Major AP style changes

Since the release came out April 1, I guess that rules out April Fool's Day joke.
Maybe TV anchors were complaining about being embarrassed on the air by saying "Calif." and "Mass." because they couldn't figure out they should say the whole name. ;D

 

If you're referring to the parent company, it's Wal-Mart. If you're referring to one of the stores, it's Walmart.

Example: Wal-Mart operates Walmart stores.

It's freaking stupid.

 

On my desk I have an AP style guide with a paper clip on two important pages. One is the sports section. The other is state abbreviations. If little old me in Podunk can take five seconds to look up an abbreviation, surely an AP writer can too.

 

The heads at the ASSociated Press never cease to amaze me.

First it's the stupid shit with everything being present tense in their stories.

Now this.

If you don't have anything to fucking do, you shouldn't be fucking employed. There are tons of talented people out there who would be happy to have your job.

/rant

 

If this is going to turn somewhat into a pet peeves with the AP thread, I hate its inconsistency with fractions.

1-2, 1-3, but 5/8? One way or the other.

I change them all to / because I think it's tough for a reader to read "1 2-3 innings."

 

The only time you see a dash instead of a slash in AP fractions is in baseball, referring to innings pitched. I saw an explanation for this a few years ago, but not to my satisfaction.

 

Oh, well, just more editing work. Not like I have any shortage of stuff to fix in a nightly copy desk shift. Thanks for the notice.

 

We learned abbreviations in journalism school as part of one of the first classes that incorporated AP style.

It's not that damn difficult to learn them or, as noted, to look them up in the Style guide.

 

I doubt we will follow this style change in our newsroom. The last thing we want is more datelines breaking over a column. I agree with an earlier post. More major U.S. cities can be standalone without a state abbreviation.