How breaking news is changing the AP Stylebook in real time
Since spring, Anna Jo Bratton has overseen The Associated Press’ stylebook, the benchmark resource scores of journalists rely on to keep copy clear and consistent. Part of shaping the book’s guidance as stylebook editor, she said, is keeping up as news breaks and her organization covers it, all over the world.
Bratton, who has been with the AP since 2007, first as a politics reporter and then in several editing roles, discussed how the wire service keeps its stylebook Wednesday at VCON25, ACES: The Society for Editing’s virtual conference. An audience of editors from journalism; marketing and public relations; book publishing; and academia tuned in to pose questions on style, usage and grammar.
Breaking news influences the AP’s guidance, in the moment and in the ever-evolving stylebook. In a preconference interview, Bratton described offering style guidance Aug. 27, when questions arose about the gender identity of the suspect in a Minneapolis Catholic school shooting that left two people dead and 18 people injured.
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