"It's not easy to write simple and clear documents"

Today's episode of NPR's "Morning Edition" featured a story on the Center for Plain Language and its awards for the most convoluted writing in business and government documents. The online version of the story includes links to and critiques of the award "winners." More importantly, the story ends with one of the contest judges, cartoonist David Malki, speaking to the increasingly important role that professional writers will play in improving the quality of communication between government agencies and businesses and their publics: "It's not easy to write simple and clear documents, especially if they tackle complicated subjects. However, there are a lot of freelance writers who need some work, and they could easily be hired." WVU's Professional Writing and Editing program, of course, prepares both undergraduate and M.A.-level students for just this type of work.