Journalese is, essentially, nonconversational diction often used in newspapers.

Joe Grimm of the Detroit Free Press likened journalese to a "stage voice."

"We write journalese out of habit, sometimes from misguided training, and to sound urgent, authoritative and, well, journalistic. But it doesn't do any of that," he wrote on the Jobs Page Web site.

Journalese includes unusual placement of the time element, as in:

"The governor Thursday ..."

"The Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of John F. Kennedy .."

A couple of hyperbolic example of journalese:

"Mean streets and densely wooded areas populated by ever-present lone gunmen ..."

"Negotiators yesterday, in an eleventh-hour decision following marathon talks, hammered out agreement on a key wage provision they earlier had rejected."

Copy editors are sometimes afflicted by headlinese.

Further reading

• Fritz Spiegl: Keep Taking the Tabloids. What the Papers Say and How They Say It (1983)

External links

• John Leo: "Do You Speak Journalese?"
• Joe Grimm: "There Is No Ease in Journalese"