Workshop: Clichés, journalese, and jargon

Journalists need to recognise and then avoid using journalese, jargon, and clichés. Their writing must be clear, easy to understand, and informative.

This workshop is presented in two formats, both using the same source material from Media Helping Media. The first is a two-hour workshop designed for those who are already familiar with the topic but who would like to deepen their understanding. The second is a four-hour, half-day workshop for those who are new to the topic. Trainers are invited to select the format that best meets the needs of those they are training.

The core content for this workshop outline is drawn entirely from the MHM training article, Cliches, journalese and jargon. This article provides essential guidance on avoiding lazy, formulaic, and complex language in journalistic writing to ensure clarity, engagement, and professionalism.

Workshop outline 1: Two-hour session

This outline focuses on practical application and rewriting skills for trainees who understand the basic concepts of clear writing but need to sharpen their technique.

09:00–10:00 – Session 1: Identifying and removing lazy language

• Aims:
  • To review the definitions of clichés, journalese, and jargon and explain why they undermine journalistic writing.
  • To identify common examples of lazy language across different media types.
  • To establish a personal commitment to high professional standards and ethics in communication.
• Presentation: Trainer delivers a concise, ten-minute review of the three terms:
  • Cliché: An overused phrase (e.g., ‘at the end of the day’) that has lost its original impact and makes writing sound boring.
  • Journalese: Formulaic language used in newsrooms (e.g., ‘launched a scathing attack’, ‘slammed the door’) that replaces simple, descriptive words.
  • Jargon: Specialist or technical language (e.g., ‘synergy’, ‘proactive stakeholder engagement’) that is only understood by a small group.
  • Trainer discusses how using these terms risks compromising the accuracy of a story by creating ambiguity or confusion.
• Activity: The lazy language hunt (25 minutes):
  • Trainees work in pairs. The trainer provides short news reports (500 words each) containing numerous examples of clichés, journalese, and jargon. Trainees must circle every instance of lazy language and propose a simple, clear, British English alternative for each one. For example, replacing ‘in a bid to’ with ‘to’ or ‘crucial’ with ‘important’.
• Discussion: The impact on integrity (20 minutes): Group discussion, led by the trainer, on the professional responsibility of clear writing.
  • Purpose: To understand that simple, direct language is a sign of professional integrity and respect for the audience.
  • Key questions: How does using complex jargon affect public trust? What does using clichés say about a journalist’s commitment to finding the right words? How can unclear writing affect a journalist’s impartiality if it only uses the language of one side?

10:00–11:00 – Session 2: Practical rewriting and simple words

• Aims:
  • To master techniques for converting complex or lazy phrases into clear, active, and direct sentences.
  • To practise self-editing skills and giving effective peer feedback.
  • To understand how avoiding lazy language contributes to a lack of bias.
• Presentation: Trainer introduces the ‘Simple Word Rule’: Always use the simplest, most direct word available.
  • Review common journalese verbs and provide simple alternatives (e.g., ‘allege’ becomes ‘say’; ‘ascertain’ becomes ‘find out’).
  • Explain the power of the active voice (subject-verb-object) over the passive voice, and how it improves clarity.
• Activity: The rewrite challenge (35 minutes): Trainees work individually. The trainer provides four or five highly jargon-filled sentences or quotes from a technical subject (e.g., a business report, a government policy document).
  • Trainees must first simplify the content to its core meaning, ensuring fairness to the original speaker’s intent.
  • They then rewrite each sentence into two different versions, ensuring both are clear, simple, and in the active voice.
  • Trainees swap their rewrites with a partner for five minutes of critical peer review, focusing on whether the language could cause offence or infringe on a source’s privacy through misinterpretation.
• Discussion: The jargon filter (20 minutes): Group shares a few successful rewrites from the activity.
  • Purpose: To reinforce the practical skill of self-editing.
  • The trainer explains that journalese or jargon can introduce an unconscious bias by making complex topics feel exclusive or difficult to understand for the general public. Simple writing is inclusive.

Assignment: The jargon-free news report

• Goal: To apply the ‘simple word rule’ and eliminate all instances of clichés, journalese, and jargon from a piece of reporting, ensuring maximum accuracy and clarity for the general public.
• Task:Identify a news report, press release, or short official document (e.g., from a government ministry, a business, or an NGO) from your local media that is written using complex or formulaic language (clichés, jargon, or journalese). The source material should be between 300 and 500 words.
• Analysis: Underline or highlight all instances of clichés, journalese, and jargon.For each highlighted phrase, write down the simple, British English alternative you will use to replace it. This process demonstrates your commitment to professional integrity.
• Rewrite:  Rewrite the entire 300–500 word text into a clear, simple, and direct news article.The rewritten article must use only the active voice.Sentences should be short and focused (aim for 15 words or less).Ensure the rewritten text maintains the original impartiality and fairness of the source material but avoids any language that could introduce bias or inadvertently cause offence. It must also respect privacy by avoiding speculative or unclear language.
• Submission: Submit two documents:The original source material, clearly annotated with your identification of lazy language.Your final, rewritten ‘Jargon-Free News Report’.

Materials needed for the workshop:

• Handouts summarising interview types and essentials.
• Example interview transcripts.
• Research resources (internet or printouts).
• Recording devices (optional, for mock interviews).

Assessment:

• Participation in discussions and activities.
• Quality of drafted questions and peer feedback.
• Performance in mock interviews and reflection.

Workshop outline 2: Four-hour session

This outline is designed for trainees who are new to the topic, providing comprehensive definitions, extensive examples, and more time for practical application and discussion.

09:00–10:00 – Session 1: The foundation of clear communication

• Aims:
  • To define the terms cliché and journalese and explain why they weaken writing and bore the reader.
  • To understand the importance of clear, simple, and direct language for a diverse audience, especially those for whom English is not their first language.
• Presentation: Trainer introduces the core journalistic responsibility: to inform clearly. This is a matter of professional ethics.
• Defining cliché: Provide multiple examples of common clichés (e.g., ‘running on empty’, ‘heavy lifting’, ‘thinking outside the box’) and discuss how to replace them with fresh, original language.
• Defining journalese: Present a ‘Hall of Shame’ list of overused and lazy phrases specific to the media industry (e.g., ‘crisis-hit’, ‘major boost’, ‘sources indicated’) and explain that these are shortcuts that show a lack of effort.
• Activity: Cliché correction (30 minutes):
  • Trainees work in small groups. The trainer provides a short opinion piece or press release that is riddled with clichés. Trainees must rewrite the piece entirely, focusing only on removing the clichés and journalese, ensuring every phrase is direct and original. Each group presents their five most effective corrections.
• Discussion: The audience test (15 minutes):
  • Purpose: To understand the reader’s perspective.
  • Trainer leads a discussion on how lazy language affects audience engagement and trust. Why does simple language demonstrate integrity? The trainer emphasises that avoiding complex language is key to ensuring the maximum public can understand the story.

10:00–11:00 – Session 2: Understanding and avoiding jargon

• Aims:
  • To define jargon and identify the contexts where it is most commonly encountered (e.g., politics, business, science).
  • To develop a clear strategy for handling technical terms and complex concepts in news reports.
  • To recognise how the use of language relates to bias and fairness.
• Presentation:
  • Defining jargon: The trainer explains that jargon is not necessarily ‘bad’ but is often inappropriate for a general audience because it means ‘specialist language’.
  • Trainer provides examples of specialist terms (e.g., ‘monetise’, ‘quantifiable outcomes’, ‘subsidiarity’) and models how to explain them simply in one sentence or replace them with everyday words (e.g., ‘make money’, ‘results’, ‘local decision-making’).
  • Trainer discusses how using jargon from one side of a conflict can introduce an unconscious bias into the reporting, making it seem like the journalist favours that group.
• Activity: The jargon decoder (25 minutes):
  • Trainees work individually on two short texts: one from a government official and one from a scientist. Both texts contain dense jargon.
    • Trainees underline the jargon.
    • They write a simple, alternative word or a brief, clear explanation for each term.
    • The trainer guides them to understand that true accuracy means conveying the right meaning to the widest possible audience, not just reproducing technical language.
• Discussion: When to use a technical term (15 minutes):
  • Purpose: To establish rules for using technical language.
  • Group discussion on when a technical term is absolutely necessary (e.g., a specific law or drug name) and how to introduce it clearly to the reader (define it once, then use the simple term). The discussion also covers how avoiding jargon helps maintain fairness to all sections of the community.

11:00–11:15 – Break

11:15–12:45 – Session 3: Practical techniques for clear writing

• Aims:
  • To practise the practical steps of transforming an unclear article into a model of simple, direct writing.
  • To apply the ‘simple word rule’ consistently.
  • To practise ethical sensitivity regarding offence and privacy during the rewriting process.
• Presentation:
  • Trainer introduces the four key techniques for clarity:
    • Use active voice: Subject-verb-object for punchy sentences.
    • Keep sentences short: Aim for a maximum of 15-20 words.
    • One idea per aentence: Avoid complex clauses joined by commas.
    • Use simple verbs: Choose ‘said’ over ‘opined’, ‘try’ over ‘endeavour’.
• Activity: The major overhaul (60 minutes):
  • The trainer provides a single, poorly written, long news report (approximately 700 words) containing all three issues: clichés, journalese, and jargon, written predominantly in the passive voice.
    • Trainees work in pairs and divide the article into sections.
    • They must collectively rewrite the entire article, applying all the techniques learned, focusing on clarity and simplicity.
    • During the rewriting process, the trainer reminds the trainees to consider if any of the language used could unintentionally cause offence or if simplifying a quote could compromise privacy.
• Discussion: Peer review and best practice (20 minutes):
  • Purpose: To reinforce the core skills through constructive feedback.
  • Pairs swap their overhauled articles and spend ten minutes reviewing each other’s work, providing feedback on which sentences could still be simpler or more direct. The trainer highlights the best examples of transformation.

12:45–13:00 – Session 4: Review and assignment

• • Aims:
    • To summarise the key practical techniques for avoiding lazy language.
    • To confirm an action plan for incorporating simple, direct writing into daily workflow.
  • Presentation:
    • Trainer summarises the three language enemies (cliché, journalese, jargon) and the ‘simple word rule’. The trainer provides a checklist of ‘five things to check before you file’ regarding clear language.
  • Discussion:
    • Q&A and personal commitment (10 minutes):
      • Trainees ask any final questions. Each trainee makes a short, one-sentence statement about the one key piece of learning they will apply immediately in their work.

Assignment: The jargon-free news report

• Goal: To apply the ‘simple word rule’ and eliminate all instances of clichés, journalese, and jargon from a piece of reporting, ensuring maximum accuracy and clarity for the general public.
• Task:Identify a news report, press release, or short official document (e.g., from a government ministry, a business, or an NGO) from your local media that is written using complex or formulaic language (clichés, jargon, or journalese). The source material should be between 300 and 500 words.
• Analysis: Underline or highlight all instances of clichés, journalese, and jargon.For each highlighted phrase, write down the simple, British English alternative you will use to replace it. This process demonstrates your commitment to professional integrity.
• Rewrite:  Rewrite the entire 300–500 word text into a clear, simple, and direct news article.The rewritten article must use only the active voice.Sentences should be short and focused (aim for 15 words or less).Ensure the rewritten text maintains the original impartiality and fairness of the source material but avoids any language that could introduce bias or inadvertently cause offence. It must also respect privacy by avoiding speculative or unclear language.
• Submission: Submit two documents:The original source material, clearly annotated with your identification of lazy language.Your final, rewritten ‘Jargon-Free News Report’.

Materials needed for the workshop:

• Handouts summarising interview types and essentials.
• Example interview transcripts.
• Research resources (internet or printouts).
• Recording devices (optional, for mock interviews).

Assessment:

• Participation in discussions and activities.
• Quality of drafted questions and peer feedback.
• Performance in mock interviews and reflection.

Summary

This four-hour session for new trainees provides a thorough understanding of lazy language pitfalls and equips participants with practical skills to write clearly, simply, and professionally, reinforcing the advice found in Cliches, journalese and jargon.

Related material

Clichés, journalese, and jargon

Lesson: Clichés, journalese, and jargon