Tuesday, May 03, 2005

CNN.com makes my heart hurt

CNN.com, that bastion of journalistic integrity, is making my eyes cross today. First, it has a headline about the BTK case: "Accused BTK serial killer pleads not guilty." No, no, no! An accused serial killer is still a serial killer, not a man accused of being a serial killer. (Then I start thinking, what on earth could a serial killer be accused of that warrants such big play?)

As the New York Times stylebook says: "
Just as an accused stockbroker is a stockbroker, an accused forger is some type of forger. Avoid any construction that implies guilt on the part of someone merely accused, charged or suspected.
Then, a little less egregious but equally grating, it has a headline about climate change that says, "Clues to future may lay in past."

That's it. I'm getting off the Internet for a while.

3 Comments:

At 11:30 PM, May 03, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said...

And I'm sure that in CNN's report, Wichita was referred to as "a quiet, small, unassuming little town."

Troglodyte bastards.

 
At 4:11 PM, May 04, 2005, Blogger James said...

It only gets worse on Sundays, when CNN headlines the #1 grosser at the box office. Winners like "Kidman translates thrills into dollars" can be found nearly every week there.

 
At 9:58 PM, May 04, 2005, Blogger Nicole said...

I had MSNBC on as I fell asleep last night, a look at the BTK case featuring interviews with Hurst Laviana with a Wichita Eagle backdrop. (I'm pretty sure I made out Denise in the way-back background.) Alas, I was out before I got to recognize anything else good.

 

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