‘Embattled’ and other clichés journalists love to say/print

Ever noticed how often the media describes someone as “embattled”? For instance, if you’ve read or watched a news story recently you know Tony Hayward, the chief executive of BP, is embattled. And Gen. Stanley McChrystal, yeah, he’s definitely embattled. “As soon as anyone has some crisis, my fellow journalists resort to the word ‘embattled,’” Boston Globe blogger Delia Cabe wrote. She shared several more pet words, phrases, and devices upon which journalists rely…