For two years and nine months now, My Media English Watch has been the Forum’s pièce de résistance, offering weekly critiques of faulty English grammar and usage in the four major Philippine broadsheets; later, in April of 2011, it expanded its coverage to the news websites of two of the country’s major TV networks. Its objective has been two-fold: to encourage media people to be correct and precise in their use of English in news and feature stories, and to provide Forum members with a continuing stream of topical, real-life lessons in English grammar and usage. As can be seen in the accumulated postings of grammar critiques in this section, the target media outlets had kept the media watch rather busy dissecting all sorts of grammar and usage errors from week to week during the first two years or so. But eventually, perhaps owing to greater grammar awareness engendered by the critiques, the usually sizable stream of errors being committed by the target media outlets steadily diminished until it became just a trickle in recent months.
This week, for the simple reason that the target media outlets are now able to keep themselves practically free of serious grammar and usage errors, I would like to announce that the Forum will no longer be doing its weekly critiques of media English. However, the My Media English Watch section will continue to entertain feedback from Forum members and guests about their personal encounters with bad English in the Philippine print, broadcast, or social media. The section will also maintain its library of accumulated critiques of faulty media grammar and keep it open 24/7 to English-language learners and researchers. (March 11, 2012)
