Newspaper style is all about consistency and clarity. The words we use in Tuesday’s paper ought to be the same words we would use in Monday’s paper given the same set of circumstances. THE driving force behind this is the Associated Press and its influential stylebook. Many newspapers—including the Journal—have an inhouse stylebook as a supplement, but use AP style for most issues that come up.
The AP, for example, determines which cities take a state after their name in datelines and which don’t. The folks in Charlotte have been after AP for years about this, but if you travel around the country and read newspapers, you will always see Charlotte, N.C., but just plain old Atlanta. Newspapers aren’t required to follow AP style, but we often do, or at least we take our cues from the AP.
So, when the AP weighs in on a style change, it can matter. Yesterday, they sent out this update to their online stylebook:
Gay: Used to describe men and women attracted to the same sex, though lesbian is the more common term for women. Preferred over homosexual except in clinical contexts or references to sexual activity. Include sexual orientation only when it is pertinent to a story, and avoid references to “sexual preference” or to a gay or alternative “lifestyle.”
The old entry was far less expansive. It said gay was an acceptable synonym for homosexual, etc.
The AP tends to be a conservative organization when it comes to change. It recommends the use of American Indian over Native American, prefers black over African-American, etc.
Words matter, particularly in the way that we define ourselves and others define us. There are probably many people who remember and long for the good old days when “gay” was just a rhyming word in “I Feel Pretty” in West Side Story.
Those days are gone. How do we know? The AP says so.
Your host is Ken Otterbourg, the managing editor at the Winston-Salem Journal. It's a forum to discuss the media, from
If the AP is as powerful as you indicate, why would you say that there is no “monopoly on news,” as you did in a comment only yesterday? Is it because the AP controls news language rather than news choice?
I can see why consistency matters, and why a writer would choose not to use the word “gay” meaning happy. But what if a “person of color” thinks of him/herself as African American (note the intentional lack of hyphen here) rather than “black”? Does the Journal edit Letters to the Editor with respect to the AP’s language choices? What about quotes in a feature article? Wouldn’t that be unethical? Or does this “style sheet” apply only to news stories?
This is your most thought provoking entry yet.
Much more important than who drinks sweet tea!
News and style are two different things. Nobody makes us use AP style. We use it because we believe that most of their rules make sense and provide for a more consistent paper. Where we depart, it’s usually for good reason.
Other questions, in order.
1)Generally speaking, we call people who are African-Americans black. If a person referred to himself as A-A, and we felt that distinction was relevant to the story, we might mention that.
2) Our editorial department—which is not part of my areas of responsibility—edits letters to AP style. That said, there are probably letters where we depart from AP style because the editors feel that departure is important.
3) We don’t tamper with quotes.
4) When I am referring to news stories, I mean stories that run in the newspaper, whether they are in news, features or sports or wherever.
Ken, I have a newspaper web site I want to refer you to backchannnel. Send me an e-mail at your convenience. I don’t have your addy.
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