Article: “ABC’s Muir Seems to Think Using ‘Tonight’ Works Muiracles”
Mervin Block
Dear Friend,
I’m writing this to you tonight. It isn't really night as I write this note, but I’m trying a technique used by some broadcast newswriters in the belief that using “tonight” makes their scripts newsier. Those writers seem to think that if one “tonight” is good, a string of “tonight”s is far better.
A leading practitioner of using “tonight” as much as possible—accurate or not—is David Muir of ABC News, the anchor of Sunday's "World News." Apparently, he thinks his frequent injection of “tonight” in scripts makes his newscast stronger.
I examined one recent night’s worth of his “tonight”s, then wrote an article, “ABC’s Muir Seems to Think Using ‘Tonight’ Works Muiracles.”
You can read the article at http://www.mervinblock.com/?q=node/102.
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Mervin Block
Television Newswriting Workshop