Auxiliary news outlets of The New York Times have reported a grim milestone in the coronavirus pandemic: United States media’s ten millionth use of the term “grim milestone.”
This inventory of the term’s usage is exhaustive, including print, broadcast and online sources. The leader in “grim milestone” usage is also a cable news leader, with its most celebrated anchor the all-media individual champion.
The many fans of this anchor (his name is withheld due to privacy protocols) were shaken to learn he was admitted to New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital last week, passing out after having informed viewers of the latest “grim milestone” a record 34 times in one hour. A reporter covering the story saw the overworked celebrity mumbling “grim milestone” at least seven times while being wheeled into an emergency entrance on a gurney. Noted the reporter, “We absolutely did not add these seven usages to the “grim milestone” total, considering them “off the record.”
In a story arguably twice as newsworthy, news outlets citing Washington Post media surveys are heralding the twenty millionth use of the term “peaceful protest” in news reports. This landmark in reporting was produced by one more night of peaceful protest in Portland, Oregon, this protest again coinciding with a number of destroyed businesses, conventional arson and looting, and an apparently small number of police officers who might have experienced minor injuries.