Copy-editing and AP Stylebook familiarization

Transcription

1 Basic Public Affairs Specialist Course Copy-editing and AP Stylebook familiarization The AP stylebook can help military journalists correct typographical errors that appear in a publication. Errors chip away at the publication s credibility. Every time a journalist uses improper grammar in a story, people read it and wonder why a trained writer has made such a blatant error. It is extremely important for a public affairs office to make sure everything it publishes is absolutely accurate from spelling to grammar to punctuation to facts. Effective copy-editing concentrates on the nuts and bolts of journalism: ensuring accuracy, using proper grammar and Associated Press style, eliminating wordiness from copy, fine-tuning copy and rewriting. Copy Editor s Responsibilities Tools and Resources The Defense Information School, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland 1

2 Copy-editing responsibilities Copy-editing corrects stories and improves the mechanics, flow and cohesiveness of the text. When you know grammar, good writing practices and editing symbols, you can swiftly edit stories to meet deadlines. Journalists must review their work to find and correct all errors in: Facts and accuracy When published, readers almost always catch errors in accuracy. Errors detract from the paper s credibility and the writer s ability to communicate. Errors are most often found in rank usage, name spelling, title usage, locations of events, dates and times, telephone numbers and statistics/ numbers. y Names Of all errors a writer can commit, the most inexcusable is to spell a person s name wrong. Double- and triple-check the spellings of names. Box and tick them on first reference, ensuring each letter of the name is correct as you do. y Numbers Always double-check figures and verify tabulations, percentages and casualty lists. A misplaced comma or decimal can make a huge difference. Brevity A reader can easily lose track of the intent of a story if it is cloaked in wordiness and redundancy. These are common writing defects that can be eliminated. You need to ensure stories are clear and concise. y Wordiness means the writer is using too many words to express a thought. Some examples: 1. Large number of instead of many 2. In the course of instead of while or during 3. Render assistance instead of help 4. During the time that instead of while 5. Officially designated representative instead of representative Clarity The writer must edit the copy to make sure it is free of technical words, jargon and other words or phrases readers may not be familiar with. Spelling Correct spelling signals that your staff upholds precision and professionalism. There is no excuse for misspellings in a newspaper. You can train your eye to spot spelling errors by becoming familiar with words you commonly misspell and words other people commonly misspell. Style refers to the uniform way to write or refer to things. In journalism, this uniformity helps make stories easier to read and it presents a professional product to readers. The Associated Press Stylebook provides consistency in presenting information, but your unit may have its own local stylebook supplement. We ll talk about the AP Stylebook a little later in this lesson. Grammar The journalist who uses language correctly increases readers understanding of the text. Grammatical errors place the writer on a mediocre level and make the newspaper seem unprofessional. If necessary, do extra English grammar. Several grammar 2 The Center of Excellence for Visual Information and Public Affairs

3 tutorials and reference books are available at the schoolhouse, your post library, your local bookstores and in the additional resources link for this course. Policy The copy editor ensures violations of service policies, statements in bad taste or security violations are deleted from stories. It is your responsibility to ensure the content of your publication doesn t violate the sensitivities of the community. Refrain from including vulgarity, gore, obscenity, lewdness, excessive violence and information that may ridicule the military or its members. Journalists should become familiar with the appropriate regulations, policies and instructions to be able to identify potential policy violations. Three-step copy-editing method If there are major problems with the story, spend time improving the content of the story. After you gain more experience and confidence in your copy-editing ability, you will probably streamline the way you copy-edit. y Second, read for errors. Look for all the mechanics. It may help to break this step into two or more readings so each time you look for specific errors. The mind tends to remember the last kind of error caught and can skip over a different type. y The third reading is for polish. This is where you look at the phrasing, descriptions, narrations and paraphrases and try to make them as well written as possible. Copy-editing a story is no easy task. As you gain more experience, you ll see first-hand why the writing process demands an eye for detail. Next, let s talk about some of the tools and resources you have available to aid in the editing process. y Read first just for the tone of the story. See if it is a good piece of writing: do not try to catch or correct errors; this will distract you from reading for tone. Also be on the lookout for omissions and confusing phrases. The Defense Information School, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland 3

4 Tools and Resources As a journalist, you should be aware of all of the tools and resources available to correct and improve stories. We re going to examine a few of the more common ones including the AP Stylebook, dictionary and copyediting symbols. AP Stylebook There are many stylebooks in use in the journalism career field. The Associated Press Stylebook is considered the career field standard in the military. A copy editor must be familiar with the stylebook used for his publication to ensure consistency throughout that publication. y Consistency is a key element in ensuring the publication and its staff have a credible reputation with readers. The key to following a style is consistency. If, for example, your news organization adopts a style that requires writers to capitalize titles when they appear before names, then writers must capitalize titles every single time they appear before a name. Capitalizing titles inconsistently makes the newspaper s style appear random. Inconsistency can appear to readers to be mistakes. And nothing kills a newspaper s credibility quicker than mistakes. Uniformity ensures military and civilian writers and editors speak the same language. y In a world of multiple options, stylebooks standardize the choices for editors, whether it s capitalization or word usage or other categories. Consequently, there will not always be an explanation of why with an entry. For example, towards vs. toward. Both are correct. The AP opted for toward. So, writers and editors using AP should be consistent in their usage of toward. y There are two ways to look up points in the stylebook in alphabetical order by word or by topic. Take time to become acquainted with the text because co-workers will brand the journalist who does not know AP style basics as an amateur it s that central to the profession. y Let s not forget the stylebook s bibliography. There are accepted references sources for material not covered by the stylebook. Most public affairs offices have these books available for their public affairs staffs. y The public affairs department has compiled commonly used terms in a DINFOS supplement to the AP Stylebook. You will use this supplement throughout your time enrolled in this course. The supplement is located in your BPASC ADL course Intro and Admin Handbook. Dictionary For spelling, style and usage questions not covered in the AP Stylebook, consult Webster s New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, published by Wiley. Use the first spelling listed in Webster s unless a specific exception is listed in the stylebook. See the dictionaries entry in the stylebook for more specific information. 4 The Center of Excellence for Visual Information and Public Affairs

5 Copy-editing symbols Once you identify changes that need to be made to copy, it s your responsibility to use the proper copy-editing symbols to mark the copy. It s important to use a sharpened pencil and to make symbols clearly and correctly. You can find these symbols in your AP Stylebook. 1. Copy-editing symbols are a shorthand method of making corrections rapidly and efficiently. 2. The symbols used at DINFOS are standard; however, some military installations or newspapers may vary slightly. 3. Practice your copy-editing symbol knowledge by completing an exercise on pp in your Copy-editing and AP Stylebook Workbook. The Defense Information School, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland 5

6 Basic Public Affairs Specialist Course Conclusion When you correctly copy-edit stories using the tools and resources you ve learned about today, you ll find that your quality of writing will improve immensely. Consistently reviewing and editing your work will help you to develop an eye for detail that will allow you spot errors quickly and effective. This editorial eye will be a valuable asset to you throughout your career as a public affairs practitioner because your products will be more concise, accurate and professional. 6 The Center of Excellence for Visual Information and Public Affairs

7 References Goldstein, N. (2007). Associated Press style book and briefing on media law. Associated Press, New York Harrigan, J. & Dunlap, K. (2003). The editorial eye. Bedford/St. Martins, New York, New York Baskette, F., Sissors, J. & Brooks, B. (1997). The art of editing (6th ed.) Hohenberg, J. (1983). The professional journalist. Cengage Learning, Florence, KY. Mencher, M. (1999). News reporting and writing (8th ed.). The McGraw-Hill Companies, Seitel, F. (1994). The practice of public relations (6th ed.). Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference. Lieter, K., Johnson, S., & Harriss, J. (1999). The complete reporter: Fundamentals of new gathering, writing, and editing. Pearson Itule, B., & Anderson, D. (2002). News writing and reporting for today s media (6th ed.). The McGraw-Hill Companies Ward, H. (1985). Professional newswriting. Harcourt College Publishers. Agee, W., Ault, P., & Emery, E. (1983). Reporting & writing the news. Harper & Row, New York. Fedler, F., Bender, J., & Davenport, L. (2000). Reporting for the media. Oxford University Press, Cary, NC. Rich, C. (1999). Writing and reporting news: A coaching method. Wadsworth Publishing, Florence, KY. The Defense Information School, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland 7