Any journalists with the dubious pleasure of regular contact with government departments is likely to be celebrating after Whitehall issued civil servants with a jargon-busting style guide.
Going forward, journalists liaising with key government PR contacts won’t be forced to combat the range of management-speak buzzwords deployed by policy-making thought leaders.
In a move that is likely to incentivise reporters to foster better relationships with Whitehall comms teams, the Government is slimming down its roster of acceptable terms.
The government drive to deliver a streamlined, robust one-stop shop for authors of its missives can’t come too soon for journalists all too accustomed to wading through apparently meaningless press releases.
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The style guide, which is supposed to apply to all content on the gov.uk website, admitted that the government can “lose trust” by using jargon.
“Often, these words are too general and vague and can lead to misinterpretation or empty meaningless text,” saysthe guide.
Forbidden words include: deliver, dialogue, impact, key, robust, streamline and ring fencing (and a few you may already have spotted earlier on this piece!).
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