Beth Hughes
Final
project
National
Fellowship for Copy Editors
University
of North Carolina
Spring
semester 1999
Style matters: What AP isn't telling you
It's all
a matter of style.
A story
in the New York Times said: "The President said he had consoled
officials in Colorado and had spoken with Representative Carolyn McCarthy, the
Long Island Democrat whose husband was one of several people shot to death by a
gunman on a Long Island Rail Road train in 1993."
In the
same story moved by the New York Times News Service, a few stylistic changes
were made: "The president said he had consoled officials in Colorado and
had spoken with Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., whose husband was one of several
people shot to death by a gunman on a Long Island Rail Road train in
1993."
Most copy
editors will recognize that the news service essentially took New York Times copy and re-edited it to
conform to Associated Press style. Why? Because most of the newspapers that
constitute the New York Times News Service's clients use AP style, explained
the news service's day editor, Gary McCardell.
While the
news service changes the Times' style on such things as courtesy titles,
capitalization and political affiliation, McCardell is quick to point out that
the news service does not change copy to AP style when "it has to do with
what we regard as the voice of the New
York Times."
"The
news service will retain anything that encourages clarity and ease of
understanding," he said.
Nonetheless,
that changes are made at all speaks to how widely used AP style is -- and how
heavily many newspapers rely on it for guidance on matters of style.
"It's the standard of the industry," said William G. Connolly,
a senior editor at the New York Times.
Yet
newspapers that follow AP style often bolster their house stylebooks with
entries that are neither local nor regional because the Associated Press
Stylebook doesn't offer them guidance on those issues.
A style
survey
In an
informal survey of copy desks at more than 100 newspapers, ranging in
circulation from about 5,500 to more than 1.7 million, 70 percent said they
follow AP style. All but a handful of those respondents said they also have a
local stylebook.
More than
20 percent said they have a comprehensive house stylebook but added words to
the effect that it "is based on AP,"
"incorporates a lot of AP," "is heavily steeped in
AP" or "is not too dissimilar from AP."
Among the
newspapers that don't use AP style are five of the nation's top six, ranked by
daily circulation: the Wall Street
Journal, the New York Times, the Washington
Post, the Los Angeles Times and the New
York Daily News. Among the others that don't use AP are the Boston Globe, the Detroit Free Press and the Providence
Journal.
The New York Times, however, will be moving
closer to AP style with the publication of its new stylebook this year.
Connolly, who has been working on the project for the past three years, noted
that one of the newspaper's challenges is to train newcomers -- most of whom
are familiar with AP style. In working on the revision, he considered: "Is
there a good reason to deviate, or should we go along with the rest of the
world?"
Connolly
said the Times will soon follow AP --
"and everyone else" -- on ordinal numbers (22nd instead of 22d), on
the use of lowercase for a.m. and p.m., on the abbreviation of lieutenant (Lt.
instead of Lieut.), and on the use of lowercase for official titles when they
stand alone.
But
because one function of style is to reinforce the personality of a publication,
it was decided to keep things that are "uniquely and quirkily the New York Times," Connolly said. For
instance, he said, the Times will
still abbreviate far less than AP does because of a belief that it makes for
easier reading. The Times will also continue to use courtesy titles for men and
women, discourage the use of contractions except in quotes and keep other
grammatical niceties, he said.
The New
York Times Manual of Style and Usage had been the basis of the Charlotte Observer's house style before
it was switched to AP in 1995. Roger Mikeal, the Observer's night copy
desk team leader, said that in reorganizing the newspaper's stylebook, he came
to the realization that it didn't make sense for newly hired copy editors to
spend six months learning "a Byzantine system" when they already knew
AP.
In
addition, he said, most wire stories follow AP style -- including copy from the
Knight Ridder Washington bureau -- so the copy desk saves time when it does not
have to make a multiplicity of minor changes.
Editors
at several newspapers said their local stylebooks have few exceptions to AP for
that reason. "We try not to conflict too much so as not to complicate our
lives," said Brooks Dareff, the copy desk chief at the Herald-Sun in Durham, N.C.
The Miami Herald has its own comprehensive stylebook, but "with the use of
more and more wire copy, we try to keep some of AP style," said Jeff
Kleinman, the A section copy desk chief. "Otherwise, it's making a lot of
work for copy editors and wire editors."
But not
every newspaper puts that value on the ease or usefulness of following AP
style.
Alexander
B. Cruden, chief editor of the copy desks at the Detroit Free Press, said the newspaper has not moved toward AP
style. But, he added, "it doesn't diverge from it that much."
And Kay
Mallett, the news editor at the Denver
Post, said the newspaper is "ditching AP" and is in the process
of creating a new stylebook based on an amalgam of the New York Times' and the Los
Angeles Times' stylebooks and the Post's
local stylebook. Mallett said the decision was made because the Post
"tends to run exotic wires, and AP was gumming up the
works."
'The
journalist's bible'
Referred
to on AP's Web site as "the journalist's bible," the Associated Press
Stylebook and Libel Manual has been a staple of newsrooms and journalism classrooms since its first printing in
1977. Now updated annually, the stylebook will be in its 34th edition this
year.
Norm
Goldstein, the stylebook's editor for about a dozen years, said he receives
suggestions for additions and revisions from AP staff members, editors and
reporters, journalism instructors and students, readers ("now that they've
found our Web site") and organizations making their case to be included or
identified in a distinctive way.
Goldstein
described decisions on what to add, delete or change in the stylebook as
"cooperative."
Each
year, Goldstein compiles a list of suggestions for revisions and forwards it to
the AP staff members who handle copy the most. "It's kind of a committee
decision," he said, adding that in the rare case of a major dispute, the
executive editor or the president of the Associated Press has the last word.
There is
ground on which the AP Stylebook does not tread. The stylebook, for example,
has no entry on "abortion," despite widespread coverage of the issue
and a host of thorny issues of terminology. Goldstein said that an entry has
been considered several times but that he and his colleagues decided to leave
any ruling on the matter to the individual newspapers.
Generally
on controversial issues -- in which it might be considered more of an editorial
question than a style question -- the
AP's guidance to newspapers is to be as specific as possible and avoid weighted
labels, Goldstein said.
Goldstein
said that he always encourages newspapers to produce their own stylebooks.
"We're looking at it from the national point of view," he
said. "They're better able to address local questions."
Decisions,
decisions
In
determining house style, several newspapers favor the "pseudo-democratic
process" of a stylebook committee.
At the St. Petersburg Times, a seven-member
committee has been meeting weekly for two years to revise the paper's 1992
stylebook, said its chairman, Daniel Puckett, a wire desk copy editor. The
committee, which for the most part is made up of copy editors ("the only
ones who seemed interested"), has been reviewing the stylebooks of 15 to
20 major newspapers as it works to complete the revision next year, Puckett
said.
If
decisions on style are required in the meantime, he said, the committee gets
the approval of the managing editor and the executive editor before sending a
message to the staff.
Pam
Nelson, the day news editor at the News
& Observer in Raleigh, N.C., said the newspaper used a stylebook
committee about five years ago for its last big revision. But now if someone
proposes a change or a style issue comes up, she will usually be the one, after
some deliberation, to make the call.
Karen D.
Cater, chief of copy desks at the Seattle
Times, said she gave up on stylebook committees years ago because "it
took too long to get anything done." When style matters arise, she said
that she might ask the opinion of other department chiefs or sometimes the
slots before making a ruling, which will then be sent out to the newsroom by
electronic message.
The Detroit Free Press has used a stylebook committee for previous
revisions, but it did not this year. Cruden
said he produced a draft incorporating issues that had risen since the
previous update in 1995, and he also surveyed the staff on several style questions,
such as whether to use postal abbreviations; whether to use Inc., Co., Ltd. and
Corp. with company names; and whether to capitalize "Games" (for the
Olympics) and "Cup" (for the Stanley Cup) on second reference. In
reporting the style survey results, Cruden told the staff: "As best I can,
I'll incorporate the majority views into the draft for the next stylebook, and
put the whole thing before you soon."
After
considering staff comments on the draft, Cruden revised it and ran sensitive
portions past the newspaper's top editors. In the finished stylebook, an
asterisk marks new entries or changes from previous style.
Connolly
said that when he and a researcher began work on the revision of the New York Times' stylebook, they
"sought suggestions from everyone on the staff, and we waded through
literally hundreds of memos and notes issued since the last revision in
1976."
"There were many committees made up of staff members who have
special knowledge in various areas, and we got help from editors, writers and
critics with expertise in such fields as the arts, business, religion, science
and sports," he said.
At the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "there
is no committee and there are no meetings," said Paul Sevart, who was the newspaper's stylebook editor before
becoming senior editor/weekend news.
Sevart,
who was formerly senior editor/copy desk, said that he would assign desk
members to research and draft entries and that they would report their findings
back to him. He said he brought some of the more contentious issues up for
electronic bulletin board-style discussion with the copy desk and, on rare
occasions, with the senior editors.
Liz
McGehee, copy desk chief at the Winston-Salem
Journal in North Carolina, said style decisions at her paper are "not
just one person making rules. ... There's a lot of thought and input from
different people."
Usually
when an issue arises, McGehee said, she and the assistant managing editors for
production and news will put their heads together on what style to follow.
"A lot of times it's common sense in context," she said. To ensure
that everyone knows about any style change, a note is sent out to the staff and
an entry is put in the paper's electronic stylebook, McGehee said.
At the Baltimore Sun, the newspaper's electronic
stylebook is often updated as new style questions become apparent: whether to
use Kosovo Albanians or Kosovar Albanians, for example. John E. McIntyre, chief
of the copy desk, said that either he makes "curbside rulings" that
stand because no one challenges them or the issues go to the editor, who has
the final say. Changes in style are usually announced in the newspaper's
in-house newsletter, Publish and Be
Damned, but they are sometimes posted in electronic memos to the staff.
In
addition to the local stylebook, the Charlotte
Observer has specialized computer
files that are created for specific events such as the Olympics or a papal
visit, Mikeal said.
At the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where the
stylebook is updated about once every two years, most desks have their own
style sheets for terms that they deal with over and over, said Jim Smith, the
newspaper's copy desk manager.
The Orlando Sentinel's new stylebook will
direct editors and writers to electronic files in which they can find more
extensive information, said Kathy Roe, the newspaper's business copy chief. For
example, she said, the entry for Disney World will have a reference to an
electronic file that lists all of the park's rides and can be updated as
needed.
A frequent
need to update is one reason some newspapers have turned to an electronic
stylebook.
In St.
Petersburg, the new stylebook will have online access only. While Puckett said
he can understand the attachment of some copy editors to a book, he recalled that
four items in the Times' 1992
stylebook were obsolete three weeks
after it was printed.
Variations
from AP style
In
addition to local and regional information,
house stylebooks for newspapers that rely on AP usually specify any
exceptions to AP style and offer guidance on proper word usage and other topics
not covered by the Associated Press Stylebook.
One key
exception to AP at many newspapers is the matter of courtesy titles, which AP
uses for women only. Most of the newspapers surveyed said that if they use
courtesy titles -- either in all copy
or in specific cases, such as obituaries -- they use them equally for men and
women.
In
another major exception, several newspapers said that they don't use a middle
initial unless needed for clarity, or if the individual prefers it or is better
known that way: George W. Bush, William F. Buckley Jr., Edward G. Robinson.
Editors
at some newspapers said that they use "not guilty" instead of
"innocent" in court pleas and verdicts, rejecting the AP Stylebook's
concern about the word "not" being dropped inadvertently.
Several
newspapers use "teenager" without a hyphen. But Mikeal at the Charlotte Observer said that while he
thinks "teen-ager" looks archaic, he decided against dropping the
hyphen because he wanted to keep exceptions to an "absolute minimum."
Newspapers such as the Baltimore
Sun and the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution have made a style change that reflects the switch in
their areas to local 10-digit telephone numbers. Instead of using parentheses,
the area code is attached to the seven-digit number with a hyphen:
555-555-5555.
"It's funny how many have
to do with parentheses or a hyphen," said the Journal-Constitution's Smith. In addition to the exceptions on
telephone numbers and "teenager," the Atlanta papers hyphenate all
forms of "fund-raising" and set off party affiliation with
parentheses instead of commas.
Some
newspapers have broadened the list of cities that stand alone in datelines. The
exceptions to AP are often regional but not always. The Seattle Times, for example, uses Amsterdam and Cairo without a
country, and Albuquerque, Anchorage, Memphis, Nashville and Orlando without a
state, Cater said.
More
guidance, please
Many of
the entries in the Winston-Salem Journal's
stylebook are basic grammar guidelines that have been compiled from sources
such as "The Elements of Style" and "The Careful
Writer," McGehee said.
Editors
at several newspapers said they would like to see AP offer more guidance on
grammar.
Others
suggested that AP should include more information on trademarks and government
agencies, expand its business section, and give guidance on how to refer to
unmarried partners in gay and straight relationships.
Editors
at the News & Observer in Raleigh
and the Albuquerque Journal said that they are struggling with ethnic
identification such as Hispanic/Latino and that they would appreciate more help
from AP.
D'Val
Westphal Cordova, the news editor in Albuquerque, said that AP "really
offers no guidance" by suggesting that individual papers try to be as
specific as possible. "In the Southwest, [ethnic identification] is not
something that can be avoided," she said.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Smith
said he wished AP could simplify its "numerals" entry, which contains
more than 40 separate entries. "You can understand why some people can't
get it straight," he said.
Goldstein
acknowledged the problem. "It's something we have to solve," he said.
But for
some editors there is a more pressing concern:
"The
most helpful thing AP could produce would be a comprehensive list of changes
made in each new edition and include them in the stylebook itself," said
McIntyre of the Baltimore Sun.
Currently, a list of changes from the previous edition is moved on the AP wire
when a new stylebook goes into effect.
Harold D.
Freeman, a copy editor at the Louisville
Courier-Journal, agreed. Freeman said that several years ago he began a
long-neglected update of the paper's electronic stylebook, which incorporates
the AP Stylebook. To try to ease his task, Freeman said, he asked AP for a list
of changes it had made over the past six or seven editions. None was available,
he was told.
Why
'cookie, cookies'?
As the "standard of the
industry," AP can be sorely lacking in some areas. It includes numerous
word pairs, such as "adverse, averse," "affect, effect,"
"lay, lie" and "noisome, noisy," but neglects a host of others:
"alternately, alternatively," "avert, avoid," "burro,
burrow," "callous, callus," "careen, career,"
"champ, chomp," "climactic, climatic," "defuse, diffuse," "deserts,
desserts," "disburse, disperse," "gentile, genteel,"
"loath, loathe," "sewn, sown," "sensual,
sensuous."
There is
an entry for "Allegheny Mountains" but none for "Great Smoky
Mountains" or the counties of "Allegany," "Alleghany"
and "Allegheny."
"Rolls-Royce" is in there but not "Mercedes-Benz."
Trademarks such as "Coca-Cola," "Frisbee" and
"Seeing Eye dog" are included but not "GED,"
"Hula-Hoop" or "X-Acto."
It list
the "Seven Wonders of the World" but not the "Seven Deadly
Sins."
For
whatever reason, there's an entry for "cookie, cookies," but none can be found for "ATM,"
"carjack," "Caesars Palace," "Kwanzaa,"
"Nasdaq," "U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees" and so many
others that might give a copy editor pause.
AP could
do a great service by keeping its stylebook more current and by taking a
critical look at what additions might make it more useful to journalists.
Plugging
holes
A
driving force behind this fellowship project has been a desire to fill in some
of the holes that the Associated Press Stylebook has not covered. To that end,
I first compared the AP Stylebook with the electronic stylebook at my
newspaper, the Baltimore Sun, and
then with other style manuals to which I had access: the stylebooks of the Washington Post, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Detroit Free Press, the Florida Times-Union, the Albuquerque Journal, the Chicago Tribune and the Winston-Salem Journal.
Attached
is a list of entries not included in AP that I think would be useful to many
copy editors. My purpose is not to dictate style but to give stylebook guidance
where there may be none. I have no problem if style decision-makers take
exception with an entry that I have included, such as "chief of
staff." I would only hope that they would provide an entry making clear
that their style is "Chief of Staff."
Entries
not otherwise credited are from the Sun's electronic stylebook. It should be
noted, however, that some of the entries adopted by the Sun over the years
probably came from other newspapers' stylebooks and various reference sources.
Newspapers often look at the stylebooks of other publications when compiling
their own guidelines. In its 1998 revision, the Chicago Tribune's stylebook acknowledges the assistance of, among
others, the Boston Globe Stylebook, the Wall Street Journal Stylebook, the
Miami Herald Stylebook and the New York Times Manual of Style and Usage. The Winston-Salem Journal's electronic
stylebook, which focuses heavily on proper language usage, took many of its
entries from such reference sources as "The Elements of Style,"
"The Careful Writer" and "The Art of Editing."