I don't how many times non-journalism students in my classes complained that using the rules of writing for journalists is unfair and not necessary for them.
My basic response is that writing is meant to communicate. And one cannot communicate well unless one is concise and precise.
To me "concise and precise" means stripping away the passive voice structure, eliminated adverbs and writing in short declarative sentences. This has nothing to do with only journalism but has everything to do with good writing.
And now the U.S. government — that bastion of the run-on sentence, the passive voice and the obscure wording — has decided to join the ranks of the good writing crowd thanks to the new Plain Writing Act.
Say what you mean: Government pushing plain English For example:
BEFORE A creditor extending mortgage credit subject to §226.32 shall not … extend credit subject to §226.32 to a consumer based on the value of the consumer's collateral without regard to the consumer's repayment ability as of consummation, including the consumer's current and reasonably expected income, employment, assets other than the collateral, current obligations, and mortgage-related obligations.
AFTER Before providing a mortgage, a bank or other lender must verify that the borrower has sufficient income to repay the loan.
In class after class I told my students that using simple words and simple sentences does NOT mean they are "dumbing" down their writing. Rather, I would say, they are making their writing clear.
How many of my non-journalism students understood what I was talking about, I am not sure. By the end of the terms, they seemed to have taken it all to heart when they turned in their writing assignments. What they did once the class was over, I don't know.