For those of you who thought that AP Style today is the same as it was yesterday and will be the same tomorrow, au contraire. Just as the English language evolves, so too does AP Style. Well, let’s just say so too does AP try to stay up to date. From the list of recent additions and updates related to how we communicate today, you’ll see that AP Style can be a season or two behind the times.
Some recent additions or updates (with exact AP definitions):
- AOL: Acceptable in all references for AOL LLC, the online unit of Time Warner Inc., headquartered in New York. Do not use its former name, America Online
- DVR: Acceptable on second reference for digital video recorder. TiVo is the trademark for one type of DVR. Do not use TiVo to describe the generic DVRs
- flat-panel TV, flat-screen TV: A flat-panel television set contains no cathode-ray tube or optical path, which means it can be thinner than a tube-based TV set
- IM: Acronym for instant message; sometimes used as a verb IM'ing, IM'ed. Acceptable on second reference for instant messaging
- iPod: A digital media player sold by Apple Inc. Use IPod when the word starts a sentence or headline
- MPEG-2: An international standard for digital video compression and decompression
- podcast: A downloadable audio program
- social networking: A practice by which people meet, interact and share information online through the use of such sites as Facebook or MySpace
- wiki: Software that allows a group of users to add, delete, edit and share information on an intranet or Internet Web site
Welcome to 2004, AP Style. |
I guess the main stream media including the AP is slowly starting to realize they better start moving and shaking a little as market share is no longer theirs by fiat.
Posted by: TVS TELEVISIONS | February 20, 2009 at 01:42 PM