Swearing in the newsroom
Although my time in the journalism business is brief, I must say that there’s a few things I loved about the idea of the profession. In Springfield, you heard about the stories of how the press room used to be, back in the day. The running poker game, cigar smoke, bottles of booze and, of course, the swearing.
I get the distinct feeling those days are long gone, which is kind of depressing, and swearing in the newsroom is getting the boot now, too.
Maybe it’s symptomatic of a more politically-correct world run by human resource and legal departments that write up employee policy manuals longer than any term paper I’ve done. Or maybe it’s just the growing isolationist nature my generation’s come to know — all of use wearing our iPods at work to shut everyone out. Whatever the case might be, a newsroom just doesn’t feel like a newsroom without what I like to call “the noise.”
To me, “the noise” is the sound of a TV on either ESPN or cable news (or both). It’s a group of co-workers talking about their stories, collaborating or complaining. It’s the sound of fingers hammering out short sentences on deadline. It’s a reporter rewinding their voice recorder back and forth to transcribe a quotation perfectly. It’s laughter. It’s screaming at an uncooperative source over the phone. And it’s swearing. Lots of swearing. Some of it casual. But a good deal out of anger, stress and frustration.
I’m the kind of person who can’t really write news stories unless I have “the noise” around me. I need that atmosphere as much as I need the deadline pressures of a ticking clock. It’s motivation and creative juice that makes things flow from a jumble of facts into coherent sentence structure. In some odd way, all the distractions built up my concentration.
I understand that most people don’t thrive in this situation, but then again, most people aren’t in the news business. For whatever reason, I think journalists are these kind of people, who can excel only in this destructive kind of condition. Without “the noise” the excitement fades, your senses dull and you can actually hear the maddening hum of fluorescent light fixtures.
Romenesko’s thread today about swearing in the newsroom, and the associated feedback and letters, have been a joy to read. I recommend taking the time to read them all and add share your own thoughts and stories somewhere.
Journalism’s changing in a lot of ways. I think this is one of the ways for the worst.
(Above: A classic example of how journalism and swearing goes hand in hand: Hunter S. Thompson. Via Rolling Stone.)
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