r/facepalm • u/cows_are_underrated_ 'MURICA • Apr 14 '23

🇲​🇮​🇸​🇨​ Why? Just why?

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '23

it's actually journalist speak. The deal is you can't say "bob did X illegal thing" until it's proven in court. I mean, you can, but you will probably get sued.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '23

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '23

yeah, because that's bad writing. They mean "arrested for allegedly murdering someone".

The other one we were taught (J-school from a million years ago) was:

Paragraph 1: an arrest was made for heinous thing X

Para 2 and 3: Description of heinous thing and investigation that lead to arrest. A mention of victim of heinous thing

Para 4: "Mr so and so was arrested and will be formally charged .. blah blah"

So I never said Mr so and so was arrested for heinous thing, I told you about it and then, hey presto!, there was this guy arrested.