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Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Horror Sports Writing - Exaggeration Can Be Disastrous
The television soccer presenter did not even flinch as he talked about Newcastle Uniteds horror?5-1 defeat to Birmingham City in the English FA Cup competition, the countrys most prestigious knockout tournament.
Earlier that day, I was reading in the local Malaysian newspapers about the horror?of a womans ordeal as she watched her house being swept away by floods that killed scores and left thousands homeless in the southern part of the country.
Horror. Same word, contrasting situations.
Ive been guilty of this early in my career, probably more than once, having written about sports for most of my journalism life.
Once after covering a football (soccer) match, I described a 2-0 loss as a disaster?for the team concerned. A learned colleague pointed out: If thats a disaster, what are you going to write when they lose 3-0??/p>
He got me thinking. What he should have said was: This is sport. A team losing is not a disaster. Loss of life and destruction of property ?thats a disaster.?/p>
Indeed, our sports desk once received a memo from the editor-in-chief banning the use of the word horror?
The memo read something like this: When 90-odd people die in a stadium, that is a horror? not when Sheffield Wednesday (an English football team) lose a match.?/p>
Still, sports journalists continue to get away with murder?when it comes to what happens on and off the field.
You still read and hear about horror?result, a disastrous?goal or a catastrophic?loss.
On a planet where floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, militants, terrorists, armies and the like are causing true death and destruction, youd think sports journalists would take the time to step back a bit and put their world into perspective.
My advice to journalists and writers is to, as always, choose words carefully, especially in sports writing.
If a team suffers a heavy loss, all you need to do is write ABC United lost 5-0? Let your readers decide if such a result is disastrous?or simply a bad defeat?
Nazvi Careem is an experienced journalist, writer and writing coach who has written for newspapers, magazines and global news agencies such as Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. To download a free extract from his book on the secrets to writing news, check out his website dedicated to news writing.
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