Vocabulary Choices

You are a newspaper editor who supports the opposition to Conservative M.P. Humphrey Humphrey.

Vocabulary Choices:
HUMPHREY DISCOUNTS ALLEGATIONS
or
"DRUG TALK ALL LIES," SNARLS HUMPHREY
 
OTTAWA (UBI) Conservative M.P./warhorse and liquor baron/distillery executive Humphrey Humphrey denounced/denied today that reports/allegations implicating/involving him in undercover/subversive drug/dope retailing/peddling
were true/had any basis in fact. Addressing a dinner/blowout for  colleagues/hangers-on at a swank/exclusive Ottawa restaurant, Humphrey angrily denied/calmly refuted swarms of rumours/numerous reports that he and a gang/group of cronies/acquaintances had sneaked/smuggled into the national's capital/Ottawa lethal doses/dangerous amounts of diluted/adulterated ambrosia under cover of dark/at night.

"Such talk is all lies," snarled/said Humphrey, hunched over/seated with a tumbler of booze/an after-dinner cocktail.

Rumour-mongers/sources around Parliament Hill suggest/hint tonight Humphrey's alleged crime/scrape is the subject of Cabinet investigation/talk. Meantime, Bay Street analysts/mandarins note/point to the fact that Humphrey stock has plummeted/fallen in the last two days/suddenly in the face of/as a result of a wave of panic/selling.

Source: Jim Henderson, Mediascan (Toronto:pub, 1976), pp.40-41

Assignment
 You have been given the article on Humphrey by one of your reporters.
 You have the option of choosing from the vocabulary provided.
 What choices in the vocabulary would you make?
 How would you have the story placed in your paper?
 Select the most appropriate headline.
 Explain the reasons for each of your responses. (Remember that you oppose Humphrey.)
 Once you have done this, imagine that you are now supportive of Mr. Humphrey.
 What do you choose to do now?
 What does this exercise tell us about media values?
Source: Indirections, December 1989, p.76.