'Things We Do Not Say:' 150 Journalism Cliches
- Feeding Frenzy 2 online, free
- Feeding Frenzy Journalism Video
- Feeding Frenzy Attack Journalism And American Politics
- Feeding Frenzy Journalism Center
- Feeding Frenzy Download
- Feeding Frenzy Journalism Definition
- Feeding Frenzy Poe
'Identifying journalistic cliches has become a favorite Washington parlor game. But might it not also open a rare window onto the struggles of writers and editors trying to think outside the box?'
At first glance (or worse, “at first blush”)
Learn about this topic in these articles: discussed in biography. In Larry Sabato. In Feeding Frenzy: How Attack Journalism Has Transformed American Politics (1991), Sabato criticized what he described as the media’s increasing focus on unflattering stories from the personal lives of politicians and candidates, corresponding to reduced coverage of serious political issues.
As a nation (or worse, “as a society”)
Upon deeper reflection (why not reflect deeply from the start?)
Observers (unless referring to people actually sitting around watching something)
[Person] is not alone (from anecdote to generalization, we get it)
And [someone/something] is no exception
Pundits say
Critics say (or “critics are quick to point out”)
The American people (unless in a quote)
The narrative (unless referring to a style of writing)
Probe (an uncomfortable substitute for “investigation”)
Opens/offers a rare window (unless it is a real window that is in fact unusual)
Begs the question (unless used properly – and so rarely used properly that it’s not worth the trouble)
Be that as it may
If you will (actually, I won’t)
A cautionary tale
Cautiously optimistic (h/t @daviduberti)
Needless to say (then don’t say it)
Suffice it to say (if it suffices, then just say it)
This is not your father’s [anything]
[Anything] 2.0 (or 3.0, or 4.0…)
At a crossroads (unless referring to an actual intersection)
The powers that be
Outside the box (describes creative thinking — with a cliche)
A favorite Washington parlor game
Don’t get me wrong
Make no mistake
Yes, Virginia, there is a [something]
Christmas came early for [someone]
Chock full (“full” is just fine by itself)
Last-ditch effort (unless ditch-digging is involved)
Midwife (as a verb, unless involving childbirth)
Cue the [something]
Call it [something]
Pity the poor [something]
It’s the [something], stupid
Imagine (as the first word in your lede)
Time will tell if [something]
What a difference [a time period] makes (h/t @jasondhorowitz)
Palpable sense of relief (unless you can truly touch it)
Sigh of relief (h/t @geneweingarten)
Plenty of blame to go around
Rorschach test (unless it is a real one)
An object lesson h/t @markleibovich
Feeding Frenzy 2 online, free
Turned a blind eye
Underscores
Cycle of violence (unless referring to a particularly vicious Schwinn)
Searing indictment
Broken system (or, “the [anything] system is broken”)
Famously (if readers know it, you don’t need to tell them it is famous; if they don’t know it, you just made them feel stupid)
The Other (or “otherize,” “otherization” and other variations)
Effort (as a verb)
Table (as a verb, as in “table the talks”)
Shutter (as a verb, as in “they shuttered the factory”)
Gestalt/Zeitgeist
Orwellian (unless discussing George Orwell)
Machiavellian (unless discussing Niccolo Machiavelli)
Gladwellian (never)
What happens in [somewhere] stays in [somewhere]
Oft-cited
Little-noticed
Closely watched
Hastily convened
Much ballyhooed
ill-advised
Shrouded in secrecy
Since time immemorial
Tipping point
Inflection point
Point of no return
The [anything] community
If history is any guide
If past is prologue
The devil is in the details
[Somebody] does not suffer fools gladly
A ragtag army (or ragtag militia) h/t @tomricks1
A tale of two [anything] h/t @dsorbara
Ignominious end
Tightly knit (unless referring to actual knitting)
In the final analysis (especially as beginning of a final sentence/paragraph)
Ultimately (same as above)
At the end of the day (same as above)
For all intents and purposes
Cooler heads prevailed
Victim of his/her own success (h/t @gregpmiller)
Who lost [insert country here]?
Punditocracy
Twitterati
Commentariat
Chattering classes
Naysayers
Keen observer
Took to Twitter
Tongues wagging (h/t afterword to paperback of “This Town”)
White-shoe law firm
Well-heeled lobbyists
Skittish donors
Byzantine rules (unless referring to the empire in the Middle Ages)
Strange bedfellows
A mass of contradictions
A land of contradictions (please, foreign correspondents and travel writers)
Rise of the 24-hour news cycle (it’s been a while)
In the digital age (again, it’s been a while)
Not so fast
Not so much (I blame Jon Stewart for this one)
Remains to be seen
Tenuous at best
Woefully inadequate h/t @ParraV
Or so it seems
Depending on whom you ask h/t @jayrosen_nyu
Burst onto the national political scene
For now (especially at the end of a sentence set off by a dash; all it does is negate everything that came before)
Tectonic shifts or seismic shifts (unless real ones)
Optics (unless you’re discussing physics)
Feeding frenzy/feeding the frenzy
Double down
Game-changer
[Anything]-gate (especially if you’re writing in The Washington Post)
In the wake of [anything] h/t @fritinancy
How I learned to stop worrying and love the [anything]
Love [X] or hate [X]…
The [anything] we love to hate
Don the mantle of [anything]
Usher in an era of [anything]
A portrait emerges h/t @jialynnyang
In a nutshell
The social fabric (or “the very fabric of our democracy/nation/society”)
Hot-button issue
Hotly contested
Perfect storm
Face-saving compromise
Eye-popping
The argument goes
The thinking goes
Contrary to popular belief
Intoned
The new normal
The new face of [anything] (unless discussing plastic surgery)
The talk of the town (unless referring to the New Yorker section)
It couple (or “power couple”)
Paradigm shift (in journalism, all paradigms are shifting)
Unlikely revolutionary (in journalism, all revolutionaries are unlikely)
Unlikely reformer (in journalism, all reformers are unlikely, too)
Grizzled veteran (in journalism, all veterans are either grizzled or “seasoned”)
Manicured lawns (in journalism, all lawns are manicured)
Wide-ranging interview (in journalism, all interviews range widely, even if they don’t)
Rose from obscurity (in journalism, all rises are from obscurity)
Dizzying array (in journalism, all arrays make one dizzy)
Withering criticism (in journalism, all criticism is withering)
Predawn raid (in journalism, all raids take place in the predawn hours)
Nondescript office building (in journalism, all office buildings are nondescript)
Unsung hero (in journalism, all heroes lack music)
Sparked debate
Raised questions
Raises more questions than answers
Raise the specter of [anything]
More often than not
hand-wringing
Ironic Capitalization Implying the Unimportance of Things Others Consider Important
But reality/truth is more complicated (in journalism, we oversimplify, then criticize the oversimplification)
Scarred by war (unless referring to real scars)
War-torn
War of words (worse if followed by “is heating up”)
Trading barbs
Shines a spotlight on [something] (unless there is a real spotlight that is shining)
[Something] is no panacea
[Something] is no silver bullet
Political football
Political theater
More than you think (how do you know what I think?)
Less than you think (how do you know what I think?)
Not as much as you think (how do you know what I think?)
You guessed it (how do you know what I guessed?) h/t @jfdulac
Feeding Frenzy Journalism Video
Shifting dynamics (code for “don’t hold me to this”)
The situation is fluid (code for “I have no idea what is going on”)
Partisans on both sides
Charm offensive
Fallen on hard times
On thin ice
A crisis waiting to happen
Poster child
Going forward
Creature of Washington
Official Washington
A modest proposal (this was written once, very well, and has been written terribly ever since)
Stinging rebuke
Mr. [Anyone] goes to Washington (unless a reference to the actual movie)
The proverbial [something] (Tacking this in front of a cliche doesn’t excuse it, just admits you used it knowingly)
Fevered speculation
Hope filled the air
[Anything] is all the rage (h/t @jayrosen_nyu)
Iconic
Feeding Frenzy Attack Journalism And American Politics
How did we get here? (code for “here comes the b-matter”)
But first, some background (code for “I know more than you do”)
Growing body of evidence
[Anything] on steroids (unless you cover professional sports) h/t @crowleyTIME
Resists easy classification/categorization
Increasingly (unless story proves something is in fact increasing)
Tapped (as substitute for “selected” or “appointed)
Any “not-un” formulation (as in “not unsurprising that you’d use that cliche”)
Wait for it
Wait, what?
There, I said it
Feeding Frenzy Journalism Center
And here’s the kicker
Feeding Frenzy Download
See what I did there?
Feeding Frenzy Journalism Definition
150 journalism cliches — and counting