They're Grounded   

The phrase "on the ground" is a favorite with reporters covering the war in Afghanistan.

Normally grounded reporters on the air, in the air, overseas, undersea--anywhere it seems but with feet planted on mother Earth--have a new pet phrase. It's "on the ground." And they've latched onto it with a vigor we haven't seen since "24/7" or, maybe, "You go girl." For those who haven't flipped on a newscast since last summer, journalists are punctuating reports--mainly war reports--with the phrase, to imbue the ordinary location of things with a bit more drama, a dash more punch. Troops aren't merely in Kandahar, they're on the ground in Kandahar. Notice the extra zing?

The following is an excerpt from a story broadcast in November on ABC News, where, judging from the phrase's abundance, you'd think the reporters were getting paid extra for it: Carole Simpson, anchor:

Tonight ABC News has learned that an American has been killed on the ground in Afghanistan. The man, a CIA contract employee, was in a Northern Alliance fortress when Taliban prisoners rioted. But we start with late reports that waves of American troops are on the ground near the Taliban spiritual capital, Kandahar. ABC's Jim Sciutto is at the Pentagon.

Jim, what's the latest?

Jim Sciutto, reporting:

Carole, Pentagon officials tell ABC News that U.S. Marines are on the ground near Kandahar. They will go in in phases. And within a day, there should be 1,200 to 1,600 U.S. Marines on the ground, again, near the southern Taliban stronghold of Kandahar....

Sciutto: ...U.S. government sources also say that the CIA did have people on the ground in the compound today. Their job, to screen the hundreds of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters imprisoned there....

Sciutto: Pentagon officials say that U.S. special forces on the ground called in air strikes to help put down the rebellion, along with aid of several hundred Northern Alliance reinforcements.

Tonight U.S. officials tell ABC News that the situation on the ground is under control. Northern Alliance commanders claim that hundreds of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters were killed.