Gotcha

DUTCH TREATMENT --A politician in the Netherlands resigned after he talked at length about his knowledge of an extremist named "Yael Yablahblah." News reports said someone from a radio talk show made up the story, and got the politician to claim he had been fully briefed about the fictional extremist.

The ignorance of politicians comes as no surprise. That said, reporters should not indulge in tactics such as the piece describes, even as an April Fool's Day stunt. The name "Yablahblah" should have been a giveaway. But the last paragraph of the story indicates that the talk show presenter, as he is described, has done things like this before. This tells me that he is not, in any way, a reporter or a journalist. That would be like saying Rush Limbaugh is a reporter or journalist; he's not, he's a talk show host, an opinionator.

At the same time, it is a reporter's duty to show up a politician's ignorance or incompetence by asking probing questions. However, this does not justify fraud.

Here's a link to the story, which appeared in the Irish Times recently.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/0407/1224314499681.html

MORAL -- As Will Rogers said, it's better to keep your mouth shut and have others think you're a fool, than to open your mouth and prove it.

PR MASTER STROKE -- News reports noted that the artwork of Thomas Kinkade could be found in one of every twenty American households. This translates to five percent of American households, which means that 95 percent of American households do not have any Thomas Kincaid artwork.

Protestament

TYCOONS PROTEST INNOCENCE -- Our Munich correspondent objected to this headline, with good reason. While technically correct, in the sense that the verb "protest" means "to make a solemn or earnest declaration," or to testify in favor of something, its usual connotation carries a negative sense, as in objecting. Better choices would be claim, proclaim, or profess.

TWISTED -- When  CNN was reporting on the Dallas tornadoes (not a sports team), the weather anchor noted that because the storms hit a metropolitan area, this "enhanced the damage." True enough, but typically, the term "enhance" carries a positive sense. Munchen-man called it a brain-stopper, because "it did not sound like a good combination of words." He's right. Readers and listeners should never be forced to stop and consider the meaning and intention of the message.

GLEANINGS of an Itinerant Speller -- This one bites. The faux diamond sales catalog praised its Princess Anastasia ring and wondered whether the missing heiress managed to escape her captors and "flea imperial Russia."