Radio programming consultants preach about making news copy "conversational" and "immediate", that is, make it sound like you are only talking to one person and give the impression of urgency. The idea is to forge an intimate bond with the listener. Gone are the days that news writers relied on the inverted pyramid and AP style. When done correctly, the results are amazing; when done poorly, you get something like today's example.
Consider today's example: If all you heard was the first line, you would assume that an arrest was happening right now, in real time.
But, if you read the second paragraph it becomes clear that the arrest happened the night before, so the copy should read "was arrested".
Just another example of style over substance, lip gloss over talent.
And so it goes....
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