OLD Media Moves

Avoiding the Jargon Jar

October 15, 2007

Posted by Chris Roush

Grant Robertson of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes Sunday about how business journalists on the Fox Business Network hope to avoid the Jargon Jar.

Montgomery BurnsRobertson wrote, “When the lights go up Monday morning on Fox Business, some of the anchors on Rupert Murdoch’s new financial TV channel will keep a jar on the desk. If anyone utters a phrase like ‘EBITDA’ or ‘asset-backed commercial paper’ there will be consequences.

“‘When they use a term like that, they’ll have to put $2 into the jar,’ said Brian Jones, senior vice-president of operations at Fox Business, which launches Monday on U.S. television and the Internet, and is expected to hit Canada in the coming months.

“The Jargon Jar is Fox’s attempt to bring financial news to the masses – from small business owners to stay-at-home moms and first-time home buyers. The new channel, the first all-business station to be launched in North America since the folding of CNNfn in 2004, is a direct attack on CNBC, the market leader with a pipeline into 95 million U.S. and Canadian homes.”

Read more here.

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