Opinion: TV News’ Cold-Blooded Murder of the English Tongue
Why Can’t Newscasters Speak Proper English?
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“Why can’t the English learn to speak?” That’s the question asked in song by the fictional Henry Higgins character at the beginning of “My Fair Lady,” where he complains of “the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue.”
One can only wonder what Higgins and lyricist Fredrick Loewe would think if they watched TV news in 2022. I suspect they’d both have conniptions.
The offenders include almost all the broadcast and cable networks and most local stations around the country.
ABC’S “World News Tonight with David Muir” wins the title of worst offender, especially because it is the highest-rated daily news show in the country.
Full disclosure: I worked at ABC for eight years. I spent some of those years as a correspondent for “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.” I was also a frequent substitute anchor on the show’s weekend editions. I left ABC on good terms to take a better offer.
Then, a correspondent’s value and airtime almost directly correlated to the quality of that person’s writing. That no longer seems to be the case, and I am convinced Peter would be horrified at what’s happened to his show.
“Tonight, Tonight, Won’t Be Just Any Night”
I know I’m mixing musicals, but "Tonight," the Bernstein/Sondheim song from “West Side Story,” should be the theme for the current “World News Tonight.” To explain, here is a transcript of the first couple of minutes of the Thursday, March 24 episode of the show in its multifaceted, unadulterated, ungrammatical glory.
The transcribed broadcast is in bold letters. My comments are in brackets.
“Tonight, a special edition of World News Tonight. President Biden here in Europe. The emergency NATO summit. {Where are the verbs?}
Ukraine’s President Zelensky addressing world leaders. {A verb! The sentence isn’t grammatically correct with its incomplete tense, but I’ll take any verb.}
His urgent plea. {Here we go again with no verbs.}
And the dramatic new images. {No verb.}
Ukraine claiming they have hit a Russian ship. {The pronoun should be “it” not “they.” Also, “claiming,” like “addressing” above, is a present participle that requires an auxiliary or helping verb to complete its tense. Present participles, also colloquially called “-ing verbs,” cannot stand alone.}
Tonight, verified video showing a ship destroyed, consumed by smoke and flames. {There’s so much here in just one “sentence.” That’s the third time David Muir, the anchor, has said “tonight.” Do viewers not know this show is happening tonight? Also, can’t viewers trust ABC News to show only verified video unless we are specifically told it’s not? Of course, the point isn’t to illuminate viewers. It’s all about sounding dramatic and self-important. This “sentence” also includes another example of misuse of a present participle (“showing”).}
This evening, President Biden on the world stage asked how the US and NATO would respond if Russia uses chemical weapons in Ukraine. {If you’re counting (I am), that’s the fourth “tonight” or “this evening.” How many times do we have to be reminded? And “asked” needs to be paired with an auxiliary verb, such as “was.”}
The president said it would trigger a response. And what else the president said on this. {Does that sound as awkward to you as it does to me? Also, why not use “he” instead of twice saying “the president”?}
And tonight, new sanctions of hundreds of Russian lawmakers, oligarchs, and defense companies. {That’s “tonight” No. 5, another “sentence” without a verb, and the second "sentence" in a row to begin with “and.”}
Ukraine’s President Zelensky pleading for more tanks, planes, air-defense systems, and anti-ship weapons. {“Pleading” needs an auxiliary verb.}
Tonight {No. 6}, Cecilia Vega with the president in Brussels. {No verb}
Also, tonight {No. 7} here, NATO’s show of force. {No verb and viewers haven’t been told where “here” is, other than a very general “Europe.”}
ABC News given exclusive access to NATO joint exercises with US troops. {That needs a “was” before “given.”}
Martha Raddatz with American soldiers and what’s she’s learning tonight {No. 8} from her sources. {This needs a verb before “with.”}
What U.S. authorities are also now considering sending to Ukraine. Martha is live in Warsaw tonight {No. 9}.
The harrowing images coming in from Mariupol. And tonight {No. 10}, what Russia is now saying {Finally they accompanied a present participle with the necessary auxiliary verb, in this case “is.”} about that besieged city in Ukraine, claiming they {The correct pronoun is “it.”} are about to take control.
More than 100,000 remain there with little food, water, or power. James Longman live in Ukraine tonight. {No. 11, and no verb}
The humanitarian crisis. Tonight {No. 12, just three words after No. 11}, the new and alarming number. {No verb}
UNICEF now saying 4.3 million Ukrainian children have now been displaced by this Russian war in Ukraine. {I don’t think Ukrainian children would have been displaced by the Russian war in in Syria.}
That’s more than half the children in Ukraine. {I guess we needed another reminder that this was happening in Ukraine.}
The mothers and children we found in an old theater built by Ukrainians. {ABC really, really wants us to know the network is reporting from Ukraine.}
Their message, right here tonight. {Whose message? The Ukrainians who built the theater or the mothers and children? What does “right here” mean in this context? That the people who are sending the message are next to the anchor? Is there a difference between “right here” and “here”? Again, the verb is missing, and that was “tonight” No. 13.}
Just in tonight {No. 14 comes just three words after No. 13.}, the new images {Would ABC be showing us old images? Didn't Muir just tell us they were "just in tonight"?} of North Korea’s latest provocation, launching its first intercontinental ballistic missile in more than four years as world leaders meet here in Europe. {Viewers know you are broadcasting from somewhere in Europe. You have told us over and over again.}
And a breaking headline in Washington tonight {No. 15} involving the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. {No verb}
The text messages from Virginia Thomas to former President Trump’s White House chief of staff pressing him to pursue efforts to overturn the election of Joe Biden. {This is not a complete sentence.}
The extraordinary communications between the justice’s wife and the Trump White House. {No verb}
{These “headlines” are then followed by an announcer introducing the show.}
“From ABC News, this is a special edition of “World News Tonight {No. 16} with David Muir” reporting tonight {No. 17} from the Poland-Ukraine border.”
Then Muir says: “And good evening tonight {No.18} from the Poland-Ukraine border. {Do we really have to hear where he is twice in five seconds?}
President Biden here {It’s starting to feel like “here” is a nervous tic.} in Europe for that emergency NATO summit over Russia’s war in Ukraine. {No verb}
The invasion began one month ago today. {Oh my God, Muir has actually spoken a clear, complete sentence in active voice.}
President Biden rallying the allies to remain united. {Oh well, that didn’t last long.}
I will stop transcribing now. For the record, Muir and the show's announcer used "tonight" or "this evening" 18 times in two minutes and 27 seconds.
Before moving on, headlines and news teases often don’t follow standard grammatical rules, but an open to a show that lasts two-and-a-half minutes is far more than just a headline or a tease. Also, the mangled mess of “newspeak” continues throughout the show. It would flunk fifth-grade English. It might even flunk second-grade English.
Who Are Other Culprits?
As I mentioned, the problem is not exclusive to ABC’s evening newscast. Bad writing, especially the present-participle abuse is pervasive in national and local news.
The "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt" is also a frequent offender, although it rarely reaches the extremes of its competitor.
Lester Holt, the anchor of "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt," moderates a presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton at Hofstra University on September 26, 2016, in Hempstead, New York. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
For example, on the show's March 6, 2022, edition, one story, all on its own, had the following "sentences":
"Tonight, Iowans retracing the steps of a deadly tornado."
"Dozens sorting through rubble."
"The governor issuing a disaster proclamation for hard-hit Madison County."
"Flashes of lightning revealing the eerie silhouette of this [tornado]."
How does anyone think that sounds right? Why would they think this kind of writing is compelling?
Worsening that linguistic jumble, real sentences, with full verbs, were intermixed throughout the story, but they bizarrely flipped between one tense and another.
What Else Is Wrong with News Writing? And Why Is This Happening?
Answering those questions could fill at least another column and probably a book. I promise to come up with some examples and explanations in a “Part II” that I will publish in early May.
For now, I’ll end by paraphrasing the “Why Can’t the English?” song from “My Fair Lady” that sadly applies to the American TV news business:
If you use proper English, you’re regarded as a freak … Oh, why can’t newscasters, why can’t newscasters learn to speak?
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Cover photo: David Muir, the anchor of ABC's "World News Tonight with David Muir," stands next to ABC News' chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz on stage at Saint Anselm College December 19, 2015 in Manchester, New Hampshire. Raddatz and Muir moderated the third Democratic presidential debate featuring Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)