Journalese

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Journalese is the artificial or hyperbolic, and sometimes over-abbreviated, language regarded as characteristic of the popular media. Joe Grimm of the Detroit Free Press likened journalese to a "stage voice": "We write journalese out of habit, sometimes from misguided training, and to sound urgent, authoritative and, well, journalistic. But it doesn't do any of that."

[edit] Examples of journalese

"The governor Thursday ..."

"The Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of John F. Kennedy .."

"Mean streets and densely wooded areas populated by ever-present lone gunmen ..."

"Negotiators yesterday, in an eleventh-hour decision following marathon talks, hammered out agreement on a key wage provision they earlier had rejected."

"a bus plunged into a gorge"

"Calls this morning for tighter restrictions on the sale of alcohol to immigrants."

"WHoosh … whoosh … whoosh … ka-boooom. That’s the way it was at Wanganui’s Cooks Gardens, for about 15 minutes on Saturday night."

"Slay suspect was arrested last night"

Copy editors are sometimes afflicted by headlinese.