its news staff frequently revealing through truly weird mispronunciations that they don’t know what the words they’re attempting to say mean in the first place.
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And, as for “youth,” I recommend that the term be replaced with “stripling” right away.
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-30-
The guy with the big office should have bigger stuff to worry about, agreed. But if performers on radio all over the U-S and Canada would get it together, they would not have to be told any of this. Most of these words and phrases would never have been used on CHUM in my day; they’re crutches, cliches, and crap. So many newscasts today are so peppered with “alleged” (dangerous, under Canadian law…we will see a big case one day over it) listeners may well wonder which of the “facts” the newscasters and reporters believe to be true. How grossly does one misunderstand radio as to use “yesterday” in a lead? Listen to George Carlin’s “Airline Announcements”. The stuff on the big guy’s list here are all “Meaningless F****** Terms” in Carlinese. They don’t belong on Radio. Too bad it had to come from the corner office.
What should newscasters call pedestrians? Walkers? Strollers? Hikers? People who use their feet to travel?
I also think that alleged is an appropriate phrase for broadcast.
But then, I’m not a journalist.
Randy Michaels has been a brilliant programmer for a long time. All of the words and phrases he mentions ARE radio cliches. Having said that, this is the same guy that pretty much destroyed terestrial radio (and clear channel) with voice tracking and other cost cutting measures that destroyed creativity. Its a shame, Randy use to be the king of creativity.
I wonder how the creditors who are suing and the major banks who are owed great sums of money will look at the CEO of a company in BANKRUPTCY and not generating reveuenes will look at the focus of a CEO micromanaging such an unimportant elenmte when he should be looking at re-organization and perhaps genmerating revenue
How long will the court leave such a manager(sic) in place?
Is Tommy Langmeyer stillat WGN radio? wouldn’t most GM’s control such a function?
Do they have an HR departmemt adn how do they feel about a Stalin like approach to turning in one’s comrade, er co-worker
This is why the company is failing
will these rules apply to the chap they brought in from Cincinnati ?
1) how do the creditors suing and the banks view a CEO micromanaging nonsense while revenues plummet and the re-org is incomplete?
2) is little Tommy Langmeyer still GM? what does he do- shouldn’t this “problem” be his area? if he can’t fix it- why pay him?
3) wonder why they are in BANKRUPTCY now?
Is the list put up somewhere, so that when staffers use a forbidden word,their initials can be placed next to it? Then after a certain number of violations, “something”, i.e. copying pages from a thesarus would make the violator feel remorse for his/her transgression.
Could I add to the list the phrase “We caught up with (some celebrity name) at (some restaurant) in (some city).” SO tired of that maybe once catchy phrase.
Abe (#194) is correct. This list has been circulating in one form or another for years so it is not even original and the professionals in the newsroom know this already. If RM thinks these phrases are a crutch, what is resurrecting this as a directive on high supposed to accomplish? Staff meetings and show reviews should take care of it. Some of the banned words are baffling. “Youth” as pointed out earlier is actually preferred in most usage. If not “pedestrian” what, “streetwalker?” Unless he means pedestrian as an adjective, which this list certainly is.
Way to go Mr. Michaels! I completely agree with you. Now go have another donut. Or dozen.
I’m upset that he did not include my favorite. First Annual. There is no such thing and those idiots on air continue to try and make us all believe there is. Only a really good CEO can make them stop using that phrase.
Well, at least this explains the mood swings of WGN lately. I always used to listen, but now I find myself tuning into other stations.
You could always count on WGN for news, but that has been screwed up by the new powers that be. The station is starting to go back to it, but not fast enough. “Emergency closings are on our website”- who has time in the morning to check it out.
Greg Jarrett should do a show for MENSA people, as he feel he needs to explain info to us. I think he may be on the way out, as when he first got to Chicago, he mentioned looking for a house and now he isn’t bringing it up anymore. He has started to give up looking for freebies for food and various attractions (thankfully).
I think John Williams should go back to being himself. It seems as though his job has been threatened and the bosses wavering on what they want has him desperately trying to please the powers that be.
Garry Meier was fine going solo, but I have to turn him off due to Elton Jim laughing at everything ( that drives me crazy).
Cochran is fine.
I too wish Nick Digilio was on more.
Simon the french dude and the News Junkie should be gone. Jerry Agar can be very overbearing.
I like Steve Bertrand, Orion is hanging on. I miss Max Armstrong and Wes Bleed.
I liked Kathy O’Malley and miss Speak Your Piece- Jarretts’ version sucks as he feels the need to explain and paraphrase (on a first grade level) what people eloquently say.
Sad to see a proud and respected station go down the crapper.
As a former long-time print journalist (who covered the national media business and Tribune Company), many print publications I had the benefit of working at follow either AP Style Books, the Chicago Style Book and many, if not all, keep their own internally-created style books, but this list of “banned” words and phrases takes the cake for its arbitrary nature, pettiness and minutiae.
Broadcasting on radio and TV is a different animal altogether from print and Internet media, though. Any type of on-air broadcasting is about spontaneity, with the understanding you stay away from the “Seven Deadly Dirty Words” immortalized by the late comedian George Carlin and, now I’m guessing, a greatly expanded list of “obscene words” defined by our wonderful Federal Communications Commission and Congress (which loves to jump on the “obscenity bandwagon” when everything else in the economy is tanking!).
This list from Randy Michaels, who I understand was a long-time radio ad sales guy and programmer, is more than a “Bingo card-sized” list, it’s bigger than a grocery shopping list. And it is the ultimate form of micro-management by executive-mandated tyranny to make fellow journalists and on-air reporters snitch and fink on each other when these common-day words are used so liberally in everyday spoken word and on local TV and radio broadcasts.
I can understand that you want your on-air talent to sound “smart” on-the-air with large, exercised vocabulary, but you don’t want them to turn into vanilla, over-policed robots as well. This just seems like the strangest form of “Thought Police” being extended to broadcast journalism.
To me, it sounds like Michaels is one of those former radio ad sales guys who lives in dire fear of ever-offending advertisers — not a journalist’s advocate.
Maybe this is what happens when you have strip mall/real estate owner named Sam Zell, who thinks a stock buyback is a brilliant idea and then runs the company into the ground and bankruptcy proceedings. Because it seems that what Michaels is enforcing is the sure signs of an “ad sales guy” who is desperate to keep and attract advertisers into the tent with the most vanilla, least offensive radio broadcasts possible. And it’s even sadder that he wants to turn his broadcasters into weasily, Thought Police-like snitches.
This is not the Tribune Company I remember I had the privilege of covering almost a decade ago, when they had great management (John Madigan and later Dennis FitzSimons) who knew how journalism worked and respected their broadcast and print journalists enough to let them do their jobs right! The ineptitude and pettiness of the new Tribune Co. management is breathtaking and appalling all at the same time.
P.S. Sam Zell, can you please sell The Los Angeles Times to a local ownership group (maybe a David Geffen or Ron Burkle will make you a good offer??!!) here so the paper can be restored to its previous greatness, and not the mediocrity you’ve seemingly instilled with all of your media properties.
duh on me. I meant product. And terribly. some editor.
Our Top Story tonight!
Yesterday, an alleged youth, as expected, in a surprised move, awoke at 5am.
Informed sources say, the legendary icon fled, bare naked on foot out there.
Allegations all of you behind bars, down in close proximity, of the best kept
secret, in Eye Rack or Eye Ran, clashed with police on the campaign trail.
The mother of, you folks perished when shots rang out, reeling a senseless murder, with sketchy details.
The perfect storm down there plagued officials as shower activity touched base with undisclosed, world class, incarcerated married, lone gunman in harm’s way, flee on foot, reportedly.
In other news, giving 110%, on a 2 to 1 margin, completely.
After these commercial messages, Good News!, Bad News….some of you decide,
after the break.
Actually, I just read RadioThug’s suggestion above and his idea to simply make WGN radio broadcasters wear an “Electro-shock” device is brilliant and to make it where WGN on-air talent is jolted when they say a “banned” word…and it’s much better than making the reporting staff becoming self-policing snitches!
Bravo to RadioThug…in fact, I think you should have Randy Michaels’ job! You reading, Sam Zell??!!
Carman Harman, you deserve the Pulitzer Price for “Banned Radio Buzzspeak”…I’m still in stitches from what you wrote of your “Top Story” report…it reads like a mix of “Hee Haw” meets “Beavis & Butt-head.”
Kudos and mega-cheers for your brilliant usage of the new Tribune Broadcasting and WGN buzzspeak policy! You’re my hero, Carman!
Randy Michaels is as useless as the dildo he wore around his neck to harass a female DJ while at WFLA radio in Tampa.
WELL ROBERT,
YOU APPARENTLY HIT A HOT BUTTON. ARE YOU CHECKING TO SEE IF WE ARE PAYING ATTENTION?
How to get results 101 – drive the message down from the top. It’s possible Michaels didn’t actually create the list but released it under his name in order to get people to take it seriously.
Insulting? Maybe. But this is a great list. Should be posted in every radio newsroom and journalism school wall in North America.
Seems like Mr. Michaels would rather be the GM or Program Director of WGN than his current job. His somewhat random list mostly makes sense but this type of oversight, done without the bingo cards, should be done by the Program Director of the station. Some of the phrases to avoid fall into the category of Radio 101.
As for his mandate to avoid pleasantries with listeners, I believe that refers to calls on the air. Wasting time with “How are you” and “I’m fine, how are you” is tune out. No one cares how the host or caller are doing.
If I were the producer of that show, I’d make an entire day’s script using all of those words. What is he going to do, fire them all? What a wacko.
Have dealt with Randy for years. At least he managed to keep his pants on this time.
As a veteran newspaper and magazine editor, I think this list is outstanding. As a radio listener, I appreciate an effort to make the sound coming from the radio more than just an endless stream of cliches and pat phrases. And as a guy sweating out whether his job is going to be around in five years, I appreciate the effort, however small, by a CEO to say, “I actually LISTEN to what you guys are doing and I have some direction on how to make it better.” Most CEOs simply send their underlings to cut staff and reduce benefits.
Bob, I know how much fun it is to kill the messenger, but in this case, the message is worth listening to.
Using many of these words DOES make the news reader sound like a simpleton. They’re such cliches and bad word choices. Good for this guy for telling his employees to stop using them. It would be wonderful if the folks who bring us the news would THINK before they speak. Using many of these “banned” words is laziness. Good for him!
QUOTE: As for his mandate to avoid pleasantries with listeners, I believe that refers to calls on the air. Wasting time with “How are you” and “I’m fine, how are you” is tune out. No one cares how the host or caller are doing.
Agreed. “Thanks for taking my call” should be banned, with the caller subject to being hung up on.
He’s right on most of these and forgot Daylight SavingS Time on of all weeks. But as a former anchor and network assignment editor, I think this will inhibit concentration. It’s micro-managing at its worst. Bill Deane
@Jimmy P. That was exactly my thought after reading the list. Tribune has been leaning more and more heavily on the paper’s brand while allowing and semblance of radio news to die out.
I for one think this guy is SPOT ON. It’s time we broadcasters stopped using lazy cliches and cop-speak or news-speak in our stories. Let’s get back to real writing that listeners can related to.
Guess what? Radio newspeople need a wake up call. They’re lazy writers and broadcasters. This list is what’s called “crutches” in the biz. And broadcasters today use crutches the way Obama spends invisible money. I puke everytime I hears one of these clowns say “non-life threatening injuries.” NO ONE talks like that. It’s either, “he’ll live” or “close to death”. Broadcasters today broadcast for themselvers and their friends. That’s why they’ve been given the tattle cards.
A few of these make sense. But to struggle to come up with 119 of them simply shows that Randy has a little too much time on his hands.
The answer is really simple. Hire good newspeople and let them do their jobs! I’m certain that a list of those with negative comments is being collected and posted in the “Do Not Hire” memo. I’m proud to add my name to the list.
Roger W. Morgan
Los Angeles
Galaxy Star Radio
Micromanaging? Yeah, probably. But I don’t totally hate the idea. Many of the words in the list were incorrect uses of grammar (ie mute point) and unnecessary adjectives (fatal death – all deaths are fatal).
One of my major pet-peeves is the use of jargon, or “gobbledygook” as David Meerman Scott puts it, when speaking to a broad audience (especially in press releases). The most effective communicators are those who speak in a way we can all understand, with words we use in daily speak as opposed to just in our MBA classes.
Many of the words or terms on this list are ones that should be banished from intelligent conversation forever. They are imprecise and show a lack of ability to find the best word. Others have become clichés. We can do better:
“At this point in time.” What’s wrong with “now”?
“Complete surprise.” As opposed to a partial surprise? Why not use “surprise”?
One missing from this list is “at the end of the day.” I might be willing to meet up with someone at the end of the day, but the term shouldn’t be used to mean an analysis. Why not say something like “after taking factors into consideration”?
Another missing item is “irregardless.” That means “without without regard.” Regardless is the proper term.
“Aggravate” is another misused word. It means “to make worse,” not “to irritate.”
“Myriad” is another one. Myriad is an adjective: “the options are myriad.” It is not a noun, as in “a myriad of options.” It does not matter that so many people use it incorrectly.
I congratulate Mr. Michaels for his efforts to clean up our usage of the language. We are all sloppy at times, and it is nice to have someone remind us that we can all sound as intelligent as we are, rather than sounding dumber than we are.
What Michaels (who ain’t the greatest CEO by the way) is doing is nothing new. Abe Rosenburg for years has prompted news pros how to do it correctly.
http://www.newswriting.com/groaners.htm
People just checked those resume sites, Monster, Yahoo, etc., to make sure that little button that hides your job search from your current boss is checked!
Mr. Dean:
Mr. Michaels is avoiding hackneyed phrases, and I commend him. As for the reporting part of the equation, I suggest a nickel jar for every Director/Producer. Every time the on-air personality is caught using a trite phrase, the offender must put a nickel in the jar of the person who catches the “offence.”
After each month, the nickels are totalled, and the winner selects an appropriate charity.
After three months, it becomes quarters. (During the first ninety days, the number of nickels should decrease, as on-air’s adjust. We must therefore increase the penalty in order to remain vigilant.)
After six months, there will be no trite-ocity (sorry, Woody Allen) at WGN, and Chicago will be the better for the effort in many ways.
Feel free to pass this on…
I think this is a sensible list and having heard WGN for a long time, I say this list is awfully short. Most serious journalists would agree on this list.
As for the charge that he should be doing other things to save a large company, that’s baseless. In fact most CEOs get down to the operations level when times get tough and want to make it better for the customer. Some even work in day-to-day operations for sometime.
What is shameful is that there has not been any concerted effort among WGN journalists to self-correct and it took an outsider to point out. Whether the mistake is made once a day or 36 times an hour, it’s a mistake and needs correction.
Finally, there’s an excellent evening course offered by the Univ of Chicago at the Gleecher Center, which is located in the same plaza as the Tribune Tower, to rid such sloppy language.
Snitching bad, but list very, very good! Especially at 8:57 a.m. Is that time in the morning?
With any luck the banks will take over the company and get rid of these fools. The entire management at the Tribune has to be at an all time low. Run for the hills.
Any and all redundancies should not be used on-air. I agree with many of those rules. Management prerogative. But to waste time issuing a memo to ban them, overkill. Just cover it with supervisors. Let supervisors follow up with staff.
BTW, Michael Freeman #, where did you go to school? Are you really a trained journalist? GMAB! You would get about a C/D in my technical writing class. Ouch !! Hurt my eyes and bring to read your comments. For one thing, lose the run on sentences. “One though per sentence, please,” I told my students.
I worked for two radio stations and five daily newspapers, yet never wrote or spoke any of those phrases. From the author’s own writing machine: “The man at the top…” “troubled media empire …” “championed the idea …” “without further ado…”
SgtBob
Some of these are obvious, but others are nitpicky beyond the pale — and far too many sacrifice accuracy for brevity, calling some things cliches that really aren’t.
“Auto accident” is necessary to differentiate from other kinds, especially (for Chicago) auto-train accidents. “Death toll” is NOT redundant; it differentiates deaths from injuries. “Fled on foot” signifies that the perp didn’t flee in a vehicle. The prohibition of “gunman” sounds like an imposition of Randy’s conservative politics; heaven forbid that a crook used a sacred gun! “In a surprise move” puts the story in context, letting listeners know that the action was not part of a previous pattern of actions and thus is news. “Informed sources” and “Authorities” are necessary when a source has given information and asked not to be named — or when the information came from a number of reliable and well-placed sources. “Pedestrian” differentiates the person from a cyclist or a passenger in another vehicle. Oh, yeah, “vehicle”: If the police report doesn’t say whether the wheeled conveyance involved was a car, minivan, truck, hearse or buggy, what the hell word are the newscasters supposed to use?
And so many of the other rather folksy expressions are an attempt to connect with an audience, not preach over them. WGN is NOT WBBM. It’s successful because it’s the friendlier, warmer spot on the dial; that’s why it’s been at or near the top of the Chicago ratings almost since the Cubs last won a Series.
Style changes should have come under Meyerson’s name, not Michaels’, because staffers will rightly see this as simple micromanagement from Tribune leadership which should have been concerned first and foremost with keeping the company solvant. And the policy of having staffers snitch on and document transgressions by their co-workers is downright unspeakable.
Sounds to me as though Randy’s trying to achieve a reduction in force through employee disgust.
He is right to ban this list of words and phrases. They are, as he calls them, news speak and have no place in conversational reporting.
I disagree with the method he plans to use to enforce this ban. Management, NOT co-workers, should police this effort.
There is nothing wrong with a newsman banning words/phrases. Any publication worth its salt should have a list like this. My personal bugaboo is any headline that begins with “Whither … ” My face turns red and steam comes out of my ears.
Relax. This “directive” is only semi-serious. Even CEO’s have to have a little fun once in a while.
Here are some more he should ban:
Penultimate unless you mean second to last, “begs the question” when you mean “prompts us to ask the question”,
(begging the question has an entirely different meaning), and “aks” instead of “ask” (seriously- I have heard newscaster say this!)
Sorry, Feder. I think you’re off base on this one. It seems to me that Michaels is only attempting to stop his reporters from sounding like every other reporter on television. You can’t watch more than ten minutes of any news program – especially CNN – without hearing most of those phrases. I agree with A Jukes in comment #4. Get an education.
Long time reader, first time poster.
Oh come one,
Here is one winner on the list: “fatally dead”, that is redundantly repeating itself over & over. There are a number of other well deserved entries on the list.
Now, perhaps he should have directed someone under him to to search out horrid English abuses commonly used on the air and to put an end to them or passed his list to a underling and asked the underling to put an end to those abuses of English but, I know, I am a writer too and am always looking for a catchy controversial angle to attract readers & visitors.
Whoops,
I meant to open up: “Oh come on,” I beg your forgiveness.
This CEO is a flailing maniac BUT let’s face it–TV news would be immeasurably improved if this edict were adopted everywhere!
It’s guys like Randy Michaels who have killed terrestrial radio. WGN Radio was one of the most respected stations in country until this guy came to town. It’s a shame that Sam and the investors can’t see the forest because of the Michaels. To the radio listeners please, if you don’t like what you hear on WGN or any other radio stations complain to the sponsor not the station. Watch what happens.
I think Randy Michaels has taken an outstanding first step in differentiating his news organization and brand. And, if his people can follow suit, his product will be one very important notch better than the competition.
American news media is riddled with jargon, empty and inarticulate expressions and general homogeneity. A lot of anchors and newspeople from Anderson Cooper on down are obsessed with their own celebrity at the expense of delivering the news with simple, fundamental American prose. Walter Cronkite would know that it’s a 2-1 ratio and not a 2-1 margin. There are probably many more examples than the ones listed in the article. But, it’s ‘lectern’ not ‘lecturn’ by the way.
Thank goodness for unpopular stands. Especially when they’re right.
David Mattson
NYC
Most of the list makes sense, for both radio & TV. Ratting on fellow employees for trivial slip-ups doesn’t make sense; that’s their supervisors’ job.
I teach a course in scientific writing at the college level, and I would strike most of these terms from any manuscript a student submitted. Use better adjectives rather than cliched ones. Use (not “utilize”) simple terms whenever possible. “Pedestrian” is used to imply “common” — just write “common”.
There actually ARE times when 110% would be correct, but not when referring to effort. A phone bill could be 110% higher this month than last month.
I’d prefer, “We’ll be back in 90 seconds,” to “After the break.” That way I know how long I have to go to the bathroom.
Wow, good for this guy. At least he suggests that news performers think before uttering whatever gibberish is written for them. But for all the time he spent on his word list, was is it missing “on the ground,” “at the end of the day,” and “gone missing”? Eliminating these three words would improve news reporting by … a 2 to 1 margin!
Please put “on the ground” your list. Fire the next person who utters it. Audibly slap the source who says it.
Please.
Hey, Mike, thanks so much for your grammatical corrections of my writing. Clearly, I can see that you prefer the “See Dick and Jane Run” or USA Today “McJournalim” three-paragraph stories to present to your students.
I’m guessing you probably have never shown your students the New York Times, Los Angeles Times or Christian Science Monitor, where dense, fact-filled copy is enjoyed and appreciated. I really don’t give a damn if you questions my credentials or critiques of how journalism is being handled at Tribune Broadcasting and WGN Radio.
I’m sure most radio and TV outlets have their own style guides, but I just happen to prefer a freer flow of spontaneity when they’re NOT just reading news copy. And it seems this dictum from Michaels to have all of the on-air station employees monitor and stooge on each other is what will dampen spontaneity and foster greater paranoia. As a CEO of the major media company, Michaels should be regularly communicating his wishes for improvements on a universally applied internal style book with his News Directors and Program Directors in “meetings” to a certain degree, then give them the autonomy to do their jobs.
Now I’m sorry if my writing here is either too dense and may even carry some run-on, Mike, because I’m doing this off the top of my head here on the Internet while multi-tasking on other things I’m writing currently. So, excuse me Mr. J-School Elite for offending your sensibilities here!
Okay, you can go back to presenting the “Weekly Reader” to your students! And I’ll go back to my copy of “Strunk and White” so I can meet your lofty standards!
It just blows me away the arrogance of some “tenured” j-school professors and teachers. By the way, Mike, “thought” has a “t” on the end of it. “Thought” I would note that since we’re being so arrogant and petty here!
At least I can say I wrote about the national media for close to three decades and not just pettily picked apart students’ copy and tell them, “This is what it is like in the real world of journalism.”
“Let’s now go back to the single syllable, ten-word sentences, students! And here’s Tribune CEO Randy Michaels, students, to share his stories on ‘Thought Police’ journalism and micromanaging News Directors and Reporters.”
Get a clue, Mike!
I’ve been an music/news announcer for 20+ years. Michaels is in the right church, wrong pew. Cliches on radio beget more cliches in an industry that needs vigor, not blather. The list, however, is too long and daunting. And lose the micromanaging. To invite employees to catch announcers in the act of using “nonapproved” words is juvenile sport. I wish managers in radio had salaries commensurate with the degree of their maturity. It would save money.
Welcome to Russia, or is it Cuba no it’s Chicago mabey we should expand this to television news and all the shows on GN as well. This is the U.S.A and I hope the broadcasters at 720 totally ignore this it is censorship Guys and it’s a No Brainer and Brainer is not a word by the way.All GN employee’s should get In Harms Way I’m sure you won’t be Incarcerated for your efforts and all the fans of the station will be happy to Lend A Helping Hand. George Carlin would have a field day with this.
Chuck Lake Bluff,IL.
What does a co-worker win when they complete a Bingo? A Tribune subscription?
To give him credit, he did not include “pot belly.”
Cliches exist for a reason- radio and TV have set time limits- ie how much time you are given to convey information. Many of the words on this list are words that convey an idea with one word instead of three. English is full of what are called “phrasal verbs” (take out, pick up etc) where you need more than one word to convey an idea. Newspeak serves a practical purpose- convey more information in a shorter amount of time. If you think about the alternatives to some of these words, you come up with cumbersome colloquialisms that make it sound like you are dumbing down your speech.
Good grief. More than two hunnert ‘n’ fitty comments on this? Way too many sanctimonious blowhards on each side of the debate.
By the way, Boondock, I loved your analysis of the situation at Tribune and it is spot-on about Michaels’ micromanagement and undermining of his own News Directors and Program Directors…coming at a time when the Trib is belly-up in Bankruptcy Court!
Whoops, Boondock, I think we’re writing too long with run-on sentences, because we’re being monitored by Mike The J-School Elite here! I better go!
Don’t you love “Thought Police” journalism…from the very top and tenured professors, too!
Randy left out “jump start”, as in “jump start the economy or anything else. Jump start should be on the list.
Hello Rob …
A voice from your past. I remember fondly your appearnce before my Northwestern class term after term; for some reason you kept coming back.
I’m forwarding — uninvited, I know — an advanced review copy of my upcoming book, “Journalistic Writing” Building the Skills, Honing the Craft,” and I’d sure like your feedback, not just for blurb purposes. I especially would like your review of Chapter 10, Writing for the Eye and Ear.
Oh yeah. We need more Randy Michaels’s.
Bob Knight
While we’re at it, can we also eliminate “axed” for “asked?” Assuming, of course, that the subject has been asked a question and not attacked with an ax…
Interesting idea, but could you plus add the phrase “Battle Ground State” to the list??
The bankruptcy of his company says more about him than the words he has banned. He left off “what a jerk.”
Randy Michaels, whose real name is Benjamin Homel, is an acolyte of Sam Zell, and has been for decades. During his career, Homel (Michaels) has benefited more from the confluence of fortunate industry circumstances that are beyond his control, rather than from any innately outstanding management skills he is reputed to possess. This includes favorable demographic tailwinds, economics, and technology evolution. Like many in his business, his success has been largely accidental. Look no further than his tenure at Tribune for evidence of this. It has been a sad, vestigial retreat from his former heyday at Clear Channel.
This latest directive is emblematic of the careless slash-and-burn mentality that he and his minions have administered since they walked in the door at Tribune. It is also symptomatic of the desperation of his position. When an upper-level manager issues this kind of petty, immaterial directive, it is a sign that he is struggling to find a new formula for success. This is small-town management at a major market station. The bad news for Homel (Michaels) is that there may not be a new key to success in the current media environment.
All editors, publishers and writers should have this attention to detail. Attention to style and usage is a part of good communication. Period.
Refer to the time-tested Strunk’s rules of style: http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk.html for merely one example.
I doubt it took much time out of this man’s day to develop this list of 119 items. But more important than the actual list, the message he is sending is that communication matters and that is a meaningful part of a CEOs job.
George Orwell would probably agree with him
Most of the list makes valid points and as anyone who works in branding knows, he is not out of line. This is exactly the sort of list compiled to establish identity guidelines to be sure all brand messaging is consistent, clear, and correct.
Actually some of these are hackneyed and meaningless phrases that teevee and radio personalities use way too much anyway. Good riddance
Oh, Ron Burgundy where are you when we need you?
“Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention. I’ve just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story. I need all of you, to stop what you’re doing and listen. Cannonball!”
I can’t believe he left out, “that said.” Hate that one!
The Bingo cards aren’t for ratting out your fellow employees — it’s a drinking game! :D
Can listeners/viewers get a score card and play too? We can save WGN a lot of money by reducing their payroll at no cost to them for pats on the back, tours of the facilities and other cheap prizes… Or better yet, lunch with Randy for 4!
Actually the idea is great in theory. The execution might jsut be a little strict. Writers and personalities need to learn how to communicate better with listeners. News jargon doesn;t connect with people. Talk to them not at them. TV & Radio news sound so irrelevant now. I hate when they explain how a murder took place on the 800 block of 8 mile road. It should just be “near the corner of 8Mile & Beck Rd.”
Interesting – seems he’s telling everyone who works for him that he’s listening to the drivel they present, and that someone should have already caught this improper use of language, from the writers, to their quality control – if there is any – and so on up the line.
I have to say that I agree with most of the list, he should have also told idiotic weather reporters to stop using “temperatures”. It’s the temperature. Wherever you are it’s just the temperature. They probably say this because they see more than one indication of temperature on their weather maps, but it’s just wrong to say “temperatures”.
I think it’s incorrect to publish it this way though – he should maybe have lambasted the news writers with a memo.
There was a station owner named Gordon McLendon who worked in his own newsroom at KLIF in Dallas.
Good rules. Such phrases have little or no content, and can lead to misleading statements or confusion. They could go further by subscribing to E-Prime, a subset of the English language that disallows the use of any “to be” verbs. E-Prime promotes crystal clear communication, makes it difficult to state an untruth, and almost eliminates the conveyance of an opinion as fact.
Look at the numbers–chicago’s favorite sport>>>-media TALK’IN bout media. hahahah. Would one of you reporters take your head out of the sand. Pls. We have some ‘reel’ stories that NEED to be told? Gallatin Sherrif hires hitman from jailcell. Jailed for running drug ring in Gallatin. You’ll only find the story in Evansville or St Louis papers. I guess that’s way downstate in southern illinois. Pls Cover the story$$$$$
Love it. While so many in media are dumbing things down he’s using his training & experience as a journalist to lift up the quality of communications & coverage. Don’t know how good a business person he is but love the list. Would add – unique & orientate. More people need to stand up and have some standards for the language they use.
He wouldn’t ban “pot belly” — that sandwich chain is an advertiser! ;-)
Bob Knight, you’re not the Robert Knight who taught my News 105 class at Mizzou in 1971, are you?
I LOVE the list of words to be shunned by Trib writers. I wish he had included “at the end of the day” and “very unique.” I can only think that perhaps the people who object use way too many of the forbidden words and phrases themselves. Is that possible?
Not Springfield Not Chicago not nowhere–WHY only from NEWSpapers in other states?? Maybe Il. media $$$$$$ they know who butters that bread$$$$
After having been a TV news reporter for the better part of 15 years, I can say there is validity to quite a bit of this. Trite and(or) non-conversational phrases/words that weaken a story or make no sense to the average person do need to be eliminated from our reporting. However, I will say most of this list was ripped-off from a book called “Broadcast News: Shorter, Sharper, Stronger” by Mervin Block, so Charlie Meyerson gets no points for originality.
Wouldn’t it be more useful if he simply encourage using sensible English? These are the same folks who say dopey things such as “at this point in time” for “now” and claim to report on a place they call “the Chicagoland area” (or, worse, “the greater Chicagoland area”.
Agree or disagree, it doesn’t matter. Radio is dead
Agree with all of these but “alleged” and “reportedly.” Eliminate these words and you wind up convicting the subject of the story before the trial.
OK – but think of the target audience. Do they really care about the cliches and the overused broadcast vernacular? This CEO didn’t even care to partner with those stakeholders to openly solicit their opinions. Not to mention being so careless towards the opinions of his employees. Perhaps the change of language isn’t all that bad, but the means to that end is undoubtedly highly bureaucratic and command-and-control. I’m sure good employees will soon leave the company as a result.
I think this is brilliant! These rules make for engaging writing and therefore apply to speech as well. This is not ruling with an iron fist; this is a commendable attempt at improving the crappy state of most journalism. Bravo.
Go pig go. Lol he still runs radio like he did in the 80’s after wnbc went broke and failed I guess the I man wasn’t the horse you should have picked afterall hmm Pig?
Randy Michaels has a 35+ year track record of outrageous innovation, bleeding edge strategy, taking names, kickin’ ass and making money. Having had the pleasure of working for Randy on a few occasions I’m sure he’d tell all his detractors to kiss his ass. He is right on as usual.
Actually (a word he should have outlawed), it’s a list most English teachers would applaud. His tools of enforcement are reminiscent of Nazis and the Gestapo, HUAC, Big Brother, and Kenneth Starr.
Having spent many years in news radio here are 2 points:
1) It is very easy to fall into the trap of using clutch words or phrases. Because of its immediacy radio should nt be used to discuss yesterday as there is always a way to write in present tense.
2) It is nice to get feedback from the top. Worse case,he made the WGNers better writers. Eventually that will help the bottom line.
Looks like Gary Stephens is groveling for a job.
Diving into the minutae of which words and phrases your on-air staff should or should not use is akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It complete ignores – and denies – the harsh reality of what is occurring beneath the surface.
The radio audience is fragmenting rapidly, advertisers are following listeners, and content has been compromised to commodity status. Terrestrial radio has lost an entire generation of listeners between ages 18 and 40 to Internet radio, the iPod, and mobile media. Its appeal to advertisers will continue to stagnate and diminish as its listening audience ages, and revenue will follow suit. Radio won’t disappear completely, but the concept of live news announcers certainly will. It won’t matter which words they use when that day comes.
Look at who is posting here. No 20-somethings are posting here. They simply don’t care about radio today. Radio has been mismanaged to the very fringes of cultural relevance, and there is no going back to the way it was.
The ghost of Edwin Newman, the “lone gunman” of better journalism, is “allegedly” having a really bad day with this news. Writing under constraint can beget stronger creative responses. But under 119 constraints? Get real. Yes, the forbidden phrases are tired. But yes, they’re also journalistic stock in trade, which I’m hoping, “folks,” won’t become another forbidden phrase.
“Time for a break!”
Is everyone that is complaining about this really that uneducated. The list is a series of mistakes that have become “acceptable” because people allow them to be used everyday. The reason that has become okay is because of our media using them all the time. I applaud the man for trying to reeducate us in the proper use of the English Language. Maybe if our media started to use proper English we would too!
You are all missing the big picture. WGN was a good radio station before the current regime took over. If you have a problem with that statement go back and look at the ARBITRON ratings from a few years ago. Now if you think Randy Michaels or Kevin M are doing a good job you might want to check out small market radio. This is Chicago radio not Cleveland.
Actually, I agree with the CEO. These words are so overused, or used in the wrong way that it would be much better for clear communication if we all considered lowering or stopping the use of 90% of the words listed.
It’s a fine list. I’m overjoyed to see that someone cares enough to hack away at the obvious (senseless murder) and redundancies (at this point in time). I’d love to see a similar list for pronunciations, e.g., February (that second syllable is “brew”) and library (contains “rare”—it’s not “lie berry”). And while we’re at it, locally, Montrose contains the word “rose.” The last syllable does not rhyme with “gross.”
Although the concept behind this list is a good one, edicts from on high rarely accomplish the true goal unless it’s to cut expenses and the list is accompanied by pink slips.
I actually agree with many of these rules.
Journalist need to take responsibility for their own role in the rapid decline of print media. A part of this is simply lazy writing and reporting the lowest common denomination of a story.
Do journalist feel that they are above criticism and instruction? You are reporters, not artist. The art of your field is accurately reporting the truth of a story. So get to it!
I think the list is great! I wish more stations would ban them as well. They are trite, and quite often are not just over used but improperly used.
I don’t know who Robert Feder is but he sure missed the mark on this one. (allegedly missed the mark?)
They did forget ‘irregardless’ and ‘aggravate’ but it is a good start.
I would love to see added:
“the data is” (“data” is the plural form of datum = piece of information. Data are facts. Data are NOT a fact. The phrase should be “the data are….”)
“the media is” (“media” is the plural form of medium. Newspapers constitute one medium. Radio is another medium. Television is a third medium. Together they are 3 different media. The phrase should be “the media are….”)
Yes, this man is a world class business moron BUT speaking as a writer he has a point. I agree with almost all of the words / phrases on his list. Would that his business acumen matched his, seeming, penchant for proper written English. If all the stories on WGN TV and Radio were composed without any of the listed words they would be clearer, more precise, and easier to understand. Here’s one of my pet peeves…how many times do you hear people use the word “anxious” when they clearly mean “eager?”
Word up, dog!!!!!
I bet Walter Cronkite would agree with this list. Talk radio jabber is applaing, I’m glad to hear the CEO wants to raise the standards.
We have the same problem in the medical field, people using jargon instead of plain language to give the impression of being an smart insider; at home one walks, in the hospital the patient ambulates.
Is it forbidden to ever introduce Elton Jim (Torino ?? Toronto ??) I hear him start in on the show after a few minutes of Meier’s opening. But yet no intro, or closing credit.
I don’t see this as micromanaging. I applaud his efforts. I am weary of the mangling and misuse of the English language that one hears daily on television and radio. Most of the phrases and words he lists SHOULD, in my opinion, be banished.
Welcome to Post #314. What took you so long?
If there really is a ‘hate-hate’ relationship between Rob Feder and
Randy Michaels, this piece wasn’t one of them.
It got RM out into the trades….every one of them! Heck if NPR can
make a story out of it, there’s something to it!
It also got eyeballs to vocalo.org/feder by the truckload!
Rob Feder’s column drove the trades for more than a 24 hour cycle.
Randy Michaels got his name spelled correctly, everywhere!
(So, now I wonder outloud…was a memo truly leaked… or leaked on purpose?)
By the way, MediaMaven you’re a beautiful writer and I agree that radio has been marginalized by its over-fragmentation, multiplication, over-specialization and cookie-cutter program formatting. It’s a tough business, even if it is consolidated and owned by a handful of big group owners (Clear Channel, CBS, Emmis, Citadel, Sirius XM, Tribune, etc.).
I’m just glad Bob Collins never lived to see this.
Radio broadcast people know who Robert Feder is, who the hell is Turkman?
Heck, he should give out “listener bucks” to folks who call in to report violations!!
I applaud this guy, and I wish every newscaster would take note. Use of most of these terms and phrases is ridiculous and stupid. It may be difficult to come up with new ways to say the same old things, but journalists who don’t have the skills, intelligence, and creativity to do so shouldn’t have a job in news. We don’t deserve to listen to some airhead spewing cliches, even when they are really good at doing the ’serious newscaster’ voice. I think it’s silly that everyone is saying this is micro-management; this is intelligent management. I think making a game out of catching co-workers in the act is a good way to get everyone on board.
What simply amazes me is how Michaels expects his announcers to talk “conversationally” while trying to remember what of 100+ words and phrases they’r not allowed to say while their colleagues are keep score cards. This defies credibiility…even for corporate radio! Holy Smokes! (Can I say that?)
Just realized I was reading this list while listening to the soundtrack to the German film The Lives of Others, set in East Germany prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
I just had a good five minutes of fun with this not-to-do list, specially for the way they were cleverly organized.
Of course, it really has some words which don´t belong on braodcasting, like “Untimely death, fatal death, informed sources, senseless murder, reportedly, and others.
Following on Mr Brockman opinion, maybe this is just another tactic to get rid of some employees, by enacting 119 new hurdles anybody could fail.
Let´s make that list shorter, could you Mr. Michaels?
Thanks
He left out a four that I really dislike: “predawn blaze”, “here’s what went down”, “take action”, “troops” when you mean soldiers, and “horrific”.
Approximately 7 of the banned word/phrases make sense since they are either redundant or gramatically incorrect. As for the others, the ban is senseless and ridiculous.
-A LOYAL. WGN &WBBM listener.
What’s next? We all walk in goose step?
It is pointless to pick a few fleas off your pets and then let them run with the rest of the wild pack. Those who come to ‘mericuh from places that were parts of the former British Empire quickly realize that they have to unlearn Englinh.
I would like to know what Benjamin Homel’s (“Randy Michaels’s”) basis is for selecting each of the words on this highly subjective verbal “hit list”.
Think about it for a moment.
Upon what evidence – besides his own whimsical opinion – does Benjamin Homel (“Randy Michaels”) justify blacklisting each of these terms? Are there media studies that suggest that newscasters who refrain from using these words tend to have higher ratings, ad revenue and profitability? I doubt it.
I think Benjamin Homel has issued this directive for a less obvious reasons: To destabilize and demoralize his current news staff, and create an environment of hostility that will encourage them to pack up move on. This has nothing to do with Benjamin Homel’s (“Randy Michaels’s”) wordsmithing and commitment to solid grammer and verbal expression. It has everything to do with profitability and corporate priorities, and his own job security.
Reading the actual list I can’t believe people are actually criticising him for this. Clearly newsreaders have become idiot drones in need of a shake up.
I agree with about half of the suggestions, and I would have added “don’t say ‘acronym’ for an abbreviation that is not actually an acronym”. Most of the time, ‘acronym’ is used improperly. My guess is that it sounds more sophisticated.
Thank you Mr. Feder for opening our foggy blogger eyes.
Healthy and intense conversation and debate relished by all ! ! !
Oddly enough, “douchebag” doesn’t appear on the list, although it’s quite apropos the situation.
I quit listening to WGN radio a little less than a year ago. I couldn’t listen any more. They’ve lost me, and in my opinion they’ve lost a lot of their long time listeners. This is a great example of the problems that have been evident in their personality choices, programming and general direction. I’ve been very happy listening to WBEZ, since I dropped WGN.
MICHAELS’ MEMO AND THE POLICING OF CO-WORKERS NARC-ING ON EACH OTHER IS DISTURBING…
ON THE OTHER HAND, HIS IDEA THAT THESE WORDS SHOULDN’T BE USED IS VALID…
How about “devastated” and “decimated”?
Both used too often, and always with the wrong meaning.
Hey !!!
According to the List they Can Still say the word Bugger………
Have you ever noticed now many on-scene news reports begin with the word “well”?
There are some phrases that newspeople use that we laugh about, such as “FATAL DEATH” (what else would it be, temporary sleep?). I feel he is trying to polish the image of his company and avoid the sloppy grammer that has invaded professional broadcasting, . . that said, his approach has made him a laughing stock. His alleged proofreaders and editors should have filed the memo in the shredder.
Tribune should print scorecards and make it a game.
listeners could win prizes and the broadcasters could get shitcanned on-air
Nobody covers Chicago radio like Feder!
At least it looks like traffic reporters can still use “Ike” for “Eisenhower Expressway” Phew…
Behind the podium (you mean lecturn) [sic] (you mean lectern) [sic-sic]
It seems to me that a news organization could get itself into a great deal of trouble if it didn’t refer to an alleged prepetrator as an alleged prepetrator on occasion.
Well, isn’t it time that someone asked for an end to the sloppy, repetitious language which infects journalism in all media? Yes, I realise, like Anya, that “newspeak” can result from imagination under time pressure. Good journalists will rise above the restrictions with new new verbal inventions. English, after all is constantly evolving.
Most of these words are so silly, so hackneyed, so indicative of ignorance that we should cheer Mr. Michaels for his common sense as well as his literacy.
As a news junkie I would be in heaven if ALL newscasts implemented this list. Many of the words/phrases on this list are rarely used by the average viewer. Rather than communicating a meaningful report, they make the announcer sound pretentious. If Randy Michaels’ intention is to have his staff actually be more relate-able to their viewers then he’s on the right path.
My guess is the “bingo cards” were intended to bring a little levity to the whole process as well as provide data; not to penalize the individual but rather to allow writers to analyze a specific situation to see if it could have been improved.
as someone who worked for a Randy Michaels run company, I’m glad he’s someone else headache now. Some of his htoughts are actually pretty right on. Personally, I hate when news peeps say “blaze” instead of “fire”….afterall. nobody ever screamed blaze ina crowded movie theatre….
Please include “ORGANIC”, man I am tired to death of that one!!
Most of those phrases and words shouldn’t be used any way. They’re unintelligible, and while they have unfortunately crept into our lexicon they are entirely over used. Personally I wouldn’t mind never hearing the following phrases either: “Mute point”, “Definitely possible”, “Hunnert when you mean hundred”, etc. Its unfortunate that he felt the need to make this autocratic move, but maybe if people’s vocabulary hadn’t deteriorated to the extent it had CEOs wouldn’t feel the need to regulate their employees speech, and in this case the speech is the product so he is well within his right. I for one can’t watch a single news cast on TV without finding a handful of grammatical errors that should have been eliminated by the 8th grade.
An Illegal Alien is one who has been given his/her final deportation orders. An Undocumented Alien is an unregistered immigrant. There is a difference.
It so apparent that the majority of the readers who are contributing to the Randy Michaels….Lack Of Management Skills Blog…….. are not Broadcasters….Thank God! It is however unfortunate that WGN is turning into a tax write off station. That’s kind of like when your neighborhood goes down hill just because a couple of people can’t keep the property clean.
The problems are much larger then a list of words that shouldn’t used on the air.
It’s a good idea to eliminate these cliches, but he should let his editors do it.
This ban is redicoulous….Let’s put WGN out of its misery once and for all.
As wally philips would say Downer grove
Jack Welch, Lee Iaccoca, Steve Jobs, John Mackey, Jeff Bezos, Eric Schmidt, Tony Hsieh of Zappos–all CEO’s .
think they would micromanage this way?
It’s a pretty stupid memo, but actually a great list of obnoxious cliches that are best avoided. It’s all about context, I guess.
More power to him, I say. In fact, I don’t think Michaels’ list goes far enough. I actually stopped listening to my local (small market) NPR station because the local news readers made me cringe daily, by using exactly the sort of stilted, bloated, ridiculous-sounding language listed above. One of their favorites, during the morning traffic reports: “motor vehicle accident.” You mean “crash,” guys? Christ. That sort of pompous crap is one short step from cops-speaking-to-reporter-speak, e.g., “The individual in question was apprehended in the vicinity of his vehicle, and a weapon was found.” Sounds like this Michaels guy is simply trying to nudge his employees away from such nonsense. And you guys are braying about how stupid it is… why?
I think these are good suggestions. Read this list – how many times have any of you committed these errors? He should perhaps not have threatened his staff, but we are corrupting our language and some folks don’t even know it!
This is crazy, alot of these words are common, and I would find it hard to have a talk show without violating this order everyday.
I actually agree. The words he pointed out are overused.
How about adding At the end of the day, pushing the envelope, outside the box, can you give us a sense of…
Seems like a pretty good list to me. I’m surprised he didn’t include the appropriate use of “less” and “fewer.”
What he doesn’t realize is that the effects of many these phrases will be lost on the average viewer. It really doesn’t matter, and choosing to manage language in this fashion is futile. It’s a result of the CEO culture that we have created, where upper management pretends to be experts at all aspects of the businesses that they’re running.
It’s an example of how modern news outlets are focused on little more than entertainment, and news campaigning. Although, it’s always fun to watch the self-professed grammarians champion these mundane corrections. It’s even more enjoyable when their corrections are actually incorrect, or at the very most, inconsequential to proper communication.
Anyway, I’m still trying to figure out why any sensible human being would ever go into broadcasting. Anyone who does so, should feel deeply ashamed.
That’s a sign of a breakdown. It’s not funny.
Finally, a leader in the media with standards and a working brain! The fact Mr. Michaels actually expects his employees to think before they speak, and to show respect for their powerful position is consistent with the values that built WGN, the radio & television industries, and the City of Chicago. The incorrect depiction of his challenge as “censorship,” as well as the narrow-minded consensus view expressed in these posts, reflect an ongoing decline of those values and institutions.
Good for the CEO. It should not be beneath a CEO to address some of the basic problems encountered in his business (i.e. reporters speaking/reading like idiots). Disneyland executives still pick up trash in the parks when they see it. If the problem is there and needs to be addressed, do it. He is correct in asking that his people – whose job it is to communicate – at least show some mastery of English.
I agree with the list. On occasion I clock the number of times I hear the word “like” used in conversation in public. It is ridiculous. Hence the need for lists like this.
Where the heck is the word troops on this list. I can’t think of anything more often used incorrectly. Every time I hear 20 troops were kiiled today, I yell how many died then? A troop is a group of soliders, can be one or a million. Just say soldiers.
“See Randy. See Randy run (not flee). Run, Randy, run….’GN right into the ground!…like you’ve done elsewhere!
I admit that the CEO probably ought to have many more important things to do, but I appreciate the fact that someone is actually suggesting that the electronic media have an approved style. Watch Headline News, Fox, CNN, or local news, depending upon your market, and every day you will hear some of the most cliche ridden language around. Similarly, watch the crawl at the bottom of the screen and there will not be day when you don’t spot a misspelling.
So with tongue in cheek, I close by saying, “after the chilly days of winter, we welcome the warmth of spring.”
How Orwellian…Instead of News Speak Its NEWSPEAK..
http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/ns-prin.html
The list forgot: Fumunda
I’m from Vancouver Island, Canada. What happened to free speech?
Randy Michaels as CEO should not need to do this list. I’d say he should have fired whoever it is that has allowed inaccurate, often confusing, cliches. Oh, ya’, the word is off-fen, not off-Ten.
I assume this story is true. That said, the man who thought this up needs to be sent to a psychiatric hospital for some long term treatment. It’s pretty obvious he has lost touch with the real world. He could go to Costa Rica with Rush Limbaugh for medical treatment and they could compare notes.
Change the locks on the door while he’s gone.
Ok so he copied the front section from a Journalism 101 text book or maybe the back section of a freshman English expository writing text. Doesn’t make him smart or stupid or educated. Sending the list to supposed professionals that he is paying is stupid.
I did the unthinkable (at least to my idiot co-workers) by winning a news anchor/reporter job at the leading news/talk radio station in a major TX market, WITHOUT a journalism degree. I did it because I had a passion for the format, and wanted to try it.
As a result, I came unaffected by the pretentious conventions of news-speak, and hell-bent on taking to the airwaves using plain, conversational English.
I was pretty much universally resented by my co-workers in the newsroom, all arrogant J-school grads with chips on their shoulders. I was constantly being corrected and my copy re-written using many of the same words and phrases cited in this list. There was a feeling that my lack of a journalism degree somehow made me illegitimate…and that my failure to adhere to AP style made me some kind of cancer in the newsroom.
Ironically copy from the AP wire was often terrible — and I always rewrote it. The greatest irony of all was that I met some of the worst communicators I’ve ever known in the news radio business.
To paraphrase Jack Nicholson’s Joker, the news radio business needs an enema. Sadly, it won’t change, as long as poorly paid, entry-level drones from J-school continue to flood the market.
This seems petty, but it’s not. There are many things on this list that are corruptions of the language that most high school students would recognize. Others are part of the patois that radio (and TV) has developed. Should the news be reduced to a collection of cliches? Depends on what kind of outfit that you want to run. Should a CEO be put down for creating the expectation that this is not acceptable? No, absolutely not. It’s his company to run. If you want to sound inarticulate you can always do it elsewhere. As far as getting employees to tell on each other… I see no mention of what the consequences (if any) might be, and I think that it might be a good way to keep the issue in people’s minds. God Bless the man for trying, anyway.
Seems like the media didn’t like being told how to use a language that they could be reasonably be expected to be proficient with. What’s sad is that this had to go in a memo.
A few gems I’ve encountered in the newsroom that weren’t included above:
– copying directly from the police department’s news releases useless phrases like “This is the 23rd traffic fatality of the year” or “This was the city’s 7th murder this year.”
– a young reporter lecturing co-workers on why it’s supposed to be called a “news conference” and not a “press conference”…as if listeners give a shit that we mention the event in the first place.
– using awkward acronyms that most listeners don’t recognize, and assuming everyone knows what you’re talking about: ETJ; LULAC; MALDEF; PIRG; PAC; EMS.
– when exactly was “rape” officially softened to “sexual assault?”
– totally unhelpful descriptions of crime suspects: “police describe him as a black male in his 20s, with a beard, wearing blue jeans, a red t-shirt and a baseball cap.”
I have a feeling that things were going quite well at the company and upper management is never happy unless problems are on their desk to solve or to deligate to someone else. In other words, “give me a report on your progress.” He just wanted to stir thing up and make sure his employes know that for eight hours a day five days a week he owns them.
Oddly enough, there are very few words or phrase on Mr. Michaels list that I actually disagree with. The proper pronunciation of words, whether generally or as proper nouns,do indeed fall under the purview of a radio station’s management, and for a variety of reasons.The ‘on-air’ talent are the representatives of the station- having them sounding as if they’d all just returned from a grammatical seminar moderated by George W. Bush can only reflect badly on that station’s image.
As for the key-phrase aspect of the list, while there are some I find to be a bit nonsensical, the thrust of the memo is clear…cetain phrases do indeed influence the listeners perception of the story and should be stayed clear of in the interest of journalistic integrity, while others are just plainly misused and/or redundant. For example, my own pet peeve (and one that didn’t make Mr. michaels list) is the mis-use of the word “myriad”. The proper definition of this word is literally “thousands of”, by far too many reporters from NPR to local 10 KW AM broadcasters routinely say things like “the myriad of” or a “whole myriad of”- a redundancy that just makes them sound stupid and uninformed, as if they’d be happy to ead whatever tripe the writers lay before them.
Of course, there is the issue of management micro- control…that list such as this are the (and I’m sure Mr. Michaels would takes exceptin to these phrases) are the thin edge of the web, ot the beginning of the slippery slope that will inevitably lead to uber-control of all content. This is of course worrisome,but a WGN is certainly no rabid voice of the Neo-Consrvative or tea party movenent, giving voice not olny to th lunativ fringe voices f michael Savag, Glenn Beck and their ilk, I tend to view ‘The List’ as an audio equvilalent the The New York Times book on standardized poronunciation.., at least until it gets out of hand. Remenber, these are the tgoughts of a Left Liberal Democrat committed to both truth (as I see it at least) and good grammer. If the copy writers and on air personalities would;ve paid attentin in the first place, the dreaded List would never have beeb neded.
I think this guy makes allot of sense. Today’s news announcers are mostly pretty talking heads so they are dependent on what is being put up on the teleprompter. They need to be able to speak about events and news without these stupid and meaningless catch phrases. Lets go for advertising next, like “your symptoms will be relieved 3 times quicker”. Just talk people!
These make sense, and it differentiates them from their competitors. It’s intelligent marketing, even though the ignorance of the English language shows through quite well (i.e. “mute” instead of “moot”).
Good. If you want to express yourself like some coolloquial wind up toy, suit yourself, but don’t excpect anyone worth speaking to will listen.
I think the CEO is right: the list is reasonable and the tone will be closer to folksy than official sounding. He’s simply saying don’t use tired newsdesk cliches.
You’d think there might have been a better mechanism through which to achieve it though– is there no editorial leadership team?
Are you sure he lives in Illinois? I’m pretty sure he must live in Jefferson City, Missouri and work for the State of Missouri – Office of Administration. Which by the way is also $1 billion in short.
Really, we can’t hear “seek” or “flee?” These words are too hard for us? No wonder we’re losing intelligence apace. Oops I shouldn’t have said that.
Take a look at David Mitchell’s ‘Cloud Atlas,’ chapter six, for an idea how English may deteriorate unless something is done about the caliber of media presenters. Despite the best efforts of teachers, we learn most of our pronunciation from radio and TV. They’re setting a bad example at almost every level.
The idea of staffers keeping track of each other’s slips and ratting each other out is ludicrous, but in my experience typical of the impractical schemes that CEO’s come up with when annoyed about something. Actually, the list itself isn’t so bad. A few items had me scratching my head, but we could certainly do without many of the journalistic cliches he mentions, and he is right about some of the common misusages and mispronuciations.
Generally when you lay down the law in such an ill-considered way, it tends to just lay there. My advice to the staff here is to thank the boss for pointing this out, try to avoid the items about which he clearly has a good point, and let the whole thing blow over. Tomorrow he’ll have a new brainstorm and the whole flap will quickly be forgotten.
Hello Chuck,
Get with it…most radio station management would not have a clue what to do if a microphone was placed in front of them. Robert, lets get back to real radio now…. we have heard from the wannabe broadcasters in the market. WGN is the current day WKRP, the only difference is, the real WKRP was entertaining…. people like Randy Michaels are an embarrassment
to the broadcasting world. Can you imagine if Randy Michaels and Howard stern had a child?
He forgot ‘nucular’ for nuclear in the list.
So this clown want’s people to avoid using cliches and phrases like “fatal death”? What a bozo…
Who the hell still listens to radio anyway – especially am?
Frankly, I like the list. I wish he would have included atrocities such as “pre-cut” (dammit, if they’re pre-cut, they ain’t cut yet); “pre-cooked” (that would be raw); “pre-washed” (so, it’s still dirty?). Why do so many people still misuse the “pre” prefix?
I also wish he’d included “And now, we go to Tiffany Bighair live in the studio” (or variations thereof). I hope announcers wouldn’t go to someone dead!
He left out one of my favorites, “in earnest”. It’s always raining in Earnest, fighting began in Earnest, it began snowing in Earnest today and the search began in Earnest. I’v looked on the map and I just can’t find the place.
One comment agrees, adding, “Get an education.” I disagree for the same reason. Talk about the dumbing down of America!
I am skeptical of all that is labeled news today and every so-called source. What is the real agenda? What was the motivation behind this particular article?
The man from WGN wants newscasters to sound less like newscasters and more like knowledgeable neighbors. Makes perfect sense when you consider that what is called news today is not; it’s gossip wanting the respectability of news. A little like a hooker standing in front of a library and people believing she’s a librarian.
Well, might he be a Teabagger and/or Palin devotee? God forbid anyone should use any high-falutin’ words on -his- station! What would happen if the news-hungry public learned a few new words, or heard articulate, gasp, literate words, possibly for the first time all day?!
This guy is a perfect illustration why one person should not be in complete control of any organization of size without accountability.
Hint to managers everywhere, especially lower and middle: Manage as if you do not have the authority to fire anyone! You may be surprised at the positive changes that occur.
Most of that list actually makes sense. Americans are headed closer and closer to Ebonics and further from English (or is it “farther”?). Some of the list I don’t understand – but I’m not a journalist. Many times these things, when presentd so out-of-context, make no sense to us, but if/when explained properly may in fact be sensible.
He is not only within his rights, he is right. Most of the expressions he forbids are pleonasms, cliches, or meaningless. The print media are as guilty as the electronic in saturating our minds with this abuse of language. They should be teaching us the proper use of language so we can detect when it is being used to mislead. Many other usages could be added to his list. For example: “The pilot safely parachuted from his jet fighter AFTER it crashed…” or “A pedestrian was fatally injured AFTER he was struck by a speeding car…” or “He ran away on foot…” or “…was swimming in the water…” I might even call to the attention of politicians, “the American people…” since nobody seems to know who they–or we–are, since the Supreme Court has confirmed that corporations are included.
Michael’s message may have been delivered ineffectively; but, it’s content is applicable. Common, spoken, language is a function of usage and when those who present the news use inaccurate, vague, cliche ridden speech it gets passed on to listener-viewers. In my analysis I would blame the media for many additional societal defects including violence and greed.
/* Phil */
-Fatal death
all i can say is FINALLY!
Michaels seems to have lost his mind. What could possibly have inspired him to ban these words and phrases? I can’t help wondering why he did not also include a few others, such as “double chin,” “megalomaniac,” “dictator,” or “I’m quitting to go to another station.” (I would love to hear commenter Dorothy explain to us just which of the list items would make sense in any context.)
There is no need for anyone here to politicize this story by taking shots at the left or right. It’s unnecessary and has nothing to do with Randy “Bovine Benji’s” leanings. However, it has everything to do with his management style. There is a big difference between a firm manager demanding results and a blowhard asshole like Michaels. Just ask anyone who has worked for either type. Michaels may get some short sighted results to pad his resume, at the expense of employee morale. Does anyone really think that Humpty Dumpty actually sat down and composed this list? He probably just spewed some examples and badgered an underling to write the rest. This is likely true because it’s hard to write anything while hold a juicy Al’s Beef sandwich.
My Oh My he missed y’all Bless his heart
Maybe Staff should come up
with a list of foods that Randy Michaels
should eat to lose 150 pounds
including recommended exercises.
This guy is a slob and a lousy businessman.
How about a list of suggestions to him
from his Board of Directors as to how
to run his businesses so it will not
sink to the bottom of the businsess world
like Enron
Horrors! How will news broadcasts possibly be able to fill their scheduled times without resorting to the cavalcade of inane and meaningless “TV-isms” Mr. Michaels has for the most part quite correctly identified? Could it be that the writers will now be forced to think? Might it be that they will now require a college level education to write the news?
Like I said – horrors!
By making this list so detailed and exhaustive while encouraging employees to monitor and report each other, the only way the broadcasters could comply without slipping up is to read it from a piece of paper, thus making this entire exercise utterly pointless.
I’m “all for” quality writing, and agree with a few items on the list. Others appear difficult to avoid. Don’t the words “alleged” (and related ‘allegations’) allow the reporter to mention a charge that has not yet been finalized in court? I can only imagine how cumbersome the writing will become since so much of our broadcasts are devoted to crime.
If there is going to be a list, and some form of one may make sense, I have three suggestions:
1) It should not come from the CEO, an old crony of despicable Sam Zell
2) There should not be a narc-on-your-colleagues program
3) If you must have an “Avoid” List, please add ‘on tap’ because unless you are planning to serve me a brew while I watch or listen, it has no place in a weather forecast.
And this is why media almost deserves to go under. Look at this mess! Pitted so dramatically. A whole bunch of adults with knee jerk reactions acting like insecure teenagers that just want to fight. Can’t we just take a deep breath and asked where he’s coming from before smearing the pavement with his face?
I love writing news articles, but I hate working for newspapers. Most of you just want drama and pieces of information. Everyone just calm down and talk to eachother like you encourage your children to and then maybe we’ll have a well-informed story instead of one that by default of missing information makes it innaccurate and simply designed to appeal pure pathos.
It’s uneducated emotional maniulation. Have you lost faith in your ability to write well and accurately?
Every media entity has a style book with lists like this. Most of these words and phrases, are stupid. ‘Completely destroyed’ is so annoying. If it is a local thing, it isn’t world class.
Kudos to the CEO for one small step against the creeping stupidity in America.
You Michaels defenders are missing the point. With a few needed exceptions, the list does make some common sense — but only if you’re working at a college station or some 100-watter in Pigwallow, Arkansas. Randy’s list is aimed at one of the top-rated stations in the nation’s third-largest market, where you have to be a consummate, seasoned professional to even have your application considered. This list is as insulting as telling Ph.D. candidates they need a hall pass to go to the bathroom. Ever watch one of those nature shows on cable TV? “Here we see the alpha wolf urinating around a perimeter to mark his territory.” During 37 years of daily-news production for print and broadcast, I’ve seen it happen every time a new boss arrives. He or she has to do something VISIBLE to mark his or her territory — no matter how ineffectual or irrelevant. Change of some sort just to establish authority — or prove to the board of directors and shareholders that action, ANY action, is being taken. Given his history with Clear Channel, I doubt Randy even listens to WGN. He had some minion copy this list out of a book, a list that obviously wasn’t prepared by anyone on the news end of broadcasting. Michaels is too clueless and detached to realize how insulting it is to the professionals at WGN, most of whom NEVER use most of the more obvious colloquialisms on this list. I would bet any amount of money that NOBODY who is good enough to have been hired at WGN has EVER said “fatally dead” on the air. Most of this list — with some glaring exceptions — is fine for a sixth-grade English class, but a slap in the face to the professionals who have made WGN one of the top-rated stations in Chicago for many, many decades. The last thing the fine people at WGN need is to be treated like children and thrown to the wolves.
Think and say what you will, but I for one am weary of listening to “seasoned professionals” use illiterate and nonsensical language. How about “I can hear it in my ear?” “I can see visible flames down there?” “I’m standing in front of this building behind me?” “I saw it with my own eyes?” Even the popular Brian Williams once reported, “…so we sent Mike down there to see what he could hear.” The problem with the list of taboos is that it is far too short. If asked, I could add a few more expressions like those above.
So, let me get this straight. This is a list of words, terms or phrases that cannot be said. Thus, anything not on the list can be said. So, I guess you can use the “n-word”, the “f-word”, the “s-word”, etc. Actally, while on its face this list seems rediculous, maybe this guy is onto something. The first time one of the on-air personalities spews forth a foul mouthed utterance, the station is going to get alot of attenton. It’s just good marketing.
My personal favorite is when I hear a reporter describe a murder as a “brutal” murder.
Come on, aren’t there any murders that are “pleasant” murders?
How the hell is “what not” on this list. For example: there has been a lot of crime and “what not” in the eastern part of the city.
Typical CEO…
Stupid
Weak
Lazy
And then when his operation FINALLY implodes, he’ll expect the taxpayers to come to the rescue. So much for that “free-market” thang.
Plus this Dude needs to push himself away from the table and / or start moving around more. Just another FATTY who won’t take care of themselves and expect everyone else to pay for their problems.
After all, I’m sure his health care plan is First Rate.
I’m confident his pension is secure, as well.
Actually, you’d think more CEOs would have a clue about the product their companies produce and would care about its quality to the degree Randy Michaels cares about WGN’s….
Landed here from a Google result. Why does the author have a problem with an employer expecting a certain level of professionalism from his employees?
What the hell is happening to this country?
If you ask *me*, *your’e* creepy.. Most of these words should be removed, but probably not all. Some are necessary. But you leave the man alone.. before somebody gets hurt.
The point is, though, that very few if any of the words on this list that really are no-nos are ever heard on WGN! What a slap in the face of consummate pros such as Steve Alexander, with whom I’ve had the honor of working in Denver. So many here are prattling about how much Michaels must “care” about WGN, but to me it’s evidence that he doesn’t, and never really iistens to the station to boot. If he did he’d know that this kind of sloppiness just isn’t done on 720. Send this list to some downstate Bic lighter of a station and it’s probably a good idea. Send it to WGN and it’s like telling George Clooney he needs to learn how to act.
Yes, eliminating most of these is just good writing, the problem is that this wacko tells his employees to rat out each other….this is always destructive to morale.
Frankly, I am pleased someone is attempting to make sense of the pitiful lack of construction and use of words in the news industry.
I constantly notice redundancy and improperly used words and phrases even in the most respected news oulets.
It is rather ridiculous that the CEO of a foundering media empire has to be the one to raise this issue. And, yes, Gestapo tactics of ‘bingo cardlike’ reporting is rather childish. Is the reward another cookie at the annual “Holiday Party?”
I would have thought the editors and news chiefs, or at least the news readers would have the competency to correct lazy work.
Ban all four of his chins.
Welcome to Benji Burgers, you’re our Hunnert Customer. Can I take your order?
“Ummm… I’ll have the Bare Naked Burger with a regular Complete Surprise Fries and a Senseless Shake. I’ll be paying with a Bingo Card Gift Certificate.”
Would you like me to Randy-size your meal this evening?
“No, I wouldn’t want to make an alleged pig of myself. That could put me in harm’s way landing me in a medical hospital.”
OK, flee to the 2nd window for your World Class Order.
Frankly, I don’t understand the criticism. Broadcast news is generally hammered by daily broadsides from folks who’ve never been near a microphone. Now you have a man with the understanding it begins with the most basic units, words. Why the need to belittle? Does it work? Tribune GM, Tom Langmyer, twenty years ago was the Operations Manager at WSYR in Syracuse. These rules governed that newsroom and industry insiders consistently ranked the station among the five best news talkers in the country. Later Tom and former WSYR News Director, John Butler, managed KMOX in St. Louis. It was America’s most popular radio station by listener numbers. Standards do matter. They matter to the people enforcing them and they matter to an audience.
Welcome back you folks. Our top story tonight is a complete surprise.Those of you behind bars stay tuned. Some reportedly famed bare naked pedestrian literally fled on foot after shots rang out at an undisclosed plagued medical hospital in close proximity to the Campaign Trail. The fact of the matter is the perpetrator or as informed sources say, “lone gunman,” was giving a hunnert and ten percent in a killing spree and clash with police. Some of you area residents perished out there during the shower activity and senseless murder of what authorities call the Mother of all Perfect storms. To be fair, everybody else in harm’s way is literally lucky to be alive in the wake of the aftermath up there. Sources say at this point in time the death toll down there is legendary. Speaking out under false pretenses, a world class diva behind closed doors said, “Folks, really, fatal death, untimely death, unrest, an undocumented alien… these are sketchy details. Thus, utilize your vehicle to lend a helping hand in the manhunt.” In a surprise move, officials said a motorist in an auto accident underwent surgery that went terribly wrong. Time for a break. It is definitely possible we’ll be back after the break.
Welcome back everybody. In other news, torrential rain and white stuff is the best kept secret out in Eye Rack. Going forward, let’s touch base with the at risk guys who are under fire and who seek the yet to be incarcerated subject. “All of you marred by the near miss should stay behind the podium up there.”
After leaving TV news a while back, I still can’t help but watch the news with a critical eye. I know I am as guilty as anyone on the air today of relying too heavily on news cliches. Didn’t realize how irritating it was until I became a viewer again.
I think every news director should take most of this list and share it with their news teams. Granted, the fact that Randy Michaels wrote this is a little absurd, but the guy probably ended a bad day of managing his company through bankruptcy, he tuned in to the news and heard stupid blather coming out of his news staffers. So he fired off a note – and it probably felt good to get it off of his chest. One thing that he COULD control that day.
I have to go with the CEO on this one. If “communications” professionals can’t go a day without using these phrases (many of which are just wrong), then they really should not be on the radio.
“Believe me, I’m not making this up.”
Actually you are making it up. It’s not a list of banned words, it’s a list of words that make a person sound like a talking head. And he’s right. WHen was the last time anyone used the word “alleged?”
Here’s another:
Off ten
What about turning turning it up to 11? OR our boss is a $%&^ idiot?
Dateline: WGN 1:58pm, Garry Meier just apologized for saying “VETREN” instead of “VETERAN”. Damn, that was a “near-miss” for my Benji Bingo Card. “Believe me, I’m not making this up!”
(c’monnnnn, bingo! One more square and I win a free burrito!)
Although I’m not from Chicago, I read about your blog in the trades and decided to read it myself. I’ve been in radio for years. I’m not a fan of Randy since I think his past practices have hurt radio during Clear Channel’s acquisition phase, but his list is good and he is right about this. These are crutches that make reporters sound like they are still working in the 1960’s. This is why news radio is dead to people under 40 like myself. We work on how to speak to an audience like they speak daily. Be relatable to the audience and stop speaking at them is what we are taught. There are many things to take shots at Randy about…this is not one of them. Perhaps the people who this was focused to help should open their minds to improvement of their delivery and lose these antiquated phrases. If you don’t look for ways to improve the product, then you are a part of the problem. Congrats to Randy for getting it right this time and shame on the ego driven reporters and news persons that think they are past improving their craft.
Hi Robert – I’ve put the list into a little interactive graphic I made for my own blog: http://radioitems.com/2010/03/119-radio-donts/
On the off-chance you’d like to use it, let me know. Thanks for the story!
Rob
I worked for Randy and I know a LOT of people who would want to work for him. This is making a mountain out of a molehill. Sounds like he decided that the stations would relate better to the audience if they spoke like the audience instead of sounding like they got a Thesaurus and chose the largest words they could in order to impress everyone with their vocabulary.
Perhaps he could have made the memo less wordy by simply saying, “Never use a large word when a diminutive one would do…”
Randy Michaels is a top notch broadcaster and I’m proud to have worked for him.
You missed the point, Bill, this is Chicago…not St Louis or any other market.
Look at the ratings and where WGN is going-right down the tube. Chicago radio is one to one or it should be.
Some of this makes sense, but a lot of it shows that Randy wouldn’t know a good newscast if it were stuffed down his throat. Dropping alleged? Really?!
“Allegedly Mr. Michaels has a brain. No sign of the organ was found today during routine medical tests.”
So there.
This list makes a lot of sense. Whomever made up this list has a good education. Anyone who is complaining about the list just is complaining about no having a clue whats so good about it.
TO Fiona Bruin
Thank you Mrs Michaels.
@Fiona
Whomever complains about those complaining has never worked in a radio newsroom. I have worked in many places where not using “alleged” would get you fired at the end of the newscast. That word alone on the list says that Randy hasn’t a clue.
Face it, we are not talking about a guy with a stellar track record here. The bit about asking staffers to snitch on each other is Stalinist. I wonder if anyone has had a coversation with AFTRA about this?
I think the author, Mr Feder is upset becuase he is probably guilty of using some of teh assinine phrases, himself. ANd he doesn’t like to be called out. Everyone of those phrases is a testament to how much journalists have fallen.
As someone noted earlier here, they need to get an education.
*bare naked – as opposed to being fully clothed naked, I guess.
*sketchy details – if it’s sketchy, how in the world can you call it detailed?
*in other news – wait, you eman the news program was doing some entertainment, and we need to know that the next thing you say is news?
*fatal death – are there any other forms of death other than fatal?
need I go further? Way to go, Mr Randy Michaels.
What’s all the hubbub, bub? Hasn’t anyone ever heard of the Chicago or AP Manuals of Style? He’s just doing a little update and adding a few things. Some of these are already in one or the other anyway.
“At this point in time?” Why not just say “now?”
For some time now I’ve been following news reports and blogs about my former boss, Randy Michaels. It seems that many of those who report on Randy and the Tribune Co., especially in the print world, find it an affront that this guy from the broadcast world is running newspapers. So, they write breathless stories, as if the newspaper world has been infiltrated by a saboteur. This is their way of resisting change, something that’s very scary to them. But in their industry, change is mandatory for survival.
The list of words and phrases you write about was designed to steer news writers and on air talent to deliver the news conversationally instead of falling into “news speak” which often is far from the way we talk to each other. His list also pointed out how some words and phrases are misused based on their actual meaning. And, by the way, his radio and TV news managers and their staffs overwhelmingly agree these are words and phrases they should avoid.
Now, I have first hand experience with Randy on things like this. When he was CEO of the radio group that owned the radio station I was running, he was a frequent advisor on content. I often solicited his opinion. He suggested words and phrases our news staff could, and should, expunge from news scripts. It was his way to get our news people to communicate more effectively and naturally with our audience. And Randy invited discussion and debate.
In the case of the Tribune stations, Randy’s list has been characterized by some on the outside as “forbidden.” Never once was I forbidden by Randy. He’s an idea person, and always wanted to hear different, or even opposing, ideas.
Under his leadership, our radio group became highly respected by our peers. Our stations often over-achieved in our individual markets; we were perceived as effective competitors, willing to try new things. Many who worked for other stations and radio groups wanted to find a position with one of our radio stations so they could work with Randy.
Facts like that are (purposely?) overlooked by Randy’s critics. They are so preoccupied and obsessed with his radio background they’re missing the big picture.
Randy Michaels is brilliant, intuitive and always challenging the old ways of doing things. He’s typically a step or more ahead. His need for knowledge is insatiable. I’m convinced he has a photographic memory. He always kept us ahead of the rest with technology and marketing concepts. Those who either worked with him, or knew his track record in radio, had no doubt that he could be successful at Tribune Co.
His ability to break down obstacles to creative and (as much as I hate the phrase—this might even be on his list) out-of-the-box thinking is challenging, refreshing and highly stimulating. Because of this talent and his ability to motivate and empower his people, all Tribune media properties today are making a profit. Indeed, the changes and ideas he’s instituted have created positive buzz and interest in the world of newspapers.
I suppose there always will be an old guard, resistant to change and willing to do everything in their power to prevent it. But it’s the Randy Michaels of this world, the intelligent risk takers, who sustain innovation and progress.
He’s stealing George Carlin’s routine –”jumbo shrimp”!!!
…and like a typical blowhard he offers no substitutes. “Im fat, rich and bored.” I wonder if you can say that.
The listof words is OK, but I wish I had the time to see how often he is quoted using them???? I really do not like the idea of the nazi police state of turning others in. Does he listen to the station? And when does a suit have a “radio” name? Does anyone have Bernie’s tapes from his top 40 days?
@Fiona Bruin:
I’m not complaining so much about the content of the list–though I do indeed disagree with some of the selections–as with the author of the list. This should have been delegated to the editors, not the CEO. Otherwise, why were the editors hired?
Editors are newspaper things. Broadcasters aren’t newspaper things. The difference? There will be radio stations at the end of the decade.
@Eric #445,
I think Randy Michaels finds the phrase “out of the box” to be appropriate only when it refers to removing the contents from Taco Bell’s Volcano Big Box. Mmmmm… DEEEE-Lish! I don’t think the critics are