Deborah Potter / Advancing the Story

Shocking! Tragic! Unbelievable!

Not the stories that came with those labels attached, but the way they’re written. It’s shocking how many worthless adjectives are being crammed into the average newscast! Tragic to think that many writers may not know better. And unbelievable that nothing is being done about it.

Television newscasts these days are awash in hyperbole. Could that be one reason the audience is floating away? Listen to almost any news program, network or local, and you’re bombarded with words and phrases so overused that they have become meaningless. In a 15-minute span one morning, reporters and anchors on one channel promised “stunning new developments” that weren’t in the least bit astonishing, described a Vatican gathering of visibly delighted Cardinals as a “solemn ceremony,” and discussed the possible punishment for a “heinous crime” without ever mentioning what had actually happened.

This kind of writing violates a bedrock principle of broadcast news: It is better to show than to tell. “You can say she’s a devoted mother, or you can show a child jumping into her lap,” says Mike Mather, a reporter at WTKR-TV in Norfolk, VA. “Which is more effective?”

Great writers seek and use specific details, not shopworn generalities, to convey information and emotion. Instead of telling the listener there’s been a tragic fire, provide the facts: Six members of one family were killed. The only survivor is a six-month-old boy, burned beyond recognition. And it happened on Christmas morning. Let the listener decide if that’s tragic.

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