Most news organizations have style and ethics handbooks. They expect reporters, editors and producers to follow the guidelines they lay out.
When it comes to writing, this means that reporters use the same abbreviations, punctuation and approach to writing.
Here’s an example from the Reuters Handbook:
adjectives
Use sparingly. Inject color into copy with strong verbs and facts first. If you have more than two adjectives before a noun, rewrite the sentence. A reader struggles with “the one-eyed poverty-stricken Greek house painter.” Avoid adjectives that imply judgment: “a hard-line speech,” “a glowing tribute,” “a staunch conservative.” Depending on where they stand, some people might consider the speech moderate, the tribute fulsome or the conservative a die-hard reactionary.
Our Class Style Guide
- Write in the active voice. That means the subject does the action. You can find more on this website here.
- Start your paragraphs at the margin.
- Write out numbers one through nine. Use numerals beyond 10.
- Write out the full name of a person, organization company, country or state before you use an abbreviation or the initials.
You can use initials for well-known names like the FBI or DEA. When the name is unfamiliar write out the full name: The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, before you write ATF.
When you abbreviate the United States always put a period between the letters. U.S. to avoid confusion with us.
Because most of your work will appear on a website, write out the full name of a company or organization followed by the initials in parenthesis. For example The Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
- Link to the company or organization when you mention them. If you site research, link to the page where you found the research. Also mark open a new page or tab when you create the link.
- Write percent rather than %
- When you quote someone, punctuation goes inside the quotation marks. For example,
“Being around guns didn’t affect on me, but knowing how to use guns definitely had an impact on me,” Max said.
Use . . . three dots, at the beginning and end when you use only part of a quote.
- Capitalize job titles only when they come before a name. For example: City College President Vincent Boudreau.
Use the lower case when you write, “The City College president held a town hall meeting.”
If we talk about the president of the United States, “The president told his supporters that he doesn’t care what other people think.”
“President Trump said he doesn’t care what people think.”
Some words sound alike but have different meanings. People confuse affect and effect frequently.
- Use affect as an adjective, noun or verb when you want to say that something influences or when something is put on. “Nicky’s yelling affected everyone in the room.” Or, “Nicky affected an angry air.”
Use effect when you mean the result. “They felt the effects of the drug.”
Use italics for the names of books, magazines, newspapers, plays, movies, works of art, TV programs, radio shows, songs, albums.
- Avoid fussy words that connect ideas:
however
furthermore
nevermore
nevertheless
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