The use of slang in news bulletins

J.R.HARTLEY

Has anyone noticed how the less formal stations (i.e everyone except radio 1) have takewn to using slang over the last 2 or 3 years, its been bugging me for a while but last tuesday i heard the terms "Drugs Bust" and "20 Grand" in the same story nevermind bulletin. anyway does anyone else think its an appaling lack of standards or am i overreacting.

monkeyfudge

I'll only get upset when they start refering to the euro as yoyos.

mike65

Had'nt thought about it but standards are generaly poor with slack use of terms (note I did'nt say terminology) and overuse of certain words ie ABSOLUTELY! exclaimed in every damned interview/chat.

Mike.

monkeyfudge

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. It might make the news more accessible for younger people.

I have no problem with the news being delivered in different styles, even though I prefer the more traditional presentation myself

DMC

You are not overreacting... I've always grown up with the thought that you can't do news bulletins in a flippant way.

Imagine if SPIN was on the air when Diana died...

"Here's Rory with The Story..... Fit Royal snuffs it in Paris smash....."

radioman

I think it all depends on the target audience. I think the BBC Radio 1 news often uses slang or presents the news in a format more aimed at young people

_feedback_

It's a good point, I remember listening to Spin1038 when it first started and in an effort to aim at their youth audience their news bulletins were a disgrace. I remember them referring to ecstasy pills as "yoaks". I'm sure they must have got their act together since? Haven't listened since the time I heard that, and I'm supposedly in their target audience.

RedorDead

Spin are probably the worst at it. What about their five word weather?:D

Doctor DooM

"cold as a witches tit."

roxy

RedorDead wrote:

Spin are probably the worst at it.

Worst at it or best at it?

Listen, let's be logical about this for a second. It's perfectly reasonable for media organisations to vary in the way they address their audiences.

If you take print media in Ireland, it's the difference between The Sun and The Irish Times. Broadsheet readers may complain about occasional sensationalism or bad taste in The Sun (or indeed many other red-top tabloids) but you can't criticise their basic approach, ie short, snappy and to the point. It sells papers (and indeed in The Sun's case, it sells a LOT of papers). Sun readers would be equally justified in being turned off by the serious analytical approach of a broadsheet. A wide variety of different tastes exist and in terms of provision of news, it makes commercial sense that there are different newspapers/radio stations in existence to cater for each of those tastes.

And so similarly, there's a reason why news is styled in particular way on every station - that's obvious. The news style is going to generally be in keeping with the overall station image, yes?
It's not a random set of circumstances, these things are actually thought out carefully and policies, styles and editorial approaches are set out and adhered to.

In Spin's case, the judgement is obviously that their audience prefers a snappier, more tabloidy type of news. It might not be to everyone's taste but it judging by listenership figures (it's the top station in Dublin among 15-24 y o) it's what THEIR audience wants to hear. Slang, abbreviations and informality are part and parcel of this approach. If you don't want to hear your news dished up that way, then wait til the top of the hour and choose from any number of differently-styled news deliveries on other stations.

It's not better or worse, just different.

_feedback_

roxy wrote:

Worst at it or best at it?

Listen, let's be logical about this for a second. It's perfectly reasonable for media organisations to vary in the way they address their audiences.

If you take print media in Ireland, it's the difference between The Sun and The Irish Times. Broadsheet readers may complain about occasional sensationalism or bad taste in The Sun (or indeed many other red-top tabloids) but you can't criticise their basic approach, ie short, snappy and to the point. It sells papers (and indeed in The Sun's case, it sells a LOT of papers). Sun readers would be equally justified in being turned off by the serious analytical approach of a broadsheet. A wide variety of different tastes exist and in terms of provision of news, it makes commercial sense that there are different newspapers/radio stations in existence to cater for each of those tastes.

And so similarly, there's a reason why news is styled in particular way on every station - that's obvious. The news style is going to generally be in keeping with the overall station image, yes?
It's not a random set of circumstances, these things are actually thought out carefully and policies, styles and editorial approaches are set out and adhered to.

In Spin's case, the judgement is obviously that their audience prefers a snappier, more tabloidy type of news. It might not be to everyone's taste but it judging by listenership figures (it's the top station in Dublin among 15-24 y o) it's what THEIR audience wants to hear. Slang, abbreviations and informality are part and parcel of this approach. If you don't want to hear your news dished up that way, then wait til the top of the hour and choose from any number of differently-styled news deliveries on other stations.

It's not better or worse, just different.

very good point.

J.R.HARTLEY

roxy wrote:

Worst at it or best at it?

Listen, let's be logical about this for a second. It's perfectly reasonable for media organisations to vary in the way they address their audiences.

If you take print media in Ireland, it's the difference between The Sun and The Irish Times. Broadsheet readers may complain about occasional sensationalism or bad taste in The Sun (or indeed many other red-top tabloids) but you can't criticise their basic approach, ie short, snappy and to the point. It sells papers (and indeed in The Sun's case, it sells a LOT of papers). Sun readers would be equally justified in being turned off by the serious analytical approach of a broadsheet. A wide variety of different tastes exist and in terms of provision of news, it makes commercial sense that there are different newspapers/radio stations in existence to cater for each of those tastes.

And so similarly, there's a reason why news is styled in particular way on every station - that's obvious. The news style is going to generally be in keeping with the overall station image, yes?
It's not a random set of circumstances, these things are actually thought out carefully and policies, styles and editorial approaches are set out and adhered to.

In Spin's case, the judgement is obviously that their audience prefers a snappier, more tabloidy type of news. It might not be to everyone's taste but it judging by listenership figures (it's the top station in Dublin among 15-24 y o) it's what THEIR audience wants to hear. Slang, abbreviations and informality are part and parcel of this approach. If you don't want to hear your news dished up that way, then wait til the top of the hour and choose from any number of differently-styled news deliveries on other stations.

It's not better or worse, just different.

good point in relation to spin, but it doesn't address the other stations especially ones not strictly aimed at illiterate teens, i.e today and newstalk are also guilty of the offence.
btw i never listen to spin, i'm talking about this being a problem right accross the board from 2fm - newstalk106

grumpytrousers

RedorDead wrote:

Spin are probably the worst at it. What about their five word weather?:D

oh now that's just the most pointless thing on the planet. period. It's not even a forecast; it's telling you what it's like now. I don't NEED to know what the weather is like now because, thankfully, for the last two thousand years, mankind has had access to these wonderful doo-hickeys (called "windows", i believe) which you can stick in a wall, and which allow light in and out enabling a person on one side of the wall to see what it's like on the other side of the wall...

</rant>

have to say that slang termed news really gets on me wick, but like roxy says, the suits who've decided that this is the way to go (and trust me, they're probably paid more than most of us here) aren't complete muppets...the public gets what the public wants. Even if it's not good for 'em...:D

superdudeman007

DMC wrote:

You are not overreacting... I've always grown up with the thought that you can't do news bulletins in a flippant way.

Imagine if SPIN was on the air when Diana died...

"Here's Rory with The Story..... Fit Royal snuffs it in Paris smash....."

Yep, and then a tribute from "Bertie & Co."

Sizzler

Last night on the 530 news on 98FM the bird reading it said the new naas road had been widened from a "dueller" into a motorway.
Classy.

crybaby

ive never noticed it on newstalk 106 maybe in the headlines but not in the news bulletins

i have to turn off spin whenever they even attempt news/interviews etc or else i will break the radio in two

Liam Byrne

Interesting opinions, and while there may be some truth in it, there are two issues at stake....

Issue one is the use of slang; like it or lump it, there's a valid argument for and against, although examples like "dueller" (someone on horseback or taking part in fencing ?) are ridiculous even for Spin and downright pathetic for 98FM

Issue two is the tabloid sensationalism - to hell with the facts if we can make the headline more "cool" or "snappy" - that's the one we should be be definitely interested in snuffing out.

There's also a third issue as to what is "newsworthy".......if I ever again hear Big Brother or some celebrity trivia (normally unsubstantiated gossip about who might be doing what) between TOH station IDs and a weather jingle I'll throw the radio out the window!

So whatever about how it's delivered, the most important thing is that it's factually correct.