Style committee on importance of language
A consistent and up-to-date style guide helps promote clarity, sensitivity, editors say
This story is part of the Star’s trust initiative, where, every week, we take readers behind the scenes of our journalism. This week, we look at how the Star’s style committee strives to maintain a clear, consistent and sensitive presentation of content.
Is Toronto’s new nickname “The 6ix,” “The Six” or “The 6”? Is the capital of Ukraine spelled Kiev or Kyiv? Are the 2018 Winter Olympics taking place in Pyeongchang or PyeongChang? Does Toronto have an ombudsman, ombudswoman or ombudsperson when the office-holder is female?
These are just a few questions tackled recently by the Star’s style committee, whose role is to ensure consistency in editorial style across all Star platforms. (See how the committee dealt with these questions in the fact box.)
Words are powerful, and that’s why members of the style committee, made up of editors and reporters, take their job seriously.
This involves being a resource for the newsroom, keeping the Star’s stylebook up to date with contemporary terms and conventions of usage, and weighing in on style-related questions and concerns raised by readers, often relayed by the public editor.
What does the word “style” mean in the context of the Star’s various platforms?
Anthony Collins, the Star’s style chief and co-chair of the style committee, describes style as a set of rules about the language the Star uses, encompassing everything from spelling and capitalization to how we treat numbers and measurements, and the word choices we make when we report on sensitive issues.
“Style is important because it makes our writing clearer, more accurate and more consistent, all of which promote trust in our journalism. It also ensures we’re up to date with language change, while being respectful of the communities we serve, and helps give the Star its distinctive voice,” Collins said in an interview.
Star style is informed by a broad range of sources, including The Canadian Press, which publishes both a stylebook and a capitalization and spelling guide that are used by various media outlets. Other considerations come from the developing use of terms or phrases by the public and feedback from readers.
Sometimes a style is adopted to make stories easier for readers to find. For example, the Star’s style guide uses the spelling Al Qaeda rather than al-Qaida because the first spelling is more common and makes our stories easier to find online.
Style decisions are also made by the newsroom’s top editors, such as in the move to use Daesh instead of ISIS, mainly because the Islamic State is considered neither Islamic nor a state.
Because of the Star’s broad readership, the newsroom is constantly trying to strike a balance between using language that is easily understood by most of our readers, and using terms that are considered up to date and respectful by specific communities, Collins said.
For example, last year, public editor Kathy English announced the Star had decided to capitalize “Indigenous” in all cases, and “Black” in reference to Black people, identity, culture and community. This came about after the style committee had received many passionate and thoughtful arguments in favour of making these changes as a mark of respect. The committee consulted widely with individuals and community groups and then rewrote two sections of the Star’s stylebook.
“I believe decisions as small as changes in newspaper style can have a major effect on marginalized communities and the way they’re seen,” Collins said. “Look at the way the conversation has changed around mental illness, for example. Not using ‘schizophrenic’ as a careless metaphor, or choosing to say ‘die by suicide’ instead of ‘commit suicide,’ can help lessen the stigma. Social justice is one of the Star’s guiding principles and I think our language use should reflect our philosophy.”
A hard-and-fast rule isn’t always the answer in many cases. For instance, Star style dictates that gender-neutral terms are preferred for occupations, such as firefighter and flight attendant, but the term “actress” is still used when it comes to award show nominations.
Then there’s the sheer practicality that comes with a clear and consistent style, says the Star’s style committee co-chair Jon Ohayon. If editors and reporters are confused about what terms and spellings to use, when to convert measurements to metric or what currency to use, time can be wasted.
A lack of consistency can also make it hard to find previous stories or photos in the Star’s archive or online — and also lead to an impression of carelessness.
“For example, it would look sloppy or ridiculous to have a headline that says ISIS on one story and one that says Daesh on another, or to have two different spellings of a city, country or person on the same page,” Ohayon said.
“Without style, we would be a mess and that leads to a loss of trust.” The Star’s Trust Initiative is eager to hear from readers. Do you have any questions about how we do our journalism? What are some topics you’d like to see us write about? Send us a note with your thoughts to trust@thestar.ca.