Journalists get language prize
I’m struck by this news that two journalists have been awarded for their mastery of the French language by the Conseil supérieur de la langue française. It seems particular to French (and a tribute to its syntactical difficulty) that you could give two working journalists a prize for writing French properly. In English-speaking countries there are all kinds of prizes for doing journalism, but I’ve never heard of one that’s given out simply for writing the language correctly.
Joey 09:15 on 2022-04-29 Permalink
True that this does seem to be something particularly French, though it sounds like it’s not a prize for “writing the language correctly,” so much as for writing artfully.
Clément 10:06 on 2022-04-29 Permalink
What Joey said. It’s not that they use proper spelling, syntax and grammar, which should be a given.
It’s about the richness of their style.
Blork 10:18 on 2022-04-29 Permalink
Generations ago, good “elocution” was a thing to be prized in English. Broadcasters only used people with specific clarity and tones in their elocution, and indeed provided training for young reporters and news readers in clear speaking. But of course that fell by the wayside as being inappropriately classist. And rightly so.
Unfortunately I think it’s fallen away too much. Now the problem isn’t classism, it’s the prohibition on any sort of “shaming.” So if someone applies for an on-air job at the CBC and they lisp, and crackle with vocal fry, and mumble, no one will point that out, and they will certainly not do anything to correct it as that might hurt their feelings and result in CBC being cancelled. As a result, TV and radio is now filled with GenZ people mumbling and murmuring their way to the top of the broadcast biz.
Note 1: I’m not referring to accents. Accents are great. It’s the affectations and impediments that I’m complaining about.
Note 2: No one should be shamed over a speech impediment, but maybe if you have a speech impediment and you want to make a living with your voice, you should be open to a bit of speech therapy that will make you more suitable for the job. That isn’t shaming, that’s just skills development.
Note 3: Yes, this is a diversion from the topic, which is about WRITTEN French and English, but as Kate points out, written English isn’t all that complicated, especially when writing for straight communication, where the emphasis is almost always on simplicity. But this discussion triggered my frustrations over the state of spoken English in broadcasting, so there.
Kate 10:50 on 2022-04-29 Permalink
Joey, Clément, maybe I was distracted by the word “maîtrise”? In English, if I were to congratulate a working journalist on their mastery of the language, I’d expect to be knocked down a peg or two for my condescension.
JaneyB 11:02 on 2022-04-29 Permalink
@Blork. Good point on elocution. Agreed. The continual stammering of so many CBC interviewers is just pitiful. I assume it’s an effort to create ‘indirectness’ so that the guest doesn’t feel threatened by the focus on them but…that in itself is a crazy dynamic. I thought the purpose of the interview was to get answers for the public not to become a sympathetic friend to the guest. I used to be a regular listener but over the past 15 years or more, I find English CBC mostly terrible, both radio or TV, in part for this very reason.
Tim S. 11:09 on 2022-04-29 Permalink
@ Joey: maybe there can be an award to improve the coherence of headline writers, at least?
Kate 11:20 on 2022-04-29 Permalink
JaneyB: Plus there are more switching errors than a national broadcaster should be making, cues to the wrong audio report, dead air – a few weeks ago they hit such a bad patch that I texted them to say it was like listening to student radio, and not good student radio either. There used to be a few glitches in summertime, and you could forgive that since it suggested vacation replacements – but now it’s year-round.
Blork 21:38 on 2022-04-29 Permalink
Note 4: The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain. The ants in France are mainly in the pants.
(What’s s the matter with you people? I gave you an 11 hour head start and still nobody beat me to this?)
CE 22:41 on 2022-04-29 Permalink
Journalists can be some of the sloppiest writers you can imagine. Why? Copy editors. Writers know their copy is going to get looked over and ruthlessly marked up with the proverbial red pen, so no need to submit perfection. I had a side gig as a copy editor and some of the writing I saw was atrocious! We would work our magic and eventually, it would be pretty good and the writer would get all the credit! It’s an interesting and under-appreciated profession. For those interested, the New Yorker’s copy editor, Mary Norris, has an excellent video series about some of the things she comes across while editing the magazine. This piece, also by her, is one of my favourite New Yorker articles.
Maybe I’m too young to have experienced some golden age of the CBC but I’ve been a regular listener of English CBC Radio for decades and I find most of the hosts, especially on the flagship shows, to be very good. I can’t think of a single host who goes through their show “mumbling and murmuring” but maybe my tolerance is higher. Interviewees are a different story but that’s hardly the fault of the Mother Corp. I’ve noticed lately that I hear a lot more people whose default voice is that of someone on the verge of tears.
@Tim: The CBC recently had a story with the headline “Aurora borealis? At this time of year, at this time of day, localized entirely within B.C.? Yes” Give whoever wrote that one the Pulitzer! I’ve heard that the headline writers for the UK tabloids all have to have at least a Masters in creative writing or English to get the job. Some of those headlines are works of art!
@Blork: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/corpse-corps-horse-and-worse/