Cut and thrust?

Reader question:

Please explain “cut and thrust”, as in “the cut and thrust of journalism”.

My comments:

“Cut” and “thrust”, as verb, represent two rapid movements. To cut is to slice or slash. To thrust is to push and stab.

Cut and thrust are originally words to describe the two most common movements in fencing and sword play. If you’ve ever watched Olympic fencing on TV, you understand this immediately, that cutting and thrusting is what fencing is about.

Yes, as the two most important scoring moves in the game, the cut and the thrust are the reason why this game is so exiting to watch, alongside all the advance and retreat, attacking and counter attacking, the liveliness, the competitiveness, the thrill and excitement.

Hence, metaphorically, when we talk about the cut and thrust of something, we mean to address the exciting and challenging part of it, the quality that makes it different and demanding.

As well as risky and dangerous if you like, considering sword play is a dangerous game to begin with.

Well then, let’s use journalism as an example and find out what “the cut and thrust of journalism” is about. All journalists, those who are worth their salt at any rate understand what this means perfectly, I am sure. For some, the cut and thrust of journalism means rushing to the crime scene or the locale of any breaking news. For others it is the sleeplessness and long hours, what with deadlines to meet and working the night shift. Still for others, it is the challenge as well as moral satisfaction – imagine investigative reporters digging deep to expose a corruption or pollution cover-up.

See? You get the picture. The cut and thrust of journalism refers to its most lively, exciting as well as taxing and demanding part, the part that makes it both exciting and challenging.

All right, let’s read more examples for a better feel of “cut and thrust” as a metaphor:

1. It was not, in the end, good news for Martyn Lewis. The veteran newscaster famed for his dislike of gloomy bulletins, has quit BBC News after turning down a presenting job on the overseas channel, BBC World.

Mr Lewis, 54, who will be edged out of his role as one of a number of presenters of the Six O’Clock News by Huw Edwards when the programme relaunches next month, has failed to agree another role within the corporation.

He will continue to present the Six O’clock News until the relaunch on May 10, but after that, his 13 years as a BBC newscaster will end.

After discovering he was losing his role on the BBC’s early-evening flagship in December, Mr Lewis made no secret of his disappointment but said he would consider his options at the corporation. A spokesman confirmed yesterday that after Mr Lewis turned down the BBC World job, no other position was offered.

Further bad news came with the confirmation that Today’s the Day, the BBC2 news game show that Mr Lewis presents, has been axed. However, his BBC1 series Crime Beat, made by independent production company Mentorn Barraclough Carey, is expected to return.

While his fellow BBC newscasters took exception to his views on ‘too gloomy’ news bulletins, Mr Lewis said he received enormous public support. The BBC even went so far as to launch a ‘good news hour’ on Radio 5 Live.

Mr Lewis was unavailable for comment yesterday, but in a BBC statement he said: ‘I have had 32 fulfilling years in television journalism, during which I have been privileged to be involved in the coverage of many major news stories.

‘The Six O’clock News has a loyal army of viewers. I shall, of course, miss them as well as the cut and thrust of the daily news challenge.’

- And now the bad news for Martyn Lewis, TheGuardian.com, April 22, 1999.

2. It’s early evening and Huw Edwards, the most recognisable of the BBC news presenters, is feverishly working away on his script for the News At Ten.

Senior editors will chip in with suggestions but the final version that appears on the autocue will be written by Edwards.

...

It is said about Edwardes that his popularity as a presenter lies in his common touch and his ability to judge the public mood. In person, he exudes natural warmth and curiosity.

During his time at the BBC, his debonair charm has established him as the housewife’s favourite. He revealed to one journalist that he regularly receives fan mail from adoring females.

‘One woman asked me if I was prepared to read the news in a pair of sawn-off denim shorts that were slightly too short for me. She was from Milton Keynes.’

Not for nothing is he known as the George Clooney of the news department.

‘I’ve heard that said. I’ve been called a lot worse in my time.’

Away from the studio, he keeps fit by running and boxing.

‘I box two or three times a week. It is a good way to get any frustrations out. But I’m never happier than when I’m buried in news.

‘I’m a daily news beast, attuned to the next breaking story, the next deadline.

‘The newsroom is where I come alive. I love the cut and thrust of it. I love the arguments. It would be very odd in a newsroom if we always agreed.

‘Within the team, the debates about what items to run and the order in which they should run often go right to the wire.

‘What happens is that I’ll have my say and the editor will have his say. Then, eventually, we’ll agree that I’m wrong because he’s the boss.’

- ‘I’m often asked what I do between bulletins, as if I just lounge around filing my nails’: Behind-the-scenes at the BBC with Sophie Raworth and Huw Edwards, DailyMail.co.uk, July 19, 2017.

3. Now I know Jeremy Corbyn is a bit of a wimp when it comes to the cut and thrust of politics but blaming him for Brexit is surely a step too far? But that’s just what the BBC has been doing all day.

The BBC, along with some renegade Labour Party members, spent much of its ‘news’ coverage asking why hasn’t Corbyn resigned? Interviewed as he left his home this morning, the BBC reporter shouted at him:

“Most of your shadow cabinet cabinet has resigned! Surely Mister Corbyn your position is now untenable?”

The argument goes as follows: Corbyn was, let us say less than enthusiastic in his support for the Remain camp, which ‘allowed’ those lumpen proletarians who helped elect him, the ones who never vote–that crucial few percent that made the difference–to vote the ‘wrong way’. So if the Establishment despised Corbyn before its debacle of an own goal, they now hate him with a vengeance!

Looking back on the past two days (is that all it’s been?), it’s clear the Establishment was stunned by the result. This is especially true of the state broadcaster, the BBC, which has spent millions of our license money trying to persuade us to vote Remain. How galling eh, not to say embarrassing. All those university degrees in journalism and public relations came to nought.

Hence the vitriolic attacks by the BBC itself, not just the elite that it interviews, on Corbyn. It’s all his fault because he didn’t lead his flock to the slaughter.

Losing the Referendum wasn’t in the plan! This wasn’t meant to happen!

And now, the rest of the political elite have to contend with Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage. It’s all well and good wheeling them out on Question Time but what do you do with a posse of racists, plus some hangovers from Middle England, led by a fat guy who wants Cameron’s job, when they appear to have captured the Tory Party and of course, the government? How embarrassing. In all likelihood, the Tory Party and the Labour Party will split. It’s the end of an era.

- The Brexit “Blame Game”: Bashing Jeremy Corbyn, by William Bowles, GlobalResearch.ca, June 26, 2016.

About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.