Briefing on Media Law with Internet Guide and Glossary 2003 Click Here to Search 001-012_FRONT.qrk 3/4/03 10:00 AM Page ii Published by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 50 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10020 © 2003 by The Associated Press All Rights Reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in connection with reviews written specifically for inclusion in a magazine or newspaper. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 91-070484 ISBN: 0-917360-22-2 Design and content management by Satchmo Publishing, Inc. Printed in the United States of America Printed by Banta Book Group Cover design by Christine Tash First Edition, August 1977 38th Edition, 2003 001-012_FRONT.qrk 3/4/03 10:00 AM Page iii CONTENTS FOREWORD vi BIBLIOGRAPHY viii STYLEBOOK Key 2 An A to Z listing of guides to capitalization, abbreviation, spelling, numerals and usage 3 Internet guidelines 125 Sports guidelines and style 285 Business guidelines and style 307 A Guide to Punctuation 328 BRIEFING ON MEDIA LAW Foreword 342 Introduction 343 What Is Libel? 344 Liability for Republication 345 Privileges 346 Defenses 352 Supreme Court Decisions Regarding Libel Law 355 Summary of First Amendment Rules 360 Public and Private Plaintiffs 361 Miscellaneous 364 Applying the Rules 364 Points to Remember 366 Procedures for Handling Kills and Correctives 367 Access to Places of Information 373 The Right of Privacy 378 Copyright Guidelines 382 PHOTO CAPTIONS 386 Caption Corrections, Additions, Eliminations 388 Photo Kills and Eliminations 389 Text Wire Formats 389 NAA/IPTC Header Fields 391 Supplemental Categories 392 FILING THE WIRE Coding Requirements 395 Format Identifiers 397 Keyword Slug Line 398 Reference Number Section 399 Version Section 399 FILING PRACTICES 401 PROOFREADERS’ MARKS 419 ABOUT THE AP 421 Headquarters 424 U.S. Bureaus 425 AP PUBLICATIONS 428 Order Form 430 001-012_FRONT.qrk 3/4/03 10:00 AM Page v FOREWORD Work on this Stylebook began in mid-1975. The orders were: Make clear and simple rules, permit few exceptions to the rules, and rely heavily on the chosen dictionary as the arbiter of con- flicts. As work progressed, we became convinced that while style would remain the chief purpose, there were many factual refer- ences we should include to make things a bit easier for busy edi- tors. So we have a Stylebook, but also a reference work. As for the ‘style’ itself, we thought at the outset that it wouldn’t be possible to please everyone. Of course, we were right. Journalists approach these style questions with varying degrees of passion. Some don’t think it is really important. Some agree that basical- ly there should be uniformity for reading ease if nothing else. Still others are prepared to duel over a wayward lowercase. We encountered all three of these types and, in their special ways, all were helpful. It is customary at this place to thank those whose aid and counsel produced the volume that follows. That list is long. It ranges from the staff of The Associated Press to editors and writers on member newspapers, to other individuals and groups with special interests in some subjects. In particular we sought and received many member views on a variety of diffi- cult questions so that this book could reflect what members want- ed. We are particularly grateful to those newspaper editors who agreed to review the final draft and give us their comments as well as those of their staffs. The completed book incorporates many of their suggestions. We have tried to make the Stylebook current and trust it will be a lasting work. But language changes, and we will review entries annually, making necessary changes by wire notes during the re- view period. Each new printing of the Stylebook will incorporate the changes that have been announced on the wires. LOUIS D. BOCCARDI President and Chief Executive Officer 001-012_FRONT.qrk 3/4/03 10:00 AM Page vi In Memory of CHRISTOPHER W. FRENCH 1940-1989 001-012_FRONT.qrk 3/4/03 10:00 AM Page vii WHAT’S NEW In this edition of the AP Stylebook ------------------------- New entries: al-Qaida, Amber Alert, assassination, Bahai Faith, bioterrorism, earthquakes, farmworker, Founding Fathers, Global Positioning System, ground zero, hand-held, hillbilly, blog and PDA (in Internet section), Line of Control, 9-11, Saddam, software titles, special forces, SWAT, Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, till, watt. Changes and updates: abbreviations and acronyms, Bank of America Corp., bay, CARE, Chicago Board of Trade, Coast Guard, Department, judge, Korean names, obscenities, profanities, vulgarities, Safeway Inc., sentences, Texaco, 3M, titles. Deletions: Hollywood, innocent, listserv (in Internet section), USX Corp. 001-012_FRONT.qrk 3/4/03 10:00 AM Page viii BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY 001-012_FRONT.qrk 3/4/03 10:00 AM Page ix BIBLIOGRAPHY — ix BIBLIOGRAPHY Following are reference books used in the preparation of The Associated Press Stylebook. They are the accepted reference sources for material not covered by the Stylebook. First reference for spelling, style, usage and foreign geo- graphic names: Webster’s New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, Wiley, Hoboken, N.J. Second reference for spelling, style and usage: Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Springfield, Mass. Second reference for foreign geographic names: National Geographic Atlas of the World, National Geographic So- ciety, Washington, D.C. www.nationalgeographic.com/index.html First reference for place names in the 50 states: National 5-Digit ZIP Code and Post Office Directory; U.S. Postal Service, Washington, D.C. For aircraft names: Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft; Jane’s Yearbooks, London, and Franklin Watts Inc., New York. For military ships: Jane’s Fighting Ships; Jane’s Yearbooks, London, and Franklin Watts Inc., New York. For non-military ships: Lloyd’s Register of Shipping; Lloyd’s Register of Shipping Trust Corp. Ltd., London. For railroads: Official Railway Guide — Freight Service, and Official Railway Guide — Passenger Service, Travel Edition; Official Railway Guide, New York. For federal government questions: Official Congressional Directory; U.S. Government Printing Of- fice, Washington, D.C. For foreign government questions: Political Handbook of the World; McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York. For the formal name of a business:Standard & Poor’s Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives; Standard & Poor’s Corp., New York. 001-012_FRONT.qrk 3/4/03 10:00 AM Page x x— BIBLIOGRAPHY For religion questions: Handbook of Denominations in the United States; Abingdon Press, Nashville, Tenn., and New York. World Christian Encylopedia; Second Edition; Oxford University Press, New York, N.Y. Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches; Abingdon Press, Nashville, Tenn., and New York, for the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., New York. Other references consulted in the preparation of the AP Style- book: Bernstein, Theodore M. The Careful Writer: A Modern Guide to English Usage. Atheneum, 1965. Bernstein, Theodore M. More Language That Needs Watching. Channel Press, 1962. Bernstein, Theodore M. Watch Your Language. Atheneum, 1958. Cappon, Rene J. The Word. The Associated Press, 1982; second edition, 1991. Follett, Wilson (edited and completed by Jacques Barzun). Mod- ern American Usage. Hill & Wang, 1966. Fowler, H.W. A Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Oxford Uni- versity Press, 1965. The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition. University of Chica- go Press, 1995. Morris, William and Morris, Mary. Harper Dictionary of Contem- porary Usage. Harper & Row, 1975; second edition, 1985. Newton, Harry, Newton’s Telecom Dictionary, 15th Edition. Miller Freeman, Inc., 1999. Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Problem Words & Expressions. Mc- Graw-Hill Book Co., 1975. Skillin, Marjorie E. and Gay, Robert M. Words Into Type. Pren- tice-Hall Inc., 1974. Strunk, William Jr. and White, E.B. The Elements of Style, sec- ond edition. The Macmillan Co., 1972. Also consulted were the stylebooks of the Boston Globe, Indi- anapolis News, Kansas City Star, Los Angeles Times, Miami Her- ald, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Newsday, New York Times, Wilmington (Del.) News-Journal, and the U.S. Government Print- ing Office. 001-012_FRONT.qrk 3/4/03 10:00 AM Page xi STYLEBOOK STYLEBOOK 001-012_FRONT.qrk 3/4/03 10:00 AM Page xii STYLEBOOK KEY This updated and revised version of The Associated Press Stylebook has been organized like a dictionary. Need the acronym for a government agency? Look under the agency’s name. Should you capitalize a word? Check the word itself or the capitalization entry. What’s the format for baseball boxes? See baseball. Following is a key to the entries: airport Capitalize as part of a prop- Entry words, in alphabetical order, are in boldface. er name: La Guardia Airport, Newark In- They represent the accepted ternational Airport. word forms unless The first name of an individual and otherwise indicated. the word international may be deleted from a formal airport name while the remainder is capitalized: John F. Kennedy International Airport, Kennedy Text explains usage. International Airport, or Kennedy Airport. Use whichever is appropriate in the context. Do not make up names, however. There is no Boston Airport, for example. Examples of correct and The Boston airport (lowercase airport) incorrect usage are in would be acceptable if for some reason italics. the proper name, Logan International Airport, were not used. Many entries simply give airtight the correct spelling, hyphenation and/or air traffic controller (no hy- capitalization. phen.) airways The system of routes that the federal government has established Abbrev. indicates the for airplane traffic. correct abbreviation of a See the airline, airlines entry for its word. use in carriers’ names. Related topics are in Alabama Abbrev.: Ala.