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Jonathan Rand's avatar

"Critics say" is awfully close to Trump's constant claim that "people tell me I'm doing a great job." Trump is like a child with imaginary friends, so reporters should take care to specify critics if, in fact, their attribution is necessary when stating the obvious. Another journalistic failure is the use of the word "reportedly" to avoid taking full responsibility for a statement. If you are writing it, you are reporting it! Duh.

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Marliss Desens's avatar

This slippery or sloppy use of language is another reason I stopped subscribing to The Washington Post and did not replace it with The New York Times.

I did not allow such sloppy writing as "critics say" in the freshman college composition courses I taught. I specified that writers must say who those critics are. I also asked students to be specific and to back up arguments with facts.

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