Epic Fail: BBC Words Smith Michael Rosen Talks To The Sun’s John Kay
ON Michael Rosen’s Word of Mouth show on BBC Radio 4, he visited the Sun’s newsroom. The show “explores the world of language and communication”.
The Sun was used to illustrate how every word matters. Every part of every sentence is deliberate and deliberated over.* Just as Rosen’s show has limited space (30 minutes), the Sun has space for each story. Mindful of the power of words, Rosen spoke with the Sun’s award winning chief reporter, John Kay.
Kay told how the talented sub editors always make his story better.
Rosen wondered if changing his pros annoyed Kay. He asked Kay:
“But surely you want to kill them..?”
Kay, as ever, stuck to the point with charm. In Stick It Up Your Punter – The Uncut Story Of The Sun Newspaper (pages 70-71), Peter Chippindale and Chris Horrie recall the time Mr Kay was “temporarily deranged” and drowned his wife in a bath and then attempted to take his own life by “cutting his wrists, putting his head in the gas oven, hanging himself and finally jumping out of the window”.
Police found him. In court he pleaded “guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility; this was accepted by the court.”
The Sun, true to their word, stood by him.
Because every word matters.
* Not on the internet.
Posted: 28th, January 2011 | In: Key Posts, TV & Radio Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
