The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, usually called the AP Stylebook, is a style and usage guide A style guide or style manual is a set of standards for the writing and design of documents, either for general use or for a specific publication, organization or field. The implementation of a style guide provides uniformity in style and formatting of a document used by newspapers A newspaper is a regularly scheduled publication containing news, information, and advertising. By 2007 there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a day (55 million in the U.S). The worldwide recession of 2008, combined with the rapid growth of web-based alternatives, caused a serious decline in advertising and and in the news industry in the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language. The book is updated annually by Associated Press The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists. Many newspapers and broadcasters outside the United States are AP subscribers, paying a fee to editors, usually in June.
Reporters, editors and others use the AP Stylebook as a guide for grammar, punctuation and principles and practices of reporting. Although some publications use a different style guide, the AP Stylebook is considered a newspaper industry standard and is also used by broadcasters, magazines and public relations firms. It includes an A-to-Z listing of guides to capitalization, abbreviation, spelling, numerals and usage.
Contents |
Sections
The AP Stylebook is broken down into multiple sections which include:
STYLEBOOK An A-to-Z listing of style that is the general standard for the journalism industry. The majority of the journalism industry refers to this for consistency and accuracy on points including clarification on topics such as abbreviation, capitalization, grammar, punctuation, spelling, numerals and titles. Example: If the title of governor is used before a name, it should be capitalized and abbreviated e.g. Gov. Janet Napolitano, but when it's used generically by itself or after the name it should be lowercase and not abbreviated.
BUSINESS GUIDELINES A reference section for reporters covering business and financial news including general knowledge of accounting, bankruptcy, mergers and international bureaus. For instance, it includes explanations of five different chapters of bankruptcy.
SPORTS GUIDELINES AND STYLE Includes terminology, statistics, organization rules and guidelines commonly referenced by sports reporters. Example: The correct way to spell and use basketball terminology e.g. half-court pass, field goal and goaltending.
GUIDE TO PUNCTUATION A specific guide on how to use punctuation in journalistic materials, this section includes rules regarding hyphens, commas, parentheses and quotations. Example: In a series use commas to separate items but no comma before a conjunction. e.g. We bought eggs, milk and cheese at the store.
BRIEFING ON MEDIA LAW An overall legal review of legal issues and ethical expectations for those working in the journalism industry. Example: The difference between slander and libel. Slander is spoken; libel is written, to start with.
PHOTO CAPTIONS The simple formula of what to include when writing a photo cutline.
EDITING MARKS A key with editing symbols to assist the journalist with the proofreading process. Example: When a word is circled it means that the word should be abbreviated or vice versa.
BIBLIOGRAPHY This provides second reference materials for information not included in the book. Example: Use Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, Wiley, Hoboken, N.J. as first reference after the AP Stylebook for spelling, style, usage and foreign geographic names.
Title
For many years the AP Stylebook was titled The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual.[1] In 2000[2][3], the guide was renamed The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law. In recent years, the title used on the cover has been simplified to The Associated Press Stylebook.[2]
Versions
Associated Press also offers subscription-based electronic versions of the stylebook, which is updated with style changes as they are made and supports the addition of local style entries.[4] An individual online subscription is available for $25 to general customers and through college bookstores. Subscriptions for existing AP members are available for $15. The online subscription contains additional features, including the option to create your own notes to an AP listing and several ways to search for an AP entry. There are also site license discounts available to AP members when buying online subscriptions in bulk from 10 to 50,000 copies. The AP Stylebook is also available as an iPhone application costing $28.99 annually per individual subscribers. When purchased from the AP web site the book costs $11.75 for AP members and customers with a college bookstore code. For general customers the book costs $18.95.
History
The AP Stylebook in its modern form started in 1953. The 1953 publication focused on "where the wire set a specific style" [3]; for nearly a quarter century it assumed its reader had a "solid grounding in language and a good reference library" and thus omitted any guidelines in those broader areas.[4] In 1977, prompted by AP Executive News Editor Lou Boccardi's request for "more of a reference work," the organization started expanding the book.[5] That year's book was produced jointly with competitor United Press International United Press International is a news agency headquartered in the United States with roots dating back to 1907. Once a mainstay in the newswire service along with Associated Press (AP) and Reuters, it began to decline as afternoon newspapers, its chief client category, began to fail with the rising popularity of television news. This decline.[5] In 1989, Norm Goldstein became the AP Stylebook editor, a job he held until the 2007 edition.[6] After the publication of the final edition under his editorship, Goldstein commented on changes:
I think the difference...now is that there is more information available on the Internet, and I'm not sure, and at least our executive editor is not sure, how much of a reference book we ought to be anymore. I think some of our historical background material like on previous hurricanes and earthquakes, that kind of encyclopedic material that's so easily available on the Internet now, might be cut back.
Associated Press editors Darrell Christian, Sally Jacobsen and David Minthorn edited the 2009 edition, [7] which features an updated listing of U.S. and international company names. The new edition also includes separate entries for U.S. financial institutions and major oil companies and a quick reference guide that lists the most popular entries and subject matter.
While nearly 2 million copies of the AP Stylebook have been distributed since 1977, [8] today the AP Stylebook is developing an online presence with profiles on social media platforms like Twitter Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service, owned and operated by Twitter Inc., that enables its users to send and read other user messages called tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page. Tweets are publicly visible by default, however senders can restrict message delivery to (@APStylebook) [9] and Facebook Facebook is a social networking website launched in February 2004 that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc., with more than 500 million active users in July 2010.[N 1] Users can add people as friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks [10].
Revision Process
The stylebook is updated annually by Associated Press editors, usually in June, and at this time edits and new entries may be added. In 2008, 200 new entries were added, including words and phrases like “podcast,” “text messaging,” “social networking” and “high-definition.” The 2009 edition added the entries “Twitter,” “texting” and baba ghanoush. This is done to keep the stylebook up to date with technological and cultural changes.
The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual.References
- ^ Library of Congress Catalog Record for The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual
- ^ a b Mark S. Luckie (February 4, 2008). "= The history of the AP Stylebook". 10,000 Words. http://www.10000words.net/2008/02/mans-journalists-best-friend.html. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
- ^ Library of Congress Catalog Record for The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law
- ^ [1] for Associated Press
- ^ [2] for Introduction to the UPI Stylebook, appearing on United Press International's UPIU Web site, a social media platform for journalism students and "aspiring journalists."
External links
- Official website for the AP Stylebook
- AP Stylebook Top 10 List and exercises on CubReporters.org
- June 2009 article about growing sales of the stylebook
- The COM Writing Center. Quick Associated Press Style
- Associated Press Web site
- AP Style Quizzes
- AP Style on Twitter
- AP Stylebook to APP Store
- The Basics of Associated Press Style
- AP Style on Facebook
Categories: Associated Press | Style guides for American English | Books available as e-books | Publications established in 1953
Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:02:48 GMT+00:00
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel AP Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter Chris Botti, who boasts four No.1 jazz albums, will play Friday night. By Cailley Hammel of the Journal Sentinel This ...
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Here s one for Michael Grant Smith AP Stylebook No Longer Mentally Retarded via Gawker
Mikhail Doroshevich
hu, 03 Jun 2010 11:09:33 GM
The . AP Stylebook. has released its new social media guidelines, including the official change from"Web site" to "website" (a move first reported back in April) and 41 other definitions, use cases and rules that journalists should follow.
Q. 1. Smelly, dank and noisy, the reporter's made there way passed the pig sty. 2. Official's said its unclear whether the storm will hit the area, local residents are still concerned. 3. Living off-campus has its advantages, but so does living on-campus, student's said. 4. The school board voted eight-to-one to fire the superintendent for his sexual misconduct during an emergency meeting Thursday afternoon. 5. The group of students protesting the tuition increase were detained by campus police due to their attempt to take over the student union.
Asked by Nick - Wed Jan 6 01:35:04 2010 - - 2 Answers - 0 Comments
A. 1. The reporters made their way past the smelly, dank, and noisy pig sty. 2. Though officials said it is unclear whether the storm will hit the area, local residents are still concerned. 3. "Living off-campus has its advantages, but so does living on-campus," students said. 4. During an emergency meeting Thursday afternoon, the school board voted eight-to-one to fire the superintendent for his sexual misconduct. 5. Campus police detained the group of students protesting the tuition increase due to their attempt to take over the student union. OR 5. Due to the students' attempt to take over the student union, campus police detained the group of students protesting the tuition increase.
Answered by Patron Saint of Homework - Wed Jan 6 02:01:14 2010
