Media Corner: being Mindful of Language & Word Selection

Tales from the Media: In this week’s tales from the media room, Connect’s Ex BBC Newsreader and Presenter, Rebekah James, turns her attention to language and what’s deemed appropriate and not appropriate.

Being mindful of language and one’s selection of words when being interviewed on radio or TV is key.

Whilst recently listening to the BBC Word Service’s coverage of the election in the US, an American politican said a couple of ’soft’ swear words whilst being interviewed. Whilst these words may not be considered offensive in some cultures, words such as ‘bull’ and ‘freakin’ would be considered unacceptable on a medium such as The World Service.  In this particular instance, the BBC anchor stepped in immediately, stopped the contributor in his tracks mid interview and extended an apology to the audience. The anchor clearly knew his audience and did exactly what would have been expected of him form the production side.

It’s likely that the politician got carried away on the day of the election and theses words wouldn’t be part of his daily vocabulary. Who knows?  Granted;  this language wasn’t outrageously offensive and maybe wouldn’t have been perceived as such by an American audience. However, this was culturally inappropriate for a British radio show and world listenership.

When you’re next being interviewed,  think beyond just answering the journalist. Know your audience, do your research on the genre and feel of the radio or TV show and the kind of audience it targets. You’ve been given a platform to speak and present which is an honour. Use it wisely to make your point and don’t risk being cut off mid-sentence!