Unfortunately, after much searching, it seems I ‘learnt’ this little tidbit from an uncited wikipedia entry. Sorry.
Have you got a cite for that?
No, he didn’t. He came back from Hawaii to kick his dog,…
police say. Then he went back to Hawaii and sold crack cocaine to four-year-olds…
police say.
Are you some kind of apologist for this kind of scum?
That’s because “police say” isn’t the most interesting part of the lead. The wife-poisoning, child-dismembering, gay ephebophile adulterous relationship, and dog-kicking parts are, so that’s what’s first in the sentence. “Police say . . .” yawn “John Doe is a suspect in the poisoning and dismemberment of his family, according to police officials.” Ooh, gore!
You occasionally see things like, “Metro Police say donut abuse is on the decline among first-year recruits.” Even then, a better way of saying it would probably be “Donut abuse is on the decline among first-year recruits, according to reports released by Metro Police.” Why? Because the story is about donut abuse, not the Metro Police saying donut abuse is on the decline. And with stories as sensational as family killings and underage, homosexual love affairs, you definitely want the juicy stuff up front.
I thought that one interesting too.
Thanks for the replies, I’ve not kept up with the local news through the tube for a while so I’ve no more recent cites to check this against.