Amsterdan

Just words?

Journalism is America's Fourth Estate. Investigative reporters, analysts and pundits are important guardian's of the people's interest in government and politics. But has the Fourth Estate become a cadre of slackers? Case in point: it has become cliche to discuss Hillary's attempts to stop her snowballing primary losses to Obama as creating a "firewall" first in one primary state and then another. This term "firewall" has been used repeatedly by journalists, analysts and pundits of all stripes:

11/30/07 - The Boston Globe: "I would argue that New Hampshire is the firewall of last resort," said Dante Scala, a University of New Hampshire political scientist. [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/11/30/ with_iowa_tight_nh_becoming_clintons_firewall/]

12/18/07 - The New Republic - John B. Judis: "This hostility of Latinos toward blacks has sometimes showed up in political behavior....[this is] Hillary Clinton's Firewall." [http://www.tnr.com/politics/ story.html?id=314e8fae-3fd3-4af2-bfde-f0f8e069c1fe]

2/2/08 - The Atlantic - Mark Ambinder: "Clinton's Firewall Scenario" [http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/02/ clintons_firewall_scenario.php]

2/13/08 - The New York Times - David Leonhart: "Is it possible that Barack Obama has become the favorite in Texas, a state long considered to be a firewall for Hillary Clinton?" [http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/ online-market-watch/]

2/22/08 - Bloomberg.com - Lorraine Woellert and Kristin Jensen: "Ohio was supposed to be Hillary Clinton's firewall." [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/ news?pid=20601087&sid=akZsaWjVqF90&refer=home]

There are, indeed, over 300,000 such "Clinton Firewall" references on Google.

Here's the problem. A "firewall" is a partition to inhibit the spread of fire within a structure or in a computer system to prevent unauthorized access.

Obama's wins are in wide open spaces - the 50 states - and he is moving like a prairie wildfire. When fighting a wildfire, professionals use a "firebreak", which is a strip of cleared, open space to arrest the spread of a wildfire through a forest or a prairie.

The correct word for Clinton's failed attempts is "firebreak".

Perhaps the only ones who care about such things are those of us who study language and feel passionately about precision in language. But shouldn't that include journalists and editors - those who live by their use of precise language? And if some early journalists, analysts, editors and pundits chose the incorrect word, are the rest such lemmings that they thoughtlessly follow suit?

The number of uses of the correct term "Clinton firebreak" on Google? As of today, three: FOXnews (sweet irony), The Baltimore Sun, and Mother Jones magazine. There are three journalists and their editors who know the difference between a firebreak and a firewall; and all of those correct references occurred in February 2008, months after the imprecision began.

Whatever word is used, it appears that Hillary Clinton will be ineffective in supressing the political wildfire of Barack Obama.

Labels: Clinton, elections, Obama, words

posted by DanZ @ 9:29 AM