Keep up-to-date on news & opinion about journalism and language-use topics through the live feeds from popular blogs here.

Common Sense Journalism
Worth reading- paper on news aggregation
August 31, 2010, 9:40 am


CJR
A Poor FT Page-One Pay Story
August 31, 2010, 9:38 am
By Ryan Chittum Boy, sometimes it's just flat out hard to figure the Financial Times—a smart newspaper that not infrequently does dumb things, usually in the name of "scoops" or "exclusives." This morning it leads its page one with a thin and almost certainly bogus story on how a Dodd-Frank provision on pay disclosure will be a "logistical nightmare" for corporate America.

Regret the Error
Washington Post writer fabricates NFL story to "prove that anybody will print anything"¯
August 31, 2010, 7:06 am
Washington Post columnist Mike Wise had a point he wanted to make about the declining standards of the media. He made that point in the worst way imaginable: By making up a phony "scoop" and posting it on Twitter.

The Grammarphobia Blog: Grammar, Usage, Etymology, and More
Impact zone
August 31, 2010, 5:10 am
Q: It's probably technically correct to say "make an impact,"¯ but it sounds more childish to me than saying "have an impact."¯  Any thoughts? A: A check of citations in the Oxford English Dictionary shows that both "make an impact"¯ and "have an impact"¯ are used, but the "make"¯ versions far outnumber the "haves."

Wordsmith.org: Today's Word
spinster
August 31, 2010, 3:00 am
1. A woman who has remained single beyond the usual age of marrying. 2. In law, a woman who has never married. 3. A woman whose occupation is spinning.

CJR
Audit Notes: Our Glass Jaw, Financial Crises, Extend and Pretend
August 30, 2010, 8:42 pm
By Ryan Chittum If you're looking for a single anecdote to sum up the demise of the American economy, you could do worse than The Wall Street Journal's excellent front-page story this morning on glass and Toledo.

CJR
Two Can Play That Game, Rupert
August 30, 2010, 3:09 pm
By Ryan Chittum Rupert Murdoch has de-emphasized business coverage in The Wall Street Journal since buying the paper in 2007, something that The Audit, focused as we are on the business press, has criticized quite a bit.

Blogslot
About That Lawyer ...
August 30, 2010, 8:00 am


The Grammarphobia Blog: Grammar, Usage, Etymology, and More
Are armpits "axillae"¯ or "axillas"¯?
August 30, 2010, 5:10 am
Q: I'm a physician who frequently dictates reports with medical terms of Latin origin like "axilla"¯ and "hernia."¯ Since none of us are Latin scholars these days, would it be acceptable to use Anglicized plurals: "axillas,"¯ "hernias,"¯ etc.

Wordsmith.org: Today's Word
distaff
August 30, 2010, 3:00 am
Of or relating to women.