Hollywood Mourns the Loss of Good Newswriting

By Christopher Jones-Cruise

It’s “mourning’ in America” -- or at least in Hollywood and in the sports world.

If you watch, read or listen to the news, you’d think Hollywood and the sports world spend a lot of time mourning.

And why would you think that? Because that’s what countless stories tell us Hollywood and the sports world are doing every time someone with any connection to show business or sports -- no matter how slight -- dies.

“Hollywood is mourning…” is the go-to lead on almost every story about actors, producers, directors and scriptwriters who have passed on -- no matter how obscure. And no matter how old a player or how peripheral a person was to sports, we are invariably told that “the sports world is mourning” when that person dies.

That lead is hackneyed and lazy, not to mention incorrect: How does the writer know that everyone -- perhaps even anyone -- in Hollywood or the sports world is mourning? (The Associated Press, so influential -- particularly in broadcast news -- almost always begins a report on the death of an actor with “Hollywood is mourning…” and the death of an athlete with “The sports world is mourning…”)

In March, the New York Daily News reported “Hollywood is mourning the death of Ken Howard…”

In June, Forbes reported that “Hollywood is mourning the loss of one of its brightest talents, Anton Yelchin,” and Fox News Latino reported that “Hollywood is mourning the loss of actress Theresa Saldana.” (As pertains to Yelchin, he was an actor on the rise, but it seems in any story about the death of a young person, we are told that she or he was “one of [the industry’s] brightest young talents” regardless of whether she or he really was.)

In July, Vanity Fair and Hollywood Life reported “Hollywood is mourning the loss of director Garry Marshall.”

In August, Deadline.com said “Hollywood is mourning the loss of Gene Wilder.”

In September, Hollywood Life reported that “Hollywood is mourning the loss of a giant talent” -- director and screenwriter Curtis Hanson.

In October, HipHollywood.com reported “Hollywood is mourning the death of actor Tommy Ford.”

In November, ABC News reported that “Hollywood is mourning the loss of legendary singer and songwriter Leonard Cohen,” Deadline.com reported that “Hollywood is mourning the loss of Florence Henderson,” USA Today reported that “Hollywood plunged into mourning after the stunning election results,” and The Associated Press reported that “Hollywood is mourning the death of Ron Glass.”

And last month, The Washington Post, AOL News and Entertainment Weekly reported “Hollywood is mourning the death of Alan Thicke,” and CNN reported “Hollywood is mourning the death of Zsa Zsa Gabor.”

Sports writers are just as guilty. To wit:

In June, USAToday.com reported that “the sports world is mourning Gordie Howe, aka ‘Mr. Hockey,’ who passed away on Friday at the age of 88.”

In July, KTVU-TV, Channel 2, the Fox affiliate in Oakland, Calif., reported that “the sports world is mourning the death Friday of a well-respected, longtime football coach with Bay Area links.”

In August, HotNewHipHop.com reported that “the sports world is mourning the loss of ESPN’s John Saunders today, the legendary anchor.” (Cliché and bad sentence construction to boot!)

In September, CW 33 reported that “the sports world is mourning the loss of ‘golf’s greatest ambassador’ in the wake (of) Arnold Palmer’s death at the age of 87.” In the wake of? What does that even mean?

And last month we were told that “the sports world is mourning” the loss of longtime TNT NBA sideline reporter Craig Sager. (Although, in this case, judging from the obituaries, maybe the sports world really was mourning his death.)

We were told in 2016 that “the sports world is mourning the loss of” Muhammad Ali, Kimbo Slice, Ed Snider, Jose Fernandez, Pat Summitt, Meadowlark Lemon and Flip Saunders.

That construction shows up a lot in stories. If not Hollywood or the sports world, it’s “A nation is in mourning today,” “A community is in mourning tonight” or “A town is in mourning this week.” It's hyperbolic, cliché and demonstrably incorrect (not to mention easily parodied). After a death or tragedy, clearly some people may be mourning the loss of the deceased, but it is not correct to report that an entire community is mourning. It just isn’t. Report the facts; leave the feelings to others. (And on that note, it is simply not good journalism to always refer to a recently deceased person, especially a celebrity, as beloved. Dying doesn’t make someone beloved. It is tradition to speak no ill of the dead, but the opposite should not be true: it should not be tradition to always speak well of the dead. It’s not our job to make something of someone after they have died they were not when they were alive. And another thing: dying at an old age does not automatically mean someone is an icon or a legend, so proceed with caution on those terms as well as “one of its brightest young stars” [see above].)

One final note on the dead: the misuse of the word “late.” The AP says we should not use “the late” when referring to something the decedent did when he or she was still alive, as in “The late Arnold Palmer won 62 tournaments in his career.”  When he won then, he wasn’t “late.”

Unfortunately, the “_____ world is mourning” construction has been spreading. A quick Google News check finds that a batch of worlds have been mourning -- in fact, all these worlds: the literary, rock, music, movie, classical music, motorcycle-racing, golf, racing, rugby, rap, cycling, horror, boxing, cricket, culinary, pro wrestling, art, soccer, photography, entertainment, television, basketball, soap opera, college football, college hockey, NBA, baseball, Dallas art, Indian art and cheerleading worlds have all been mourning. It’s far worse than I thought. Don’t you add to it.

Christopher Jones-Cruise is a broadcaster at the Voice of America in Washington and an anchor on the Westwood One Radio Network. His views are his own. This column was informed by his experience as a broadcast news writer, radio and television anchor and news consumer. It was edited by longtime news writing teacher and RTDNA columnist Merv Block and former Washington Times chief copy editor Peter J. Parisi.