What does “put it in English” mean in broadcasting context?

Solution 1:

The more common way of expressing this idiom is to say, "put it in plain English," as opposed to just "put it in English." There is also another common expression, "Can you put that in English, please?", which is used to ask a speaker to restate what they've said in simpler, clearer language.

Mr. Clement seems to have conflated these two phrases when he said, "put it in English," and that he essentially meant "put it in plain English."

This fits the context, since Arnon does not have experience speaking simply and clearly to an audience, whereas Chris does.

Here are the Wikipedia entry on Plain English and the Free Dictionary explanation of the idiom in plain English.

Solution 2:

Here are the keys:

• “The leader of the decision team, Arnon Mishkin”
• “Arnon doesn’t do TV very often”
• “Chris — because he’s on TV every day — to put it in English.”

Arnon is a stats guy, an inside guy, and probably a corporate guy. He ordinarily speaks and writes to his peers in a jargon-ridden polysyllabic noun-heavy technical-corporate dialect distinct from ordinary conversation. He's not used to communicating with the public in language they understand and respond to, and he doesn't understand how to work the camera.

So the team brings in Chris, who is used to communicating with the public and has extensive on-camera experience and an established on-camera presence. Chris “puts it in English” which the public will understand and respond to.

Arnon speaks about matters in his special field using an English understood by a small population of professionals. Chris translates that into an English understood by just about anybody over 12 years old.

Solution 3:

Your hunch is correct: it means to speak plainly, or to put it into words. It just happens to mention English because that is the language they happen to be speaking.

Solution 4:

There's an absence of the word "plain" to make it more sarcastic than a more neutral phrase. The chosen Chris will 'translate' other people's words into English. There are other choices of phrases for describing Chris' TV appearance charm or for speaking plainly. The exact wording used is a stab at the others for speaking corporate speak that is not understandable as English.