They're Quitting, Not Retiring

A strange thing has been happening in the news media for the last few years. It seems nobody in a high-profile position can quit or resign, they now "retire from their position." 

It's all part of a general trend to use softer words to report what has happened.

Retirement?

I shook my head when I read the front-page headline in the Edmonton Journal last Friday – McFee tight-lipped about plans after retirement

I was puzzled. What comes after retirement? The way I look at it, the only thing that comes after retirement is your funeral. I know that sounds harsh, but you work, you retire and then you die in that order.

The whole problem is the words “retire” and “retiring” are now used in the media almost every time a high-profile figure, who’s getting on in years, leaves a job. It seems as though you can no longer quit a job, or resign your position, you now “retire from the position.”

Edmonton’s Police Chief Dale McFee quit his job. He resigned. Why not say it?

The problem is, when somebody like McFee resigns, organizations issue media releases like the Edmonton Police Commission did. The release started with the words “Chief Dale McFee has informed the Edmonton Police Commission of his retirement from the Edmonton Police Service.”

You see, when people in high profile positions quit their jobs, it’s now better to say they’re “retiring from” rather than quitting or resigning. He’s not quitting because he doesn’t like the job anymore, it’s because he’s retiring. That’s what they want you to believe.

The news media takes the bait and says the person has retired from their position, or worse yet, the person is retiring.

Dale McFee has no plans to retire and made that clear at a news conference the next day. He’s simply quitting and will do something else. He no longer likes the job and said so.

Why not report it that way?

Who Truly Retires Now?

A couple of generations ago, people worked for the same company for 40-years and then retired. They didn’t work another day. They started drawing their pensions, travelled more, played with their grandchildren and watched a lot more TV.

Today, that’s rather rare. People who retire, will often work part time, work less, or do something different with reduced hours. It’s not a retirement as we used to know it, it’s a slowing down.

For some reason though, people who leave high-profile positions can never quit or resign, they have to “retire from” the position, or retire. There have been many people over recent years who the media reported were retiring, only to surface weeks later doing something different.

Some retirement.

Softer Words

It’s all part of a general trend in the news media to use softer words, that unfortunately don’t really communicate what actually happened.

Last week the Boston Bruins reported they had “relieved” head coach Jim Montgomery of his duties. Why don’t news releases simply say the coach was fired like they used to? Now they are relieved of their duties.

I often think about how the coach perceives that. I wonder if Montgomery was ‘relieved” to be relieved of his duties? I doubt it.

On Sunday, Montgomery was named coach of the St. Louis Blues, replacing Drew Bannister, who the Blues announced was "relieved" of his duties. Nobody gets fired anymore.

What has been happening in recent years is organizations have been using gentler language to communicate and the news media simply follows along and uses it too.

Police have sent news releases over the last few years stating things like “When officers entered the apartment they found a man deceased.” The media is now using that word too. Why not report in the language most people would use and report when police entered the apartment they found a man dead? Apparently “deceased” has replaced “dead” now. Why?

A few years ago, police started replacing the term “police shooting” with “officer-involved shooting”, so of course the media has bought that line and is now using it too.

I always think to myself, yes the officer was certainly involved in that shooting – he shot the guy.

It’s a police shooting. Call it what it is.

Perhaps at the root of all this is the number of people working in Communications positions has soared in recent years, while the number of journalists has plummeted. The communicators are coming up with new terms to soften the blow of what’s occurred. I get it, but there’s no reason the media needs to play along.

Traffic reporters have been asked not to use the word “accident” anymore because that gives the impression when two vehicles collide it was an accident, when in reality it could have been avoided if people had driven differently. That’s why you hear words like “collision” and “there was a spin out.” I don’t know about you, but when I get home late, I tell my wife it was because of an accident and not a spin out.

I know I sound like an old man who yells at kids to get off his lawn. As a former journalist, please just report that somebody who is leaving their job is quitting or resigning and let the person who is quitting decide how they want to spend the next few years of their life.

Please stop using the R word.