From the Editor’s 411 mailbag
By Doug Fisher
The Common Sense Journalism/Editor’s
411 mailbag has filled with good questions lately. Take
heart. It shows that, when it comes to those pesky editing
questions, we are not alone. Some of the questions and answers
have been trimmed from the original.
I’ve read your strong
views on using the word “murder on air ... but a question:
Isn’t the term “murder” more “user
friendly” in describing an incident than “homicide”?
A friend would most likely say, “Hey, Jim, what about
that murder last night?”
I wouldn't advocate homicide,
either. Too cop-speak.
But killing is a nice, conversational
alternative that clearly describes what happened without
ascribing possible motive, as murder does. What happens
if that person's convicted, instead, for manslaughter? It's
not just a technical thing. It's a respect for people and
language. Your friend’s calling it a murder is as
much a reflection of the misuse of the term as it is of
"user friendliness." I think your friend would
just as easily say hey, did you hear about that killing
– or even better – that shooting, that stabbing,
etc.
I'm a realist and know we’re
not going to hold off using “murder” until the
person is convicted, but we should at least wait until a
formal murder charge. Until then, killing and the others
are all useful and more neutral. And if we do our homework
and provide the details and description, that’s better
anyhow.
I saw your article on
AP style changes in the Nevada Press Association Bulletin.
Here's one for your file: email (without the hyphen). I have
been writing "email" for a couple of years now.
Will the world ever catch up with me?
The Wall Street Journal,
that bastion of hyphens, just went to the no-hyphen form.
But I don’t expect rapid change elsewhere. Bill Walsh,
national desk chief at The Washington Post, argues that
no other similarly coined term has gone to one word (think
A-frame, X-ray, T-shirt). AP Stylebook editor Norm Goldstein
notes that some of “the same people who once described
the insertion of a hyphen in e-mail; as ‘an atrocity
against the cult of technology’ [have] since changed
that tune and now hyphenate e-mail themselves.”
E-mail, as a coined term,
has its roots in two words, and so I favor the hyphen. I
expect that will change, just as the inevitable trend of
collapsing to one word marches on. AP, after all, took backyard
and fundraising to one word this year.
Then once we get the e-mail/email
thing settled, we can move on to Web site vs. website. Internet
vs. internet, etc. As I recently wrote in a book review,
one does not so much fix usage these days as triangulate
it at any given moment.
Is the following correct:
Fourth- and fifth-graders will travel Sept. 14 to the State
Museum in Columbia? Of should it be: Fourth-graders and
fifth-graders will travel? My money is on the former, but
I’ve been questioned so many times on the issue to
question my confidence.
Collect your bets. Fourth-
and fifth-graders is the same as writing 9- and 10-year-olds:
suspensive hyphenation. Some might argue it sounds as if
we’re talking about a tyke somehow in both fourth
and fifth grade. That ignores common sense.
Which is correct: Participants
should bring a flashlight to the stadium or Participants
should take a flashlight to the stadium?
The easy way to remember:
take away, bring back. So take a flashlight to the stadium.
And bring back memories of a good time, we hope.
When is it appropriate
to use "he says" instead of "he said"
in a newspaper article? Also, is it better to stick with
"he said" instead of adding variety with "he
stated," "he urged," "he warned"
and the like?
Says can properly be used
in a number of contexts.
-
Leads without time elements:
Police have arrested four people in the killing of a Columbia
man, a spokesman says. Or, Mayor Sally Smith says it's
time the city got off its duff and improved. She says
if that doesn't happen, Smallville could become history.
(You probably then would shift to "said" if
introduced a time element.) "We're toast," Smith
said at a news conference Tuesday.
-
Documents that continue
to "speak" – The report released Monday
says the department's accounts are in a shambles.
-
Feature writing as appropriate:
Ever wonder why your tomatoes are never as good as the
neighbors'? Billy Thumb thinks about that question a lot.
He says it's one of the top ones he gets as county extension
agent. "The phone never stops ringing when it's tomato-planting
time in the spring," Thumb says. (It would be awkward
to use said here in a timeless story. Some traditionalists
say use "said" with all quotes, but that's pedantry,
not reality.)
Nothing is as neutral as
said. Urges might be used in a special situation where someone
makes a plea for action. Warned has similar utility: The Earth
will crash into the sun in the next 100 years, a panel of
distinguished scientists warned on Monday.
As for stated, Jack Cappon from "The Word: The Associated
Press Guide to Good News Writing,” says: "Stated
shouldn't be used at all; it is the instant mark of a wooden
writer." I agree.
Comma questions hold a special (and well-filled) place in
the mailbag, and next month we’ll look at some of those.
Doug Fisher, a former AP news editor,
teaches journalism at the University of South Carolina
and can be reached at
dfisher@sc.edu or 803-777-3315.
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