(The first in an occasional series of Off Wight rants on communication-related issues)

There was a time when TV newsreaders did just that: read the news. Sat alone at a desk, a sheaf of paper in their hands, they did what they had to do, bade us farewell, shuffled their papers and were on their way.

How times change. Now we have the 'standing news' and newsreaders on national TV have become 'news anchors'. This means they have to be on their feet for much of the broadcast, striking poses in various parts of their unnecessarily large studio. Often they deliver their lines in front of 'helpful' graphics that pop up on inexplicably huge screens behind them.

Ah yes, those graphics. What is that all about? The presenters read out their lines from the autocue and behind them certain supposedly 'key' words appear on the big screen. It's really not very helpful. Do they think we won't be able to understand the spoken words without seeing them writ very large and in colour? Or do they think our attention spans are so tiny that we could not possibly concentrate on a human face speaking without having something else happening in the background to add interest?

What it boils down to, ultimately, is a triumph of style over substance, of presentation over content. The powers that be are so concerned that their news broadcasts appear slick and professional that they are throwing every distracting presentational trick in the book at them, however inappropriate, with the result that the important part of the news - what has happened in the world - is buried.

A similar thing happens with the written word, particularly in the world of business and management. Meaning is being lost, buried by the bullet-pointed conventions of a colourless Orwellian consultant-speak. Take the Isle of Wight Council's 'Change Management Plan', for example. It runs to 72 pages and looks 'professional', with lots of headings and sub-sections. But just you try to read it. A section on the staff reads:

"The degree to which the employees meet the Council's core competencies will be a key indicator as to the preparedness and adaptability of the Council to meet future change needs."

They are probably just saying they need the right people for the job. It's an obvious point, they know it's an obvious point, so it is put through the management-speak mill to make it sound clever, and comes out horribly mangled.

But the IoW Council is not alone. Across the land, armies of managers and consultants are foisting this stuff on us, producing documents that are not so much meant to be read as weighed, documents that state the bleedin' obvious using 30 words where five would do.

Whether in print or on TV, it's time for a return to meaning. Drop the visual gimmicks, drop the redundant verbiage, and tell it like it is. We won't think less of you for doing so.