Biz journalists toning down words

RIchard Perez-Pena of the New York Times writes how many business journalists are toning down the words they use when describing the market in the wake of last week’s Wall Street upheaval.

Perez-Pena writes, “So in most of the news, stocks have ‘slid’ and markets ‘gyrated’ but not ‘crashed.’ Companies have ‘tottered’ and ‘struggled’ rather than moved toward failure and bankruptcy.

“‘We’re very careful not to throw words around like ‘meltdown’ and ‘free fall,’ â€? said Ali Velshi, senior business correspondent at CNN. ‘If someone wants to say the markets are in free fall, we’ll discuss it first,’ he said, and the outcome is most likely to be a change in wording.

“Marcus W. Brauchli, the new executive editor of The Washington Post, said that covering Wall Street differed from any other industry. ‘When financial institutions are suffering a crisis in faith about themselves, journalists are inherently a little bit more prudent and cautious.’

“This year, the media have been accused of contributing to the collapse of both Bear Stearns and IndyMac, a large California thrift, so journalists are more aware of the risk of stoking fear — and the risk of being blamed.”

Read more here.