What Words Or Phrases Would You Ban From Newscasts?

[MHVRadiofan]

This is not exactly a word but a suffix the press invented 35 years ago. At the time calling the scandal that brought down Richard Nixon the Watergate scandal made sense. However ever since, whenever there is a public or political scandal reporters feel the need to attach agate to the name of the scandal involved. I know it has supposedly become the accepted way to describe a scandal, but does anybody outside the press talk that way. I don’t know of anyone, and it drives me nuts.

 

[mjlarochelle]

I'd like to ban: Primary, Primaries, delegates, Obama, Romney, Clinton, and Huckabee.

 

[WMC2006]

Not McCain??

 

[BRNout]

This is not exactly a word but a suffix the press invented 35 years ago. At the time calling the scandal that brought down Richard Nixon the Watergate scandal made sense. However ever since, whenever there is a public or political scandal reporters feel the need to attach agate to the name of the scandal involved. I know it has supposedly become the accepted way to describe a scandal, but does anybody outside the press talk that way. I don’t know of anyone, and it drives me nuts.

I think you meant "-gate" added to the end of the word. And thank you for bringing this up! It drives me nuts too. Who thinks this is a good idea anyhow? It's so geeky and nerdy that it is incredible. Yet they still do it. Atrocious and insulting to the viewers intelligence.

 

[Newname]

I think you meant "-gate" added to the end of the word. And thank you for bringing this up! It drives me nuts too. Who thinks this is a good idea anyhow? It's so geeky and nerdy that it is incredible. Yet they still do it. Atrocious and insulting to the viewers intelligence.

Yes...it's a practice so insidious, it needs a '-gate' suffix! 'Atrociousgate', 'Insultgate', ' Headline Writers Too Stupid to Come Up With An Original Namegate'...;D

 

[Newname]

Oh, reading this made me think of another thing that we've so overlooked: Not a word or a phrase, but sounders.

They all started with the NBC affiliates doing the three-bell chimes when the five/six/seven/ten year forcast would pop up during weather. Then, from there, it went with the "Breaking News" opener, to the "live" opener, to now I was watching the Today show and they used a "Star Trek open door" sounder during an effect from one video to another! It woke me up from my nap! Yes, sound effects can enhance the TV watching experience, especially since that's about the only thing in 5.1 surround during news, but the ones news outlets use are just dull, stupid and annoying. STOP IT!

My local channels (SF) don't do much of this. It seems to be more of a cable news device. The absolute worst is CNBC, which has that dumb 5-note sounder every few seconds, along with various 'whooshes' or 'zaps' accompanying every stock chart as it's displayed. It's like 'Starfleet Stock Report'!

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Meh, CNBC got old when they had the peacock "flapping" before they showed the chart. Having the chart grow from the left is OK, but the effects there really got out of hand five or six years ago.

 

[bpatrick]

In his 1982 book "Newswatch," Av Westin, then a
producer at ABC, listed these cliches:

indifferent air
rays of hope
credibility gap
avalanche of votes
avalanche of rumors
vale of tears
economic summit
diplomatic summit
presidential summit
hill of beans
last resort
wall of indifference
stonewall
wall of silence
informed sources
quiet backwater
sea of troubles
ship of state
dire straits
depths of despair
boiling point
historic crossroads
cultural desert
garden path
primrose path
shifting sands of time
sword's point
straight & narrow
flames of passion
right track
tie that binds
train of thought
on track
the pall
pinnacle of success
clouds of gloom
war clouds
icy atmosphere
tower of strength
reign of terror
yawning chasm
interest rate peak
vale of secrecy
pillar of the community
sink of iniquity
family circle
significant development
bodes well
brink of war
path of righteousness
horns of a dilemma
unknown territory
sign of the times
stream of consciousness
hope springs
river of blood
reservoir of knowledge
wellsprings of hope
peak traffic
depths of depression
slough of despondence
yule tide
troubled waters
tide of refugees
s***t's creek
at bay
ripple of laughter
prevalent view

 

[ixnay]

I think you meant "-gate" added to the end of the word. And thank you for bringing this up! It drives me nuts too. Who thinks this is a good idea anyhow? It's so geeky and nerdy that it is incredible. Yet they still do it. Atrocious and insulting to the viewers intelligence.

Yes...it's a practice so insidious, it needs a '-gate' suffix! 'Atrociousgate', 'Insultgate', ' Headline Writers Too Stupid to Come Up With An Original Namegate'...;D

A few years ago, sometime in the late '90s IIRC, American Heritage magazine had an article on how Watergate cliches like

"cancer on the presidency"
"twist slowly, slowly in the wind"
"at that point in time"
and of course, "-gate"

have become part of the American vocabulary.

ixnay

 

[WPPCProductions]

Words of death, John Doe Died today,John Doe got killed today, John Doe pass on today,and so on,Everytime I put the news on somebodies loved one got killed today,In a accident,got Shot at, Died of cancer, or what ever. Mind as will call it the Obits hour.It's depressing.

 

[DJ Tony]

I would actually ban all the words that anchors and reporters are shortening "Celebs" (celebrities), "Prego" (pregnant), etc.. and for the love of god, stop referring to pregnancies as "baby bumps" lol

 

[1069_KIFR]

Hear Hear! I totally agree, 'Baby bumps'. I hate that as well. Also the joining of names...Bradgelina, LiLo (Lindsay Lohan), etc...

Another thing I want banned from newscasts is the saying...."More at 6" Report the news. As I am watching the 5pm news, tell me the story NOW! Is the 5pm newscast a 1/2 hour promo for the 6pm News?

 

[ixnay]

I think you meant "-gate" added to the end of the word. And thank you for bringing this up! It drives me nuts too. Who thinks this is a good idea anyhow? It's so geeky and nerdy that it is incredible. Yet they still do it. Atrocious and insulting to the viewers intelligence.

Yes...it's a practice so insidious, it needs a '-gate' suffix! 'Atrociousgate', 'Insultgate', ' Headline Writers Too Stupid to Come Up With An Original Namegate'...;D

Newname and BRNout, *why* do you find "-gate" so nauseating? ??? Mere overuse, or is it something deeper? IMO "-gate" is probably a tad overused but I don't lose sleep over it.

ixnay

 

[Newname]

I think you meant "-gate" added to the end of the word. And thank you for bringing this up! It drives me nuts too. Who thinks this is a good idea anyhow? It's so geeky and nerdy that it is incredible. Yet they still do it. Atrocious and insulting to the viewers intelligence.

Yes...it's a practice so insidious, it needs a '-gate' suffix! 'Atrociousgate', 'Insultgate', ' Headline Writers Too Stupid to Come Up With An Original Namegate'...;D

Newname and BRNout, *why* do you find "-gate" so nauseating? ??? Mere overuse, or is it something deeper? IMO "-gate" is probably a tad overused but I don't lose sleep over it.

ixnay

Neither do I, ixnay. I was just having a little fun with BRNout's post, which made "-gate" sound...scandalous!
I have to agree, though, with Tony and 1069, about the stupid 'tabloid journalism-speak' regarding 'celebs', their 'combined' names, and, yes, 'baby bumps'.
Oh, and also the words 'efforting' and 'presser', when they mean 'trying/attempting' and 'press conference'...'We're efforting to bring you that presser about LiLo's baby bump...' :

 

[MHVRadiofan]

I think you meant "-gate" added to the end of the word. And thank you for bringing this up! It drives me nuts too. Who thinks this is a good idea anyhow? It's so geeky and nerdy that it is incredible. Yet they still do it. Atrocious and insulting to the viewers intelligence.

Yes...it's a practice so insidious, it needs a '-gate' suffix! 'Atrociousgate', 'Insultgate', ' Headline Writers Too Stupid to Come Up With An Original Namegate'...;D

Newname and BRNout, *why* do you find "-gate" so nauseating? ??? Mere overuse, or is it something deeper? IMO "-gate" is probably a tad overused but I don't lose sleep over it.

ixnay

How insightful of you! As a very young child I was kept inside my outdoor play area enclosed with a gate. Perhaps it left deep psychological scares. I never thought of that. Perhaps I should get counseling. :
Actually I had no problem with the term when the Watergate Scandal happened way back in the 70’s, but that was 35 years ago. The team is OLD and WAY overused by the media. It’s past time to put -gate to bed. I don’t hear people on the street say - gate. Don't worry I am not loosing sleep over it . I just cringe when I hear it

 

[BRNout]

I think you meant "-gate" added to the end of the word. And thank you for bringing this up! It drives me nuts too. Who thinks this is a good idea anyhow? It's so geeky and nerdy that it is incredible. Yet they still do it. Atrocious and insulting to the viewers intelligence.

Yes...it's a practice so insidious, it needs a '-gate' suffix! 'Atrociousgate', 'Insultgate', ' Headline Writers Too Stupid to Come Up With An Original Namegate'...;D

Newname and BRNout, *why* do you find "-gate" so nauseating? ??? Mere overuse, or is it something deeper? IMO "-gate" is probably a tad overused but I don't lose sleep over it.

ixnay

It's such a cliché and is so very tacky! Using that phrase shows an immense lack of imagination and makes the reporter look and sound like a buffoon. Travel-gate, hooker-gate, etc, etc, etc. It's just stupid. It represents the laziest efforts of a newsroom while highlighting their salacious excitement over the pratfalls of others. They're just a little too eager to trot out the latest "-gate" name.

And yes, it's been used to death - enough for a hundred lifetimes.

Not sure what "deeper" meaning you're inquiring about - no I didn't get locked behind a gate when I was 3 or anything like that! :

 

[jfc40ts]

Getting back to the "Live, Local, Late Breaking" thing. My station uses it and I always interpreted "late Breaking" as we broke the story long after the competition. Could very well be truth in advertising there...

I live in Western NY and I've NEVER seen stories where standard measurements were replaced by metric on US stations, only the stations out of Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario did that...

Another thing I hear that bugs me is that our news refers to network people (and others) as "7news correspondents". What moron thought of that one??? I'd really love to hear it if one of our reporters had to say, "for more on that story, we turn to 7news correspondent Charlie Gibson". Maybe someone would wake up to the stupidity of it all...

And finally, there's the people who say "good (insert day of week here) morning". The problem arises when you approach the end of the week. Hellllllllllooooooooooooooooo, Good Friday comes once a year!!!

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Rather than 7news, they'd just say "we turn to ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson" ... which is (part of) his job title.

Or, you'd hear Charlie Gibson say: "For more on this story we turn to ABC News chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross in Washington."

I don't see the difference?

 

[dhett]

I would actually ban all the words that anchors and reporters are shortening "Celebs" (celebrities), "Prego" (pregnant), etc.. and for the love of god, stop referring to pregnancies as "baby bumps" lol

Besides, shouldn't they be calling them "fetus bumps" anyway?

 

[DJ Tony]

Besides, shouldn't they be calling them "fetus bumps" anyway?

wow, that came out of nowhere lol.