@WhoGal: That's been the trend since the 1990s. I say that because when I was in college and worked at the weekly college *and* local newspapers, standards and command of the language was something being lamented as "slipping away" by the old salts and some of the younger, newer staff. That said, most staff said it was okay, that it made the news more relatable that it was "more casual" and "less elitist". In the Mass Comm Department, too, there was concern from a few profs, but the general...
@thedisasterautist that’s truly shocking.
@WhoGal: "Creeping Incrementalism" is the term, I believe. It's really just slow erosion of standards via casual, though sometimes willful disregard of standards. That's my take on it anyway.
"We do such a good job that we can let this little thing slide. No problem."
"Well, we let that go last time, and nobody noticed or cared. Must not be that important. Don't worry about it from here on out. One less thing, right?"
"Since we're not bothering what they, we can drop that and that, too."
And so on and so on, until...
"I don't know what happened, folks. How did we get here? I bet the people that don't like us did this!"
@WhoGal: ...reaction within the profession was "It can't be *that* bad" and "What's the worst that can happen?" Then there was the classic I've seen/read everywhere:
"Nobody will let it get *that* bad."