The Press: Editorial Lesson

Up on the newsroom bulletin board of the New York World-Telegram went a directive on crisp writing (to save newsprint). The directive’s author: Scripps-Howard Editor in Chief George B. Parker. Its message:

“Common journalese: ‘Traffic deaths in the month of September total 64.’ Why ‘the month of? September doesn’t have to be identified as a month. Three useless words total 115 pounds of newsprint when published in all Scripps-Howard papers.”

Editor Parker’s own loose writing made a field day for World-Telegram copy-readers. They changed “Why ‘the month of?” to plain “Why?”, substituted “conciseness” for “loose word consciousness,” struck out some phrases altogether. When they had finished, “Deac” Parker’s 185-word directive had been trimmed and tightened to 96 words.