After two political conventions I was ready to throw a chair into the television. I resisted only because I knew it
would only mean I’d have to by a new television, I wouldn’t actually be harming the commentators and pundits.
Was I annoyed by their pro-Obama stance? Yes, but that wasn’t what made me so enraged. No, I was amazed by how many
people don’t know the difference between a podium and a lectern.
I would think that when students at journalism school are not learning the finer points of repeating Democrat talking
points they might spend a minute or two on the proper use of the English language – but perhaps I expect too much of
young people who got through liberal (and I do mean liberal) arts colleges where learning about every culture but one’s
own is the rule and not the exception. Still, I would like to think that there are one or two schools out there that don’t
pander to future Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermanns by expecting little of them. (Let me venture a guess that Hillsdale
College is one that still has reasonable standards that must be met before
one can receive a degree.)
For those of you who haven’t yet pulled out your dictionaries – or who don’t own one – a podium is something you stand on, while
a lectern is something you stand behind.
The lectern is the stand (usually wooden) with the slanted top on which the
speaker’s notes are placed while he gives his speech, lecture, or address. The podium is the raised platform on which
the lectern is placed.
No one at CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News seems to know the difference, as both political conventions were full
of references to speakers “approaching the podium” when they were, in fact, already walking across it. I never heard the word lectern used once, but I certainly heard
the word podium misused quite a bit. Granted, this isn’t a life-threatening
issue, but Edwin Newman would be rolling over in his grave if he were dead.
At any rate, I’d appreciate it if someone who has contacts in the media would please advise the talking heads
on television that a lectern is not a podium. And while I’m at it, may
I suggest that Governor Palin learn how to pronounce nuclear. I’m not sure she needs to follow in the Jimmy Carter or
George W. Bush footsteps that closely.
Don Fredrick
September 15, 2008
Copyright 2008, Don Fredrick
