I used to work at KMBC-TV many years ago, writing short commercials for the evening newscast. Most of what I did promoted the news for later in the day during which the spot aired. A reporter of news anchor would read my copy live. Most days I wrote four or five of these, and spent the rest of my time working on longer-term projects like promoting news series, which were stories that would stretch over two or three nights to keep viewers hooked. They don't do those kinds of stories anymore, preferring to focus on investigative stories and consumer protection stuff.

I'm sure you've seen the 30-second commercials that air right after your favorite 9:00 pm show finishes. They're called "teases," and usually involve the anchor talking about what stories are coming up next. The producer of the newscast writes these, since the promotion people work normal business hours and the producers have to work crazy schedules to get the newscast written and on the air. Last night on WDAF in Kansas City, they had one of these spots that came on right after the conclusion of 24.

The anchor said, "Two area men duke it out with swords." Duke it out with swords? That's just bad copy. Not only did the person employ a cliche, but he or she used it improperly. All right, no biggie, right. A petty complaint. But then it got worse. Then the newscast started and the anchor said, "An area man was attacked, but it's what he was attacked by that has people talking tonight." Well, we already know what he was attacked by, another area man. He was not attacked by a sword. He was attacked with a sword. How embarrassing for the producer. I sent them an email and asked for the person who wrote that copy so I could ridicule them. I have not yet heard back.