Allege Allegations Allegedly Alleged

Another news story in the electronic media today was loaded with the word 'allege' (along with it's grammatical cousins). Many neophyte news writers are told by their supervisors that the use of the word insulates them from any liability should the person named in the news story threaten legal action for defamation, libel and/or slander. The dirty little secret is that this is not a magic word and it's misuse can actually make matters worse. 
So, as a public service, for the boys and girls rewriting those police press releases into hard-hitting 'news copy', the Maven respectfully offers this direction from the AP Style Book and Libel Manual: 

Former Indiana University Basketball coach Bob Knight used to torture sports writers with this quote: "Most of us learn to write in the second grade. Some of us move on to accomplish greater things". 
What does this have to do with 'allege'? Nothing, really. The Maven just likes the quotation.