SMM Cliches

Avoid cliches: stock phrases that are not your own and are usually inaccurate. 'Youths' are not always 'angry'; 'crowds' are not always 'mammoth'; political campaigns or protesters only 'storm' cities, buildings or areas if they do so in large numbers using violence; police forces do not 'swing into action'.

It is absurd to write 'no fewer than' every time a number of dead is cited, eg. 'No fewer than five people were killed'.

 Please avoid words or phrases that are idiosyncratic to a culture, even when the readership is largely from that culture, eg: 'The corpses were deposited at the morgue.'

The word 'corpse' sounds brutal and heartless in this context to most ears in the English-speaking community. And by any existing definition of 'deposit', the verb in this context is inaccurate.

Reporting language should aim for transparency rather than draw attention to itself.