Big Brother (or Somebody) Is Watching!

      Writing news stories for radio was
  easier than writing the same stories
  for television! At least that was
  always true for me. But that was
  because I am a very poor speller!
    I have a pretty good vocabulary.
    I could always recognize words
  from sources like the Associated Press.
    But faced with  writing the very same
  words myself I'd often make spelling errors.
    That really didn't use to be such
  a big deal. You see, I read my own
  copy and knew exactly what I wanted
  to say even if the printed word
  turned out to be misspelled.
    But things changed in Television!
    Somewhere along the line the FCC
  decided to require the use of 'Closed
  Captioning.' It wasn't enough to
  write a script for myself. Now, each
  word used in the story, either by me
  or the comments offered by people I
  interviewed had to literally
  be spelled out to appear on the
  screen!
    A lot of reporters don't take that
 too seriously. Many believe the
 audience can't or won't read what
 comes up anyway.
   I never see it used in weather
 reports and it's often missing in
 sports.
   Then there are the folks who
 actually run the scripts on the
 screen. Some of them are either
 speed readers or are trying to get
 out of work early!
   Ironically, since my hearing has
 reached the stage where a lot of
 conversation seems to fall into
 the 'dog whistle category',
 I find myself setting my TV on the
 Closed Caption Mode for nearly
 every program!
   Although a challenge I always
 tried to do my best knowing that
 'Big Brother' and some viewers
 would be watching in addition to
 listening.
    I'm still trying to be careful
 now that I've started this Blog.
    But I'm still making mistakes!
    'Spell Check' doesn't always
 help. Sometimes I mistakenly use
 the wrong form of a word. Spell
 Check doesn't pick that up so, when
 that happens I'm sort of out there
 all alone.
   Well, not quite!
   'Big Brother' may be gone. But
  my daughter is a teacher who reads
  the Blog and is better than any
  'Spell Check' or 'Word Guide'
  you'll ever find!
   She spotted a mistake I
  made earlier this week. You won't
  see it because she told me and I
  made a correction. 
   She's really good!
  Guess she must get it from
  me!
   Write?    I mean...right?
   Hope all your NEWS is good!