EDITORIAL -
As the world observed Press Freedom last week, the dangerous and challenging operations of the Journalist came into sharp focus. Media workers, and particularly Reporters, in Grenada have also had their share of hostility more so from the victims of negative publicity. In other words, when newsmakers are the sources of their own negativity they become hostile to the reporting; they issue physical and legal threats to Reporters and Editors and often these threats are carried out.
Be that as it may, the focus here wants to shift to another area in this wide field. Just as there is the observation of Press Freedom Day, wouldn’t it be a great idea to observe a Professional Journalists’ Day?
This day could seek to analyse and highlight the quality of work of the Journalist in terms of facts, truth and language. Within the context of the English-speaking countries the concern becomes whether or not good English - Standard English - the Queen’s English has just become an endangered species.
Many former teachers and students of forty and fifty years ago would remember the “licks’ that was administered and received in the school system for ‘bad’ English – ‘poor’ English; but not the same level of compliment was given for the worthy efforts of students so as to balance off the equation. It is as if one does nothing extra for good work; it’s a matter of course.
It appears that so many of the grammatical rules and regulations which were instilled, and even enforced many years ago are being contravened today at will. The British English was the internationally accepted standard of expression in very much the same way as the United States dollar is the world’s leading and most powerful currency. At the school level there was always a sense of pride and achievement when the teacher gives the rare compliment to a student for what was considered a beautiful piece of prose.
Today, poor English appears all throughout the print and electronic media all over the world. There are instances of simple human error, but this cannot be excused of an institution preparing news items for a massive listening audience. However, ever so often there are instances of bad and poor English which is the result of total ignorance of the subject matter and inexcusable.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was once considered the “mother tongue” and the custodian of good English but today the amount of grammatical errors which appear on BBC programmes are more frequent than rare. Quite interestingly, these slipups seem to be within the vocabulary of the younger ‘professionals’. There seems to be a conscious effort at the best forms of expression when a news package is prepared and read out by a more senior professional.
In the West Indies the situation is not very encouraging; even when the News is prepared for radio, television, newspaper or internet, there is clear evidence of some degree of negligence on the part of editors.
What has become most embarrassing to date is the ‘on air’ radio announcer on duty who, perhaps unconsciously, puts on the best display of the worst kind of English. (S)he is obviously unaware of the negative impact that unprofessional performance is having on listeners.
If not internationally, but perhaps regionally or locally, media workers in general and Reporters in particular should take a “day off’ to seriously consider the quality of their noble task and how they can contribute in enhancing the English environment. There are still many stalwarts around who can assist to facilitate such undertaking.
