"News" is losing verbs

[SoCalDem]

This is not new, but is interesting , nonetheless

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec01/verb_8-24.html


TERENCE SMITH: Today in Washington, around the country, television reporters, talking like this.

JOHN KING, CNN: Those negotiations continuing. Mr. Bush speaking to reporters earlier today: Suddenly optimistic.

TERENCE SMITH: Short, staccato bursts.

ANDREA MITCHELL, NBC News: Gary Condit today, the first sighting in weeks.

TERENCE SMITH: Fragments, not sentences.

JIM AVILA, NBC News: No natural enemies in North America, lives most of its life underwater.

TERENCE SMITH: Dropping most verbs, everything present tense.

CORRESPONDENT: A man alone as his wife sits in jail, admitting to killing her five children.


The rise of "TV-speak"
TERENCE SMITH: Call it "TV speak," or the case of the vanishing verb. Whatever, it's an abbreviated language unique to time-pressed television correspondents.

SHEPARD SMITH, Fox News Channel: Carts on the course. It's okay for Casey Martin. Supreme Court says so.

TERENCE SMITH: Shepard Smith, the anchor of the fast-paced Fox report on the Fox News Channel, is known for his tickertape delivery.

SHEPARD SMITH: Meantime, the Navy looking for another suitable training location, the Navy secretary saying it will be tough but not impossible. The Navy using Vieques for the past 60 years.

SHEPARD SMITH: You sort of eliminate the things that get in your way in this era of multi-tasking, and sometimes verbs just aren't necessary. It's, "President Bush in Washington today." I don't need to say, "he is in Washington today." "President Bush in Washington today, talking with Colin Powell, getting ready for a trip overseas. Telling other yesterday about what happened when, da, da, da, da." You don't need all those verbs.

CORRESPONDENT: Behind the discounts: A huge slowdown in business travel because of the economy.

TERENCE SMITH: TV speak is not strictly generational. Robert Hager, the veteran correspondent for NBC News, is often imitated for his clipped style.



...snip

[displacedtexan]

1. cute idea, but...

lots of verbs present in those fragments.
just have to know which words are verbs.

[DavidDvorkin]

2. Hate that present tense nonsense

I started it noticing it a year or two ago. It drives me nuts.


http://www.dvorkin.com