Don’t write like a businessperson

Robert MacMillan, an editor at Reuters, writes on his blog about business journalists who write like the people they cover.

MacMillan writes, “One response I hear from the reporters I work with is that our clients are businesspeople. They know what a shale play is. They know what go-shop windows are. They know what a blockbuster drug is.

“Indeed some of them do. But here is a list of reasons why that is no excuse to write in their language:

– Businesspeople don’t want to be bored by reading the same words that they speak. They know they are bad writers. We are not businesspeople. We are paid to write and communicate well.

– We write for a wide base of financial clients. Perhaps one of them has not invested money in shale gas and oil fields before. Maybe he or she doesn’t know the jargon common to that business.

– Beyond our business clients, maybe someone’s mother or father invests in a company involved in this business. It’s not a stretch to think that they like information delivered to them with clarity when their money is at stake. We write for them too.”

Read more here.