Seven Deadly Media Cliches

What are the most over-used media cliches?

Only time will tell, or maybe an intrepid journo who is hunting them down.

From the Australian:

JOURNALIST Chris Pash has spent nine years scouring newspapers and websites to find the media's favourite hackneyed phrases.

And at the end of the day he has this to say: journalists must never again write the words "at the end of the day".

In the past 15 months alone, Pash says the term appeared in 21,268 articles carried by Dow Jones Factiva, a global database that collects the output of about 25,000 major newspapers, magazines, newswires and other written news sources.

"I suspect at this point in history it is the most popular cliche in journalism globally," he says. "It is all-pervasive."

The seven most overused cliches:

1. At the end of the day

2. Split second

3. About face

4. Unsung heroes

5. Outpouring of support

6. Last-ditch effort

7. Concerned residents

I have never used any of those. I swear.

For journalism, this could be a blessing in disguise, a perfect storm of candor, and I'm cautiously optimistic that the list will serve as a cautionary tale for third-rate hacks and scribblers, such as myself.

But I fear, for some, spirits may be dampened, at the end of the day.