How do journalistic memes begin?
I always find it interesting when a whole group of journalists take a phrase and suddenly run it right into the ground. For instance, Media Nation’s Dan Kennedy noticed that journalists began overusing the word “pivot” when writing about presidential candidates. A few months back, Salon’s Glenn Greenwald noted that journalists used passive voice when referring to the “smear campaign” of John McCain in 2000, never once mentioning the source of that campaign (Karl Rove).
What causes these trends? And which journalists lead the flock?
The field of journalism is filled with copy cat editors and writers. Words and phrases become adopted, used, over used, and abused.
If I hear “pain at the pump” one more time…