Today in verb voice: Flak is unfairly gotten

A lot of flak is gotten by the passive voice over its alleged role in manipulating or obscuring agency. Most of that concern is misplaced; for every "mistakes were made,"  you can find dozens of cases in which the passive voice appropriately fronts the object as the center of attention. Unless you need to specify the office that did the arresting, "Suspect arrested after holdup" will always be a better headline than "Police arrest suspect after holdup." 

The passive isn't inherently suspicious. Nothing was being covered up when Macduff explained the circumstances of his birth to Macbeth. News outlets understand this, even if they (like the pundits they employ) generally can't identify verb voice* at better than coin-toss levels. News tells stories, and the passive voice has been an excellent storytelling tool for decades:

WASHINGTON, Friday, April 14 -- 12:30 A.M.

The President was shot in a theatre tonight, and is, perhaps, mortally wounded. 

Read more »

When zombies write travel stories

Swell? I'll say! Restaurants spiffy too! And convenience of public transit just out of this world!

Sorry, just trying to take my mind off wondering how long it took some fair 'n' balanced mind to come up with "Mr. Brown Goes to Washington" and whether anyone, for any brief moment, thought better of it. A reminder to you real newspapers out there that might be pondering the same centerpiece: Don't.