Randy Michaels - someone you may not have heard much about - CEO for Tribune Co., an American media arm that varies its industry interests like any hopeful media player should, has recently caused a bit of a kerfuffle to do with the company's talk radio station WGN-AM.
The root cause of this amusing media incident is the banning of 119 specific words/phrases for WGN radio station, which was announced at the behest of the clearly confused Mr Michaels and filtered down to employees of the company, who I can imagine were not entirely confident about their leader's sanity.
Michaels' crackdown on "words that make you sound like you are reading, instead of talking" does not even seem like a crackdown; it demonstrates more of a splurging of executive power in order to assert the wearer of the crown's position and prominence. Because, if you consider the vastness of the English lexicon, this little cull on lexemes labours nothing to be actually revolutionary.
To be utterly transparent, as it appears Michaels is not, the case of the kook of Tribune and his not-so-pleasing-to-the-ear words is just harmless media whitewash. While still battling it out with bankruptcy and facing the repercussions of an $8bn buy-out that didn't pan out as expected, Tribune CEO has segued nicely into Reform Road for a quick, delicious Big Mac.
As I said, this refutation of 'newspeak' jargon is plain and innocuous overall, especially when you apply objective thought to the list of "exiled expressions". Here's a few of the funniest ones:
So basically there are 119 bad words/phrases workers at WGN-AM should never be heard saying; if they are then their co-workers might squeal on them to the man upstairs (literally, Michaels is just five floors up from them in the Tribune Tower).
To be fair (-1) if, as Charlie Meyerson, WGN news director says, this "enhances your reputation as a communicator" I guess it's a no brainer (-2). At least Michaels is setting a good example by actually informing his staff that they can in fact think outside the box - oh wait, that's allowed, I think. I guess I better hold my tongue until the release of Michaels' second edition manifesto entitled Things I thought of not to say while not paying the bills. The mind boggles with anticipation.
The root cause of this amusing media incident is the banning of 119 specific words/phrases for WGN radio station, which was announced at the behest of the clearly confused Mr Michaels and filtered down to employees of the company, who I can imagine were not entirely confident about their leader's sanity.
Michaels' crackdown on "words that make you sound like you are reading, instead of talking" does not even seem like a crackdown; it demonstrates more of a splurging of executive power in order to assert the wearer of the crown's position and prominence. Because, if you consider the vastness of the English lexicon, this little cull on lexemes labours nothing to be actually revolutionary.
To be utterly transparent, as it appears Michaels is not, the case of the kook of Tribune and his not-so-pleasing-to-the-ear words is just harmless media whitewash. While still battling it out with bankruptcy and facing the repercussions of an $8bn buy-out that didn't pan out as expected, Tribune CEO has segued nicely into Reform Road for a quick, delicious Big Mac.
As I said, this refutation of 'newspeak' jargon is plain and innocuous overall, especially when you apply objective thought to the list of "exiled expressions". Here's a few of the funniest ones:
- After these commercial messages - only in America would someone spare breath to declare common practice advertising that everybody knows is coming - there's no public service broadcasting in America!
- Undocumented alien - what? Excuse me, but why are aliens being spoken about at all on regional radio? Is Area 51 not a hoax?
- Thus - as if substituting thus with therefore, consequently, hence or any other synonym is going to improve speaker-listener reciprocation. Maybe they could instead speak in symbols, for example: "demolishing McDonald's eateries equals anarchy in Texas"
- And my personal favourite: senseless murder - so you're suggesting that there's a type of sensible murder that can, in circumstances yet unknown, negate the existence of a senseless murder? N.B. Never use ADJECTIVES or ADVERBS in the news that imply varying quality/quantity potential - stick to FACTS
So basically there are 119 bad words/phrases workers at WGN-AM should never be heard saying; if they are then their co-workers might squeal on them to the man upstairs (literally, Michaels is just five floors up from them in the Tribune Tower).
To be fair (-1) if, as Charlie Meyerson, WGN news director says, this "enhances your reputation as a communicator" I guess it's a no brainer (-2). At least Michaels is setting a good example by actually informing his staff that they can in fact think outside the box - oh wait, that's allowed, I think. I guess I better hold my tongue until the release of Michaels' second edition manifesto entitled Things I thought of not to say while not paying the bills. The mind boggles with anticipation.
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