Sometimes when I’m watching the morning news I just have to shake my head and say, “Huh?!” Here are samples from just two weeks of newscasts.
A politician in our area, Leland Yee, pled guilty to corruption. He was caught taking bribes and involved in gun-smuggling. During sentencing, the judge decided that he should take into consideration Yee’s “exemplary character.”
Tragically, a woman’s torso was found in a suitcase near a river. Her head was nowhere to be found. With a straight face, the newscaster told us, “Police are now calling it a suspicious death.”
Then there’s the questionable use of the word “alleged,” often uttered several times during a story. There was the video of the guy holding a gun on a cab driver–the guy was referred to as “the alleged gunman.” Then there was Jason Dalton, who “allegedly” said that his Uber app took over his mind and body, causing him to shoot five people–“allegedly,” despite the fact that there’s a recording of him saying it. And, oh yeah, the object discovered at the O.J. Simson crime scene was an “alleged knife.” (Isn’t a knife just a knife?)
Once a person writes the script for a news broadcast, doesn’t he or she proofread it for logic and common sense?
Oh well. It starts my day with a chuckle.