Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

 AH>  The style both of us used in #1 & #2 is within normal
 AH>  limits when one is identifying a person... we rarely
 AH>  if ever use more than three nouns in arow.  Journalists
 AH>  routinely use four or five, as I noticed WRT example #3.

 ak>  Probably it makes text more formal.


           For various reasons, it is traditional Over Here to pack a lot into
the first sentence of a news article.  Writers who depart from this convention
often produce more interesting & readable stuff but may not be taken seriously
by the more conservative members of the population.  The traditional style has
an air of formality which implies, but doesn't guarantee, objectivity....  :-)



 ak>  I don't like journalists who speak in colorful and
 ak>  florid way.

     |in a colo(u)rful and florid way, or
     |in colo(u)rful and florid ways.


           Sometimes it's an obvious appeal to the emotions.  When I'm waiting
in line at the supermarket I read headlines saying "KATE PREGNANT WITH TWINS",
"CAMILLA DYING OF CANCER", and "BRAD DUMPS ANGELINA" because I'm a printaholic
... not because I'm seriously interested in reading the articles.  Much of the
content is based on gossip & speculation.  Although some writers claim they've
received this (mis)information direct from "a palace insider" or whatever, you
may find the ads for "genuine bogus diamonds" more educational.  :-Q

           Sometimes the appeal to the emotions is more subtle.  The details a
writer chooses to include or exclude &/or how they interpret a given situation
can be very telling... and so can the vocabulary.  I think you know about that
because of your interest in politics.  It can turn up in other places, though,
where one might least expect to find it.  We've noticed it recently in weather
reports on TV.  Meteorology is a science, or so I'm told.  Science ought to be
safe enough, right?  Well, uh... it seems these people are under the same sort
of pressure news reporters are.  On March 12th, e.g., we had "record-breaking"
high temperatures in certain parts of the Vancouver area during the afternoon.
Years ago something similar happened during February.  I don't recall any fuss
being made about that.  My mother would have said "cast not a clout 'til March
be out" because the temperature often goes up & down like a yo-yo at this time
of year.  It doesn't take much to set a record for one particular day....  ;-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)