Those words and phrases recently banned by a top executive at Tribune Broadcasting have turned up on television. All 117 of them. In the same piece.
I suppose it was a no brainer to poke fun at the list this way, but in a surprise move the ridicule comes from Tribune itself. Literally. Larry Mendte, the legendary former Philadelphia anchor who’s now doing commentary for Tribune, produced this hilarious send up.
Brilliant, isn’t it? While Tribune’s Randy Michaels came under fire for putting out a memo forbidding the use of these words, I have to applaud the effort to eliminate newsspeak. I’ve been campaigning against it for years, without much success. Mendte’s commentary should be required viewing in newsrooms and classrooms. Hectoring hasn’t worked. Maybe mockery will.
PS: In case you were wondering, the words in italics in this post are on the Tribune list. And so they should be.
4 Comments
Dear Deborah Potter:
Are you nuts, or what??!! This putz is “legendary” all right. He is a convicted felon who engaged in a months-long stalking and character assassination mission against a female co-worker. His crime, to which he pleaded guilty and for which he is still on probation, was a carefully thought-out form of domestic terror. This was not some one-shot mistake. By giving him any kind of face time, YOU compound the damage done to his victim. Little Larry deserves to be shunned, not celebrated. We know his new boss, Bill Carey, is an opportunist struggling to do anything tpo increase ratings. But I thought this site and the Pointer Institute had some sort of moral compass. Obviously, I was mistaken.
Shame on you!! Oh, and puleeeze do not suggest anything about rehabilitation and second chances. The Courts, last week, denied Little Larry’s attempt to vacate his guilty plea. He still does not understand his crimes against his co-workers, the shame he brought his family, or how badly he needs help.
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Dear mapo
It is you ho needs a course in journalism and newsspeak “Stalking?” “Character Assassination?” You purposely leav out tthat thr “female co-worker) was the infamous Alycia Lane who was fired for hitting a NY female police officer and calling her a dyke. It has since been shown tha Lane was after Mendte – first trying to get him to leav his wife – and then when he wouldn’t – she tried to get him fired. He told her stop. He told his bosses -but Lane had already become close tothenew male GM – and so Mendte did something stupid to protect himself.
That’s the story. Mendte then did something that no one does these days. He admitted to everything and took his punishment. He was completely honestand should now be able to resume work. A federal felony? PLEASE! The feds shouldn’t have wasted their resources on this case – they did because Mendte got the US Attorney Pat Meehan headlines.
It was not the crime ofthe century. It was not the terrorism, fraud or corruption that the US Attorney Should be investigating. Amazing that very few in the media picked up on that angle.
But NO ONE ever questioned Mendte’s talent or his committment to the community. In fact, throughout the ordeal he was praised for his honesty, talent and charity work. And like most of his work – this and his other commentaries are brilliant.
Let the man do his work. We need more like him in this businessand fewer people likehisformer co-worker.
Are you nuts, or what??!! This putz is “legendary” all right. He is a convicted felon who engaged in a months-long stalking and character assassination mission against a female co-worker. His crime, to which he pleaded guilty and for which he is still on probation, was a carefully thought-out form of domestic terror. This was not some one-shot mistake. By giving him any kind of face time, YOU compound the damage done to his victim. Little Larry deserves to be shunned, not celebrated. We know his new boss, Bill Carey, is an opportunist struggling to do anything tpo increase ratings. But I thought this site and the Pointer Institute had some sort of moral compass. Obviously, I was mistaken.
Shame on you!! Oh, and puleeeze do not suggest anything about rehabilitation and second chances. The Courts, last week, denied Little Larry’s attempt to vacate his guilty plea. He still does not understand his crimes against his co-workers, the shame he brought his family, or how badly he needs help.