Oh Journalism, Wherefore Art Thou?

Newspapers and so-called journalists have been around for quite some time. I know because I've looked at words written on tablets since man roamed the ancient sands of the Middle East. Johann Guttenberg put the newspaper industry in high gear with the invention of the printing press and since then it's been jobs, jobs, jobs for people who can read and write. In the late 1890's the rival newspapers headed by Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, according to historians, were responsible for starting the Spanish-American War. So much for that. 

When we talk newspapers have you ever noticed so-called journalists will come up with a phrase then run it into the ground? As an example, during the Iraq war the phrase to 'hunker down' came into vogue. I hated it. Everywhere I went and the discussion of that conflict came up a know it all had to insert 'hunker down' into the conversation. It meant soldiers were going to stay in their foxholes and wait to attack or be attacked. I recall one day I was talking to a friend and he said something or other about how we were going to have to 'hunker down'. Would you care to know the first thing that popped in my mind? Okay then. It was, "Please STFU before you get strangled!"

In recent years, and I've written about this before there will be a story, usually on the lighter side, about something or other that has gone 'viral'. It might just be me but the word 'viral' causes me to want to stick pins in my eyes since it's used by the media daily as many times as people breathe. It's the same as when one first hears a popular song and I know this has happened. You'll fall in love with it then play it over and over and over until you want to have your head explode.

So, back to journalism or lack thereof. I took a clip from Breitbart this morning. You can read it.

"An ambulatory team consisting of “a 45-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman” arrived at an address given on a 911 call only to go to the 11th floor of the building and allegedly get robbed at gunpoint, ABC 7 reported. The suspect(s) allegedly “took their supply bag” and sent them back to their ambulance. The bag was later recovered “with the radio and tablet missing.”

The ambulatory team was part of the FDNY and neither team member was allegedly injured, FOX 5 said."

It's like me writing a bio and stating, I allegedly arose from my slumber and went into the bathroom when I allegedly emptied my bladder. After this I allegedly brushed my teeth then walked downstairs and allegedly brewed a cup of coffee.

Did you notice anything in particular? Of course you did. When did it become mandatory for news reports to use the word 'allegedly' constantly throughout their reporting?

What's with the 'allegedly' word? Is it a CYA? Do reporters have to do this because they weren't on the scene to actually witness the act(as if this would make a difference to them)?

I knew there was a reason why I didn't become a journalist. As Coach Bob Knight once said about journalists, "When I learned to read and write by age seven I went on to bigger and better things."