It was prescient of me to mention Orwell. Chris Horrie, the Eddie Izzard of lecturers, gave a superb lecture on Orwell's Politics and the English Language on Friday.

I had read the essay before but in an English degree context. Now, wanting to hone my journalism (as oppose to my writing) I listened with an entirely different head on. Weeding out the bollocks was the basic theme of the lecture, which fits in very nicely with the theme of this blog.

Redundant adjectives, jargon, pat phrases clutter up the literature that invades our letterboxes and newspapers. We can't just watch a football match we have to 'experience' it. People don't just do jobs they 'facilitate' and 'function on an interpersonal level'.

I'm afraid tech heads are as guilty of this crime, and yes it should be a crime, tacking on the word 'interface' to any number of terms. And then they turn it into an acronym just to bamboozle us further. (I remember the first time I heard someone say 'we need a gooey interface' - GUI = Graphic User Interface. Tautology worsening the crime).

Horrie's example of 'Fresh Fish Sold Here' (we don't need fresh, sold, or here) reminded me of a sign that set off my bollockometer:

"Food artistry from the soul" ?! I just want a bloody bun and a cup of tea!

Clarity, succintness and the bon mot right ENGLISH word - its not too much to ask, is it? Apparently so. In an effort to seem more, I don't know, cultured? important? modern writing tends to select French, Latin and Greek words above good old Anglo-Saxon. It chooses metaphors over concrete terms and loves any -ism. I'm sure I'm as guilty as anyone, but there's no reason why longer words and the use of jargon and cliche should convery meaning any better. It just gives people an excuse to stop reading and understanding.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interviewed Alfie Dennen of moblog.co.uk and werenotafraid.com last week with David Heathfield . The first pictures of the 7/7 bombings were posted by Adam Stacey on moblog and then picked up by the BBC.



Alfie made some good points about 'citizen journalism' (a term he rejects) - it's not journalism but rather complements journalism. Technology has changed the nature of news. We can now expect witness accounts from a story can be online in a matter of minutes, with comment and analysis to follow. News blossoms outwards from the event, rather than being filtered through the angles of various corporations. While this may lead to quite a chaotic outpour of opinionated reporting, surely it's better to have access to this information than not.

Alfie cites the example of the recent Manhatten light aircraft crash. Images were uploaded to Scoopt, an agency that makes money for its users by selling them to media. They then appeared on the front of the Times.

The only aspect of this that worries me is that people might go out and newshunt if they know money can be made out of it. The accusation made of the paparrazzi at the Diana crash springs to mind. They were alledged to have taken snaps of the ex-princess while she was still alive and in need of medical help. Found this on Idiot Toys blog

I'll put up the entire interview when I reclaim my hard drive tomorrow from the smoke news team. And if you're very lucky, I'll treat you to the funky news theme I composed.



Alfie turns the tables on David and I

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally, I had a rather surreal moment today as I walked across the pavement in Harrow, finding this sign on the ground:




There were no harbingers of good luck in the immediate vicinity, so I looked both ways and went on my way. Perhaps cats have taken up town planning?