Fortune-telling

Beware of telling Reader that something is “going to happen” and always allow for the fact that it might not.

Here are examples involving court stories. With hearings that are still on the go, most papers prefer to round off the day’s report with “the trial continues”. It’s a good idea not to put anything more than that. The following would be dangerous:

The trial continues this afternoon.
(What if the courthouse burns down at lunchtime?)

The trial, before Lord Jeffries, continues.
(What if the judge snuffs it? The trial would have to restart from scratch.)

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