Barry Gibson: Job advert's 'key driver' is gobbledook

Jun 24 2009 By Barry Gibson

ONE of the great joys of being a newspaper reporter is that it forces you to become a disciplined writer.

You have to be concise to fit as much information as possible into a short piece. So, while the police may say a suspect "made off on foot" to a reporter, he merely "ran off".

It’s great to be tested all the time, to know you have a story which could run to 1,000 words but which you have to tell in 300.

However, there are times when the limits of newspaper reporting can be frustrating.

I felt this way about Monday’s story of the £119,000-a-year job at Kirklees Council which has been advertised in a language which looks vaguely like English.

The job advert for the council’s new director of organisation development is full of hideous jargon like "people effective" and "using information proportionately".