Making TV News Seem More...Newsy

It's a tough job, making broadcasts filled with canned fluff and hours-old taped packages seem up-to-date. So, starting way back in the nineties, I chronicled the practice at NBC NIghtly News of inserting the word "tonight" into the copy more than a dozen times per broadcast. My theory: it made the newscast seem more newsy. Now comes Mervin Block (hat tip: TV Newser), who deconstructs a recent Anderson Cooper script to find similar topical weaseling afoot. At this moment, this is what's going on, tonight.