What do journalists mean when they say “It emerged that last night that …”?
Is it code for unofficially, off the record, not for attribution? Or, It arrived in an anonymous brown envelope? We had had a few drinks & I am not sure if I have got all the details right? Or, We do not really know if this is what happened but we will just run it up the flagpole & see if anyone salutes?
The other odd aspect is how shy a journalist can be about using the word I, when they are anything but shrinking violets. They use the name of their organ instead. So an article by Damian Whitworth talks of The Times following an auctioneer for a week. I assume he just means that he did it himself, although in these days maybe they used a crack team of operatives to conduct undercover surveillance
The BBC is using this trick far too much these days. Nothing is news unless it can be prefaced by The BBC has learned. I hope Dr Williams has learned too – there would not be all this hoo-ha if he had just given his lecture to the lawyers without trailing it on The World at One
The exact opposite has happened when politicians are being talked about. Then it is always Gordon Brown, never The Prime Minister
Related post: Flummery
