The Press: The Reporter’s Guide

In the opinion of many a newspaper editor, the typical reporter is a near illiterate who is dedicated to the proposition that the preposition is to end sentences with. To help the reporter overcome his ignorance, most newspapers provide him with a style book—and in their very diversity, newspaper style books make some of the most entertaining reading to be found anywhere.

The style books do not always agree on usage. The Indianapolis Star spells it “clew,” the Indianapolis News “clue.” Most papers capitalize Pope, but the Miami Herald does not. In most papers, rape is rape, but in the Memphis Commercial Appeal it is usually criminal attack. The Minneapolis Star and Tribune permit partial decommissioning of generals (“If it’s Lt. Gen. John A. Jones in the first reference, plain Jones will suffice in later references”), but in the New York Times, once a general always a general. And no paper cares to folo the trail blazed by the Chicago Tribune into a virgin land of simplified spelling: altho, thru, sirup, burocracy.

All Women Aren’t Ladies. Disagreements multiply in the areas of race and religion. The Miami Herald draws a careful distinction between white cops, who are always “policemen,” and Negro cops, who are always “patrolmen.” In the Memphis Commercial Appeal if a minister is white, he is “the Rev.,” if Negro he is simply “Rev.” The Denver Post is explicit on Roman Catholic ritual: “Mass is celebrated, said or read. High Mass is sung, never held. The Rosary is recited or said, never read.” But the Miami News takes the easy way out: “Write it ‘the mass (or rosary) will be at 7 p.m.’ rather than having it sung, read, held, recited, given or said.”

Matters of taste and the social amenities come under close stylebook scrutiny. The Buffalo Evening News avoids “mention of hideous creatures or gruesome circumstances” and substitutes “glamorous” for “sexy”; the Commercial Appeal warns its reporters to “write nothing that will spoil the appetite.” The Chicago Tribune permits “s.o.b.,” but defines it as a “Trumanism.” The Los Angeles Times, concluding that all women aren’t ladies, ungallantly applies its conclusion: “A salesgirl or a saleswoman is not a saleslady, and a washerwoman is not a washlady, so a scrubwoman cannot be a scrublady.” In Detroit, the News withholds the title of “Mr.” from all males who are not Protestant clergy, dead, or the President of the United States. “However,” cautions the News, “other cases may arise in which a ‘tone of respect is desirable; in such cases Mr. may be used.”

No One Loses Legs. Some style books draw exquisitely fine beads on proper form. The Salt Lake City Tribune explains the distinction between three cupfuls of sugar and three cups full of sugar, and softly suggests the typographical peril in such words as “shot, suit, short, shift, skit, etc.” The Detroit News confidently calls a girl a girl until she reaches 21, when she becomes a woman; at 17 a boy becomes a youth, at 21 a man. “Beware of such relative descriptions as elderly, aged or old,” says the Washington Post and Times Herald. “Few men under 70 would appreciate those adjectives, and few women this side of the morgue.” On Denver’s Rocky Mountain News, “animals may speak only with the special permission of the city editor.” “Look out for people who lose legs or arms,” say the Minneapolis Star and Tribune. “They really don’t.”

Too often the style books merely belabor the obvious and the picayune. Rare is the reporter anywhere who is not advised that cars do not run into trees (they crash against them). The Commercial Appeal demands that kerosene be identified as coal oil the first time the term is used; the Washington Post style book devotes 450 words to discussing the difference between optometrists, ophthalmologists, oculists and opticians.

The Jewel. Are newspaper style books necessary? Some newspapers—and possibly thousands of newspaper reporters —think not. The New York Herald Tribune, the Boston Record and American, the Manchester, N.H., Union Leader and many other dailies don’t have a style book. But the majority of U.S. dailies apparently agree with the Washington Post, which holds that consistency of style in a newspaper “is more than a jewel; it is a necessity.”