By MERVIN BLOCK
October 2003

Poor Shakespeare. He once wrote that night follows day. So he wouldn't be able to hack it in some broadcast newsrooms. In those shops, night does not follow day: night blots out day.

Let's look at a recent case of blotting, and of bending and twisting time:

On Thursday, Sept. 25, at 4:37 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, The Associated Press reported an earthquake on Hokkaido, Japan. The AP said the time there when the quake hit was about 4:50 a.m., Friday. Japan is 13 hours ahead of EDT, so the time in New York City was about 3:50 p.m., Thursday. That's the time that governs for newscasters in Manhattan because they're expected to present the time according to where they are.

More than two and a half hours after the quake, on its 6:30 p.m. broadcast, NBC's “Nightly News” said, “There was a very strong earthquake in Japan tonight….” Tonight? Yes, that's what the man said. (It was not his finest hour, but he'll stay nameless, though not blameless.)

Was is a linking verb that expresses no action, and there was is a dead phrase. Better: “A strong earthquake has shaken Japan.” Or “A strong earthquake shook Japan this afternoon.” A half-hour later, at 7 p.m., CNBC said, “The latest on today's big earthquake in Japan.” But later, “Tonight's magnitude eight reinforced Japan's earthquake awareness with a powerful jolt.”

Dictionaries define evening and night rather loosely, but where I come from, 3:50 p.m., about three hours before sunset, is too early for evening or tonight. At 3:50, most people in this country are still at work. But those excused at 4 p.m. wouldn't say, “I'm getting off work early this evening.” And certainly not “I'm getting off work early tonight.” They'd probably say today or this afternoon.

At 6:30 p.m., EDT, “Marketplace,” produced and nationally syndicated by Minnesota Public Radio said, “In the wee small hours of Friday morning in Japan, which is to say this afternoon in the U-S, an earthquake registering a preliminary seven-point-eight on the Richter scale hit the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.”

ABC's “World News Tonight” also said at 6:30 p.m., “A powerful earthquake shook northern Japan today.” (CBS's “Evening News” carried the story the next night.)

PBS's “NewsHour” said, “A powerful earthquake shook northern Japan early Friday morning….” But the next night, “NewsHour” said, “Northern Japan began returning to normal today, despite the world's strongest earthquake in two years. The pre-dawn shock wave damaged some buildings….” Better: “pre-dawn shock wave yesterday….”

Earlier, CNN's 5 p.m. newscast said, an hour after the quake, “Only moments ago, a huge earthquake hitting northern Japan, a magnitude preliminary read seven-point-eight rocking the northern Japan island of Hokkaido, authorities fearful there is a possibility of a tsunami in this northern Japanese island.” Me no liking tenseless, incomplete sentences like that. And no liking northern three times. And Japan(ese) three times. And island twice. And moments ago even once.

The Fox News Channel said on its 5 o'clock program, “Panic in Japan. A seven-point-eight Richter-scale quake hits the northern Hokkaido area….” I couldn't find wire copy that mentioned or suggested panic. Makes you wonder: was the panic in the newsroom?

CNNfn's 6 p.m. newscast said, “Tonight, a powerful earthquake has hit northern Japan…These are the pictures of the interior of that office as the earthquake struck this afternoon.”

At 11 p.m., Canada's CTV said, “The northern Japanese island of Hokkaido took a powerful hit today. [A North Korean missile?] An earthquake with some dramatic effects, but no apparent loss of life….”

The next day, Friday, Sept. 26, CBS's “Morning News” said at 6:30 a.m., “The strongest earthquake anywhere in the world this year hit Japan earlier today.” (Anything that happened today happened earlier today or we wouldn't be able to report it. But the quake didn't happen at any time today.)

NBC's “Today” said shortly after 7 a.m., “In northern Japan, more than 300 people were injured this morning in a powerful earthquake.” This morning? Maybe that's why they call the show “Today.” (Newswriters like to give a story a forward thrust, but they couldn't very well say, “An earthquake occurred tomorrow in….”)

At 7:50 a.m., Minnesota Public Radio's “Marketplace” said, again correctly, “Japanese officials are still adding up the costs of the damage from a series of strong earthquakes that rocked the northern island of Hokkaido yesterday.”

At 5 p.m., Friday, 25 hours after the quake, CNN said: “Earthquake hits Japan. The world's most powerful quake in more than two years hit northern Japan before dawn….”

At 6:30 p.m., Friday, CBS's “Evening News” said: “Emergency officials in northern Japan say damage from a powerful earthquake was surprisingly light. The magnitude-eight quake shook office buildings, touched off an oil refinery fire and pushed a tsunami wave along the coast, but there were only a few hundred injuries.” Only? When was the quake? Today? Yesterday?

At 7 p.m., CNBC said, “In northern Japan tonight, people are considering themselves very lucky in the wake of that massive earthquake. Damage from the magnitude-eight quake was relatively light, mainly because….” But when was that quake? Today? Yesterday?

At 10 p.m., Friday, 30 hours after the quake, CNN said, “In Japan tonight, quite a large earthquake, even by Japanese standards.” And later: “Other news tonight: in northern Japan, people are being pummeled by aftershocks from an earthquake earlier today….” Earlier makes me surlier. Didn't someone there read the wires and that morning's newspapers? As for pummeling (beating someone, as with fists) earthquakes don't pummel people. People pummel people.

What would Shakespeare say about all that fudging and fiddling with facts? Well, if he were still alive, he'd be very tired. But he might quote Polonius's advice to Laertes in Hamlet:

“This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”