Tag Archives: Simon Heffer

Blogs.vocalo.org: 119 words and phrases banned in WGN-AM radio newsroom

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It looks like the US has a subbing pedant to rival the Telegraph’s Simon Heffer: the Tribune Co. CEO, Randy Michaels.

Vocalo’s Robert Feder shares a memo on 119 words or phrases banned on air by Michaels. Anchors or reporters for his radio news station, WGN-AM, must never pronounce W. “dubbaya”, for example – it’s double you.  It’s “moot point” not “mute” – “but don’t say that either”. Nothing “went terribly wrong”; “undocumented aliens” are forbidden and no-one left this world in an “untimely death”. “At risk”; “legendary”, “no brainer” and “perfect storm” are also among the vocabulary victims.

Full post at this link…

Heffer to take sabbatical from Telegraph

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Eagle-eyed Telegraph associate editor Simon Heffer is to take a one-year sabbatical from the paper for post-doctoral work in Cambridge.

Heffer, who is known for his sharp internal missives criticising staff for slipping standards, will continue to contribute three weekly columns (for The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and Telegraph.co.uk), whilst working on other projects.

He will return in an ‘enhanced role’ in January 2011, a release from TMG said.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity, following the recent award by Cambridge University of a PhD, to go back to my college [Corpus Christi] and involve myself in its life for a year,” said Heffer.

It was a ‘great honour’ for Heffer, said Tony Gallagher, the new editor of The Daily Telegraph. “I know that he will thrive in the academic world. I wish him every success in this new challenge. I am delighted that he will still contribute to our Comment pages in his regular columns.”

Never miss a note with a Simon Heffer RSS feed

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It amused Journalism.co.uk to read on Media Monkey this morning that Telegraph associate editor Simon Heffer’s infamous ‘style notes’ are now available as a RSS feed.

Particularly like the use of the royal ‘we’ in the most recent memo, dated April 29:

“We have been rather prone to factual errors since my last notes (…) We are still plagued by homonyms. We called Sir Billy Butlin the ‘founding farther’ of the holiday camp. We had heroine for heroin. Somebody was quoted as saying “I’m hear to apologise to everyone.”