A Change in Style
One of the first things I was taught in journalism some four decades ago was how to use a Stylebook, such as the one published by the Associated Press. Back then, we still had a robust United Press International, but AP has been the lone so-called wire service for a couple of generations now.
The idea is so all journalists, primarily print, refer to things the same way so your newspaper is consistent…how do you abbreviate titles or addresses, how do you refer to agencies—full name on first reference, acronym in later references—and so on. As a college journalism professor, I was a stickler on style, because it’s that attention to detail and consistency that (at least used to be) hallmarks of the craft.
So when the AP decrees something, it has broad impact. Earlier this summer, they announced that when referring to human beings, the word black must be capitalized, to confer status upon a group of people. Just this past Monday, they announced, however, that they would not treat the word white the same way…it remains not capitalized.
The AP’s reasoning is that those who are black share historical and cultural similarities, including discrimination based on the color of one’s skin…whereas white people across the globe do not have what they called strong commonalities.
Some who generally are supportive of capitalizing the word black say for consistency, words like white and brown should also be capitalized to avoid confusion…and to avoid the distraction caused by conversations such as the one I’m having with you now.
The AP Stylebook has consistently said that race is often an irrelevant factor in reporting. Not sure that’s the practice these days, but it seems that their reasoning actually undermines the effort they are trying to promote.
Yes, for the time being, we are an AP customer. And yes, if you read this online, you’ll find the word black is only capitalized if white and brown are, too. Call it our stylebook, one based on common sense.News/Talk 1540 KXEL · Iowa Politics — Wed. Jul. 22, 2020
