Maybe you would opt for "No news is not good news". Perhaps, in this technology-driven age, you would prefer "Who, what, when, where, why, Web" or "Got stry — will txt u asap".
These are just a few of the many "six-words mottos for journalism" that were submitted to Roy Peter Clark's contest. Clark, about whom I have written on this blog many times before, is an American journalist I have great admiration for. He is one of the pillars of the venerated Poynter Institute, and author of the hugely useful Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer (a copy is available in the Commits library).
Coming back to the six-word mottos, Clark's contest drew hundreds of entries, from which he created a list of finalists as well as a list of honourable mentions. You can go through both lists here: "Six-Word Journalism Mottos" (the contest was held a while back but I came across the link in my "must-read" file very recently).
And if you want to know who won the contest, go to this post for the complete results, "voting scandal" and all: "Poynter Online now acknowledges that it goofed last Friday by choosing finalists for the six-word motto contest before the deadline for applications had been reached."
PS: If the contest were to be held today, this motto would be my entry:
Engage, entertain, enlighten. Do not frighten.
