Anita Lee – It’s not an ‘oil spill’ it’s an oil gusher
BILOXI, Miss. — Media consumers want to know why news outlets call the gusher in the Gulf an oil spill.
Oil spill fits in a headline or sound bite, but fails to capture what started April 20 in the Gulf and how life is changing as a result.
How do we quantify the damage to animals, humans and the ocean from oil that pulses every second, like a living being, from the Deepwater Horizon’s broken wellhead?
A sociologist who studies disaster, a grammarian, a Coast mayor, a Tulane University energy professor and a BP representative offered their thoughts.
“Catastrophe is a word that springs instantly to mind,” said wordsmith James J. Kilpatrick, a retired journalist who lives in the Washington area and previously authored a popular syndicated column, “The Writer’s Art.”
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/20/1691465/why-dont-news-outlets-call-bps.html#ixzz0raoiScyT
Magnolia Tribune
