How the Watley Review came to be. Sort of.

Volume 6, Issue 6, April 29, 2008

Reporters Use "Text Speak" In Articles, OMG!

Readers are having to decipher the abbreviated and occasionally obscure language of text messages when they read newspapers. Nearly two thirds of journalists say they are incorporating the more informal style of texts when they submit stories, and half have abandoned basic principles such as capitalization on occasion.

"You expect such things from the Daily News or the Post," said media analyst Terrence Forth. "But when the New York Times used a smiley in a headline last week, that set off alarm bells for me."

Short-cuts such as LOL - which stands for 'laugh out loud' - have been used by 38 per cent of journalists in their wrk, and a quarter have used emoticons - the lttle yellow icons which show a face smlng, r being angry. An overwhelming majority, however - 73 % - say that usng infrml expressions such as these make "no difference" to their normal wrtng, and 15% say that electronic communication hs in fact imprvd their prose.

"We find that our readers are more issue-driven," said Clark Hoyt, public editor 4 teh NYT. "They care less about traditional grammar and such. Plus, we are losing market share so rapidly to the internet that we really had to play catch-up."

The stdy of 700 American rprtrs by the Pew Internet & American Life Project gives an intriguing insight in2 the wrtng habits of jrnlsts.

"What's at stake here is the ability to express oneself in more than one register :(," said Cecile De Cat, a lecturer a lecturer in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Leeds. "Wait a minute. Did you just write down a sad smiley face? I did not say that! >:( Cut that out!"

The trnd in slppy wrting is said by sum 2 be related 2 eqully slppy rprtng, w/media strggling 2 stay in bsnss & keep th intrst of an increasngly frgmntd & cyncl rding pblic.

"What the heck did you just write down?" said De Cat >:( "Who can read this? Has journalism as a profession been so damaged by competition and accusations of partisanship that even the conveyance of simple information is beyond the skill set of the average reporter? I demand to proofread my own comments, at least, before you go to press with this." :o

LOL shez vry angry OMG. Not clr whthr any1 will edt ths b4 we go2 prss. Howevr itz mch ezr 2 wrt stries abt pltks & esp prez Bush.

"I have 2 say, itz a r3leef 2 c newzpprs mkng thngs smplr," sed Prez Bush. "U rprtrs kp tryng 2 mk mntn out of molehlls. Well tll u whn thrz sumthng imprtnt. Trst me."

Current Issue: April 29, 2008

Bush Ponders Four More Years

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Congress Pledges $40 Billion to Research Rice Alternatives

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Reporters Use "Text Speak" In Articles, OMG!

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Putting On Youthful 'Airs

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