Since when is "Diss" acceptable vocabulary for journalists?

I guess I missed the memo. Apparently, the word "Diss" is now proper English for use in news articles. In the past two weeks, I have seen three instances where the word was used. Twice in the headlines.

Don't get me wrong, I use slang, and I use it quite often. And, I've been known to curse a bit too. That said, I expect news organizations to be held to a higher stanard when it comes to language.

All three instances came from Fox news, or Rupert Murdoch owned organizations. FoxNews has always been known as the conservative channel. The company where Bill O'Reilly calls out Ludacris for his lyrics, and there is an uproar about the "war on Christmas" is the same one that has zero standards for the integrity of the language they use.

In a review of the movie Cloverfield, Roger Friedman says that "Cloverfield also inadvertently disses New York for what happened on Sept. 11, 2001". Really? Oh snap!

Next up, Mosheh Oinounou (say that five times fast, or even just once) wrote an article entitled "Giuliani disses Green Bay Packers fan". Granted, this one is supposed to be a Fox Producers blog, but it reads like any other article on the Fox News site. The gist of the article being that Giuliani wouldn't sign a Green Bay hat for a Packers fan. The guy was a real dick about it too. "Sign it now!" he demanded. The content of the article is besides the point. I am more concerned with all this dissing that is going on. Perhaps this dissing is why Giuliani lost? He just dissed that Packers fan! Oh no he di'n't! He just got served.

The third and final culprit is the cover of Monday's New York Post. "Furor at latest Diss of Obama". Was there no other way to phrase this? Surely a professional writer at a prestigious newspaper such as the NY Post could write a better headline. One which uses proper English. Maybe one where they do that clever thing they do where they combine the two names, like Brangelina or Bennifer, and call him "Billary". Oh that would be a hoot. How about something like "Bill's latest insult of Barack is an OBAMANATION". Anything would be better than "Diss".

Side Note: See the top headline on that issue of the Post? Who's Super Sexy? ie: Who is cuter, Tom Brady or Eli Manning. Is this a newspaper or the January issue of Tiger Beat? You've got to be kidding me. I know the Super Bowl is a big deal, especially with an underdog New York team in the mix, against an undefeated Pats. But there is a huge civil war in Kenya. We are still at war in Iraq. And the "Who is sexier?" story is more important than those? I hope tomorrow's cover story is about what kind of handbag Gisele Bundchen will be carrying to the big game.