I hesitate to do it again, but Stephen Baker is among my "must read blogs" and Stephen's recent posts got me thinking today. He has been posting quite a bit recently on Jargon, as are other reporters: http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/blogspotting/archives/2005/11/blogs_breed_jar.html
Stephen's conversations on jargon starts with a post denouncing jargon, followed by a post mentioning that blogs breed jargon, followed by a third which made me laugh about jargon in an industry that....well, I'll just let you find that entry on your own....
The point is that there is a vast difference between jargon and use of technical phrases. It's OK for example, to develop a pitch or write a press release targeted to a security reporter mentioning some widely-used acronyms such as DVR. Where phrases get termed as "jargon" is when:
1) This technical information is sent to someone outside the target audience who would undestand it
Or:
2) When the pitch (or other various written materials) never address the core questions: What is this and why do I (or my readers) care?
Media eventually becomes niche; TV, newspapers, magazines....and blogs are no different. Blog communities will get more niche and PR people will become smarter about who they're targeting and how.
We can only hope that if people don't finally fix the second part of jargon (never addressing the what and why simply) they'll hopefully figure out the first by addressing thier targets a bit better as the blogosphere becomes more niche.
It all boils down to the most simple thought in PR or Marketing in general: KNOW your audience and speak clearly!