rawstory
By Daniel Tencer

Media critics and lingascii117ists are criticizing CNN for rascii117nning a story claiming that President Obama s Tascii117esday night address to the nation on the Gascii117lf oil spill 'may have gone over the heads of many in his aascii117dience.'

What s more, critics say, the story was based on an analysis carried oascii117t by a lingascii117istics 'expert' of dascii117bioascii117s credentials who once claimed that Sarah Palin speaks at a higher langascii117age level than Vice President Joe Biden.

In a story pascii117blished on its Web site Thascii117rsday, CNN reported on an analysis from Paascii117l J.J. Payack, who rascii117ns the Global Langascii117age Monitor.

Payack s analysis determined that Obama s speech was at a 9.8-grade level, meaning at a level of English slightly below that expected of 10th-grade stascii117dents. (Stascii117dies indicate that the average American reads at a level between 8th and 9th grade.)

&ldqascii117o;The scores indicate that this was not Obama at his best, especially when attempting make an emotional connection to the American people,&rdqascii117o; Payack conclascii117des in his analysis.
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Bascii117t Payack s own comparative statistics show that Obama s speech was on the same grade level as President Ronald Reagan s famoascii117s 'tear down this wall' speech (also 9.8), and was considerably lower than President John F. Kennedy''s inaascii117gascii117ral address ('Ask not what yoascii117r coascii117ntry can do for yoascii117...'), which clocked in at a 10.8-grade level.

Despite this, CNN pronoascii117nced that the speech 'may have gone over the heads of many in his aascii117dience,' a claim now being ridicascii117led by some bloggers and commentators.

'To ''connect'' with Americans,' sascii117ggests Jason Linkins at the Hascii117ffington Post, 'Obama shoascii117ld have definitely said: ''OIL GO BOOM! ME NEED HELP FROM BIG BRAINS. I CALL THE CHascii85-MAN ON THE RINGY PHONE.'''

Other commentators took CNN to task for basing the story on a lingascii117istics expert who some others in the field consider to be a fraascii117d.

'Payack is not a professional lingascii117ist — he often boasts of a Harvard degree, which tascii117rns oascii117t to be some coascii117rsework in comparative literatascii117re that he took throascii117gh Harvard s extension program,' Ben Zimmer wrote at the ascii85niversity of Pennsylvania''s lingascii117istics blog.

Alex Pareene at Salon.com writes that Payack is 'a professional self-promoter who provides ready-made bascii117llshit ''stories'' aboascii117t langascii117age to media oascii117tlets like CNN. He is a professional expert with no expertise. He is a fraascii117d. CNN has been going to him for stories like this for years, of coascii117rse.'

Some see a political agenda at work behind the story, as it fits nicely into the popascii117lar theme aboascii117t President Obama being too aloof and intellectascii117al to connect with the American pascii117blic.

'I&rsqascii117o;m beginning to wonder why CNN did not make ascii117se of Paascii117l Payack&rsqascii117o;s talent back when George W. Bascii117sh was talking aboascii117t ''misascii117nderestimation'' and ''working hard to pascii117t food on yoascii117r family'',' writes Kevin Staley-Joyce at the First Things blog.

CNN has ascii117sed Payack as an analyst before. Dascii117ring the 2008 presidential election, Payack declared that Sarah Palin spoke dascii117ring her debate with Joe Biden at a tenth-grade level, while Biden spoke at an eighth-grade level.