# The newsreaders, they talk like this. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 5, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933 "2016-12-05T15:37:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/1 "2016-12-05T15:37:47Z")
We’ve noticed a new thing, newsreaders that have this annoying style. Once you notice it, you hear it all the time. “The firemen, they responded to the blaze at…” “The police, they arrested the man.” These newspeople, they are adding this unnecessary “they” as a subject emphasis. Has anyone else noticed this? Is this a new thing? Is it well known and I’m late to the party? So, is this some new speech pattern, then?😉 ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/2 "2016-12-05T15:39:42Z")
I’ve never heard that and hope I don’t. Is this in the United States? National or local? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/3 "2016-12-05T15:46:08Z")
USA, Phoenix Arizona market. Local newscasters. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/4 "2016-12-05T16:59:40Z")
I’m not hearing it either. But what I’m hearing are newscasters who don’t know the difference between “amount” and “number” or “less” and “fewer”. They’ll say “the amount of people” or “less people”. I’m hearing this rather consistently. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/5 "2016-12-05T17:56:45Z")
I have not heard the “style” described in the OP. I would really appreciate it though if newscasters/reporters would stop speaking in headline-ese and [use verbs](http://www.newslab.org/2012/01/17/tv-news-needs-verbs/) once in awhile. Back in the day I was advised to sound like I was talking to someone in a normal conversational manner. That era is long gone. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/6 "2016-12-05T19:10:49Z")
Perhaps it hasn’t spread yet. Still time to eradicate it like a pest infestation before the entire country is infected. I wish I could find an on-line example, but the stations, they don’t upload the newscasts. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/7 "2016-12-05T19:19:12Z")
Since grade school, I have thought of this as the “my mother, she…” construction. The nuns forbade it and would interrupt to correct it. I have not heard this on local news shows in Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/8 "2016-12-05T19:50:32Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > Since grade school, I have thought of this as the “my mother, she…” construction. The nuns forbade it and would interrupt to correct it. I have not heard this on local news shows in Ohio. fellow Catholic school alumnus, can sympathize. Sr. Marlene was particularly peevish about that. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/9 "2016-12-05T20:32:00Z")
The New York stations, they do not do this. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/10 "2016-12-05T22:28:20Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > fellow Catholic school alumnus, can sympathize. Sr. Marlene was particularly peevish about that. Sr. Marlene, she didn’t like it? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/11 "2016-12-05T22:30:48Z")
The stupid, it burns. And the goggles, they do nothing! ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/12 "2016-12-06T04:55:21Z")
The British, in normal conversation (I don’t know about news anchors) do the opposite. “They responded to the blaze quickly, the firemen”. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/13 "2016-12-06T05:02:13Z")
I can’t say I’ve encountered this, fortunately. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/14 "2016-12-06T13:03:33Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > USA, Phoenix Arizona market. Local newscasters. I live here and have heard it. Let’s just say local TV journalism is weak. And don’t get me started on the local graphics and spelling issues. ☹ I stick to CBS but really try to ignore the local nonsense and go for national feeds. What I can’t stand is while one guy is creating those odd sentences, the other newscaster is doing head tilts and quiz-like faces as if the story _is really interesting_. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/15 "2016-12-06T15:02:13Z")
> [@campp](#): > > What I can’t stand is while one guy is creating those odd sentences, the other newscaster is doing head tilts and quiz-like faces as if the story _is really interesting_. \ Yes I’ve seen that. It’s another thing that once you’ve noticed you can’t not see them doing all the time. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/16 "2016-12-06T16:38:36Z")
It sounds like someone whose first language is not the English. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/17 "2016-12-06T16:43:10Z")
It’s probably not accidental, at least, not entirely. News stations have commonly created their own phrasing and grammar to distinguish themselves from competing stations (back in the day when ther were three news stations all vying for ratings; not sure it’s all that relevant today). I’ve heard that the Southern California horrorism “The Five” “The Six Oh Five” etc. originated with one influential anchor and spread like a Malibu wildfire. So I could see one anchor or personality deciding to flourish up his/her language with the OP’s quoted phrasing and it catching on in that small community of bubbleheaded egos. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/18 "2016-12-06T20:34:47Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > \ Yes > > I’ve seen that. It’s another thing that once you’ve noticed you can’t not see them doing all the time. \ This one will screw ya up good, then. When a story or update or report consists essentially of reading a paragraph of information, why do they… Have the anchor…Hand it over to Roy in the Newsroom…Who passes us to Cyndi in the field……who reads the paragraph? For that matter, why do they EVER… “Go to Roy in the Newsroom” (which is ten feet away) at _all?_ ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/19 "2016-12-06T22:15:56Z")
It’s possible that not much has happened that day they’ve been able to get footage of, which might explain the “Let’s cross now to Harry who is standing on a jetty for no reason to tell us one paragraph of info” thing. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933/20 "2016-12-06T22:46:34Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > When a story or update or report consists essentially of reading a paragraph of information, why do they… > > Have the anchor…Hand it over to Roy in the Newsroom…Who passes us to Cyndi in the field……who reads the paragraph? There was a Doonesbury cartoon on that topic sometime in the 1970s (“The superanchor tosses it to the regional co-anchor for a 15 second deep dive, who passes it down to the local reporter, before it comes back up to the co-super-anchor for a final thought” - or some such). I’ll bet it was in the plotline relating to Roland Hedley’s story about Waldon College. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newsreaders-they-talk-like-this/773933.md?page=2)