# Why can't newscasters pronounce (and use) words properly? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 5, 2022, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-newscasters-pronounce-and-use-words-properly/970988 "2022-09-05T13:56:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 1
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-newscasters-pronounce-and-use-words-properly/970988/1 "2022-09-05T13:56:31Z")
I don’t want to get into what constitutes “properly” just now (there are those who believe that every pronunciation and usage that a native speaker employs is by definition a correct one) but there are newscasters whose acquaintance with the rudiments of the English language is at best middling. I just heard a young woman employed by MSNBC repeatedly pronouncing “nuclear” NOOK-ya-lar–I hear such manglings every day, semi-literate talking heads struggling to pronounce words that they have obviously rarely used, or even seen, before. Sometimes, as with Nicole Wallace, it’s her favorite adjective “fulsome,” which she is under the impression means “full” in a laudatory sense, to mean “complete” or “definitive” instead of the preferred pejorative meaning of “excessive” or “unnecessary.” I thought the ability to speak English was in these people’s job description --they don’t write their own material, after all, and there isn’t much to their jobs besides presenting what is on the teleprompter clearly and correctly, so how do such useless ninnies continue to hold their positions? Is the qualification for “newscaster” simply being a moderately attractive young woman? I see it in male newscasters sometimes, but not nearly as much. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-newscasters-pronounce-and-use-words-properly/970988)._