Official Speak

I had a news director, a long, long time ago, who once said, "I never want to see a politician on TV." Luckily, he's gone.
But I don't think it's that he had a hatred for politicians. It's just that politicians and officials tend to be a little boring on TV.

It's actually kind of funny. When we turn on the camera and start asking questions, many suddenly become like Data, the android on Star Trek: The Next Generation. What I mean is that they don't talk like a normal person would talk.

Let's say there's a fire on your street and you walk up to a fireman and ask what happened. He would never say, "Well sir, at approximately 3:15 this morning, we received a call that there was a structure fire at 1321 Hickory Lane. When we responded the structure was fully involved. We attempted to evacuate two other nearby residences to make sure the occupants weren't in danger."

That's what we call "Official Speak" or "Official-Ease" Watch TV long enough and you'll see it. Who talks like this in real life? Yet it is often the type interview we will get.

What he would probably say to the average person is, "The house caught on fire early this morning. By the time we got here there wasn't much we could do. So we just tried to get the people out of the other houses so they didn't get hurt."

It's conversational, but it's still professional. Sometimes you just wish people in authority would talk like real people.

What I try to stress to people, is that you're not talking to me or the camera. You are talking to the average person at home. So talk like you were having a conversation with them.