Review of Newspeak
Again, completely different than the last two reviews is Newspeak, a e-mail-zine pointing out corporate/political doublethink in the news.
E-zine Description: (from the site) Celebrating cutting edge advances in the Doublethink of the 90's. A monthly satirical e-zine celebrating the Orwellian face of the 1990's with cutting edge advances in the art of doublespeak carefully scavenged from the back pages of our finer newspapers.
Frequency of Publication: Monthly
Subscription Instructions:
Address: [email protected]
Subject: subscribe
Body: a nice note telling Wayne that you'd love to read Newspeak every month.
WWW location: http://www.scn.org/newspeak/
Contact Information:
Wayne Grytting
e-mail - [email protected]
Cost: Free
Review
It truly is amazing the kind of BS that any group can seem to get past the press filter nowadays. The weirdest things are taken for granted and important company press releases are reprinted verbatim without a fact check to be found. American Newspeak, "Allegedly Written by Wayne Grytting" is a light in the darkness that is the appropriation of American media by the big, the little and the mean corporations of the U.S.
Well maybe things aren't that bad, but Wayne's monthly (previously bi-weekly) column is filled with capsulized exposures of newspeak. Newspeak is defined as - "... A term in the language at large for misleading (especially political) jargon ..." and includes terms like "rightsizing", "involuntary offer" or "acting in a manner not usual for law - abiding individuals". Always provoking, informing and entertaining, Wayne has been putting this newsletter out for over 2 years (based on an issue count of 100). An excellent subscription choice for anyone who views themselves a critical thinker.
Rating:
Content - 5
Excellent items show up in this newsletter, things that I may have missed while reading the paper. The ones that I have seen before are still presented in a way that makes you think twice about what the organization mentioned is trying pull with its "avante garde" use of the English language.
Five to 12 items are covered in each issue, each from generally reliable sources (all of which are cited). Each item quickly but succinctly takes you through Wayne's view of the article and situation.
Writing Quality/Style - 4
Casually written, and liberally peppered with quotation marks. Easy to read and very entertaining without hiding the great cynical in-your-face lines.
Regularity - 4
Every month. Used to be out every two weeks, but it seems that either things are getting better in the press, Wayne is getting too cynical to put out weekly issues, or he's got other things on his plate right now.
Extras - 4
Since this one comes directly from Wayne's e-mail address it's easy enough to contact him about subscribing, unsubscribing or ranting. He always thanks those readers that have pointed out news items that he should look at. Clean, easy to follow layout.
Overall - 5
The content alone makes this one a winner. I quite enjoy this newsletter. Even when I think Wayne might have totally missed the mark (almost never), he at the very least forces to you to view a side of the BS pile that might have missed due to the smell. Well worth the subscription.
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