Came in from lunch and on our mega-screen in the Poynter lobby, MSNBC had a talking head with this caption running at the bottom of the screen. I know TV folks use the term Chyron for such video text inserts; I vote for a new term: footline.
In any case, it said "Delayed Reaction."
At first, I took it literally and waited for something that would explain what reaction was being delayed.
D'Oh. It was wordplay, a punnish reference to the resignation from Congress of former House majority leader Tom DeLay, Texas exterminator turned Washington power broker.
In print, I think I would have gotten the joke and wondered why I was slow on the uptake when Chyron editors were having fun with language. I couldn't hear the audio, which would have provided the context, just as a lead would in a newspaper, or for that matter, a web site.
But I'm burying the lead. If you want an intimate view of the deposed Delay, at 3:10 p.m. today, tune into newly-launched Washington Post radio to hear Peter Perl, who filleted DeLay in a Post magazine profile that revealed him so nakedly that House colleagues couldn't believe DeLay would let a reporter, especially one from the Post, get that close. Peter, who has had a distinguished career at the Post, just did what he always did, even in 1974-75 when he was my first bureau chief at the Manchester (Conn.) Journal Inquirer: All the stuff that most reporters would regale each other with at the bar, Peter put in the paper. He earned the trust of DeLay and other subjects by immersing himself in their worlds, and then reporting what he saw and heard, without fear or favor.
You can hear him deconstruct DeLay @ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/wtwpradio/listen.html
I guarantee it will be worth your time.
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