One of the best ways to tighten a copy is to do away with redundant words. Many redundancies crop up in copies because of a reporter or a sub-editor's desire to add colour to a story. This Reuters creed provides a glaring example (Two former ministers arrested over Kashmir sex scandal; Reuters; June 20, 2006):
An angry mob ransacked the house of a woman suspected of running the sex ring in Srinagar, the state's summer capital, soon after it broke in April. The woman and three others were detained by police for questioning after pornographic videos and video clips on mobile phones showing nude Kashmiri girls were circulated in Kashmir.
Well, a mob is always angry; there are no peaceful mobs. When the adjective that one is using to qualify a noun is embedded in the latter itself, the use of the adjective is redundant. The Kashmir sex scandal saw others talking about angry mobs too (J&K ex-Advocate-Gen surrenders; The Tribune; June 21, 2006):
Mr Raman Mattoo, 45, who is representing Habbakadal constituency here was a Minister of State for Industries and Commerce in the Mufti government. It was in this constituency that the kingpin Ms Sabina’s house was targeted by an angry mob in Habbakadal on May 5 after the sex scandal was unearthed.
