An AP newsman says hello

Dapper Dan · **Joined:** Fri Dec 12, 2003 1:01 am **Posts:** 273

Hello, all --I've been lurking on this board for some time and thought I'd say hello. I'm an Associated Press newsman who's looking to make the move into newspaper copy editing. I worked at several small-town dailies before working at the AP.I mention my current employer because a fair number of the posts on this board are from people puzzled about why the AP did such-and-such. If I don't know the answer, I can at least give an educated guess.

Dapper Dan · **Joined:** Fri Dec 12, 2003 1:01 am **Posts:** 273

One question I might as well answer before it's asked is, "Why does the AP continue to say someone 'pleaded innocent' despite the recent stylebook change?"In my bureau, local management instructed us to ignore the stylebook change. I suspect the same is true in many other bureaus.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Fri Dec 12, 2003 2:22 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Dapper Dan:
In my bureau, local management instructed us to ignore the stylebook change. I suspect the same is true in many other bureaus.<hr></blockquote>That's nearly astounding. On what authority and for what reason?

Dapper Dan · **Joined:** Fri Dec 12, 2003 1:01 am **Posts:** 273

The authority was that he was the boss. It's worth noting that he only gave this instruction orally; if he had put it in writing he could have gotten in trouble with New York.The reason was that my boss agreed with the old stylebook's logic. It actually did make sense back when we used teletypes and it was common for one word to be dropped, but it makes no sense whatsoever now. A momentary glitch in transmission today will take out several paragraphs.

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