Words of the news (Swiss Press Online 2013, by Joël Burri) - Swiss Press Award
Www.mots.24heures.ch
Joël Burri
This summer, a reader sent an email following the publication of a news story. He asked what the expression "remis à la justice" (handed over to justice) meant, a term often used in this type of news. This gave rise to the idea of creating a sort of interactive lexicon for 24heures.ch: using a form, readers can report obscure words or expressions they see appearing in our pages. I supplement these suggestions by tracking down flagrant instances of insider vocabulary in the media. Then I seek out experts and ask them to define this jargon in short videos. Judges, spokespersons, researchers, and elected officials have already engaged in this exercise. With a few lines of JavaScript, I created an interface allowing readers to display "words in the news" either chronologically, alphabetically, or by theme. It is also possible to link to a particular word or theme from another article. Launched in early October, the project now contains 31 definitions, and it is gradually expanding. Thus, by early 2013, sports vocabulary and journalistic dialect should be included in this lexicon. Economic definitions should also be added. I am currently the only journalist involved in this project, but it is not impossible that my colleagues will be called upon to contribute in the future.
