Newspapers
 | Most newspaper names don’t include "the."
References to these papers should lower-case the article. Other
newspapers do consider "the" a part of their formal names,
causing it to be capitalized. The only way to determine this for
newspapers not specifically mentioned in the AP Stylebook is to
check a media directory or look at the nameplate of the paper
itself. (If "the" is included in the nameplate, it's
considered part of the formal name.)
Note: Capitalization of
"the" often follows dropping the
city name from the newspaper's
title, but this is not invariably
true.
The story appeared in the Grand Forks Herald.
BUT: William Marcil is publisher of The Forum.
... The Times-Picayune (New
Orleans)
... BUT: Star Tribune
(merged Minneapolis Tribune and
Minneapolis Star)
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| Some newspapers that have resulted from past mergers hyphenate
their names; others do not. Once again, look at their nameplates.
Steele Ozone-Press,
Duluth News-Tribune, Chicago
Sun-Times ... BUT
Star Tribune
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Watch out
for the "saints." Some are
abbreviated, some not.
St. Paul
Pioneer Press ....
BUT Saint Cloud Times
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| In AP style, the names of newspapers and magazines are not
italicized or set off in quotation marks.
Books and magazines often italicize newspaper names (as well as
book titles and magazine names) as part of their in-house style.
However, italicized type could not be sent over Associated Press
teletypes and isn't supported by the computer programs in use today
... the practical reason behind this AP style dictum.
When
newspapers review books, the
titles are often italicized
**even though** the AP Stylebook
recommends quotation marks. This
is a shift in modern usage. The
names of reference books — like
the AP Stylebook, Webster's New
World Dictionary, the Bible (and
for that matter, the Koran) are
not italicized or enclosed.
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|
NOTE: Never underline titles of books or publications.
That's an old typewriter convention that's entirely out of date
today in media writing. (Some formal academic styles still use
underlines, but you don't need to worry about that unless you're a
graduate student writing a thesis.) |
Magazines
| In AP style, magazine names are capitalized but not italicized or set
off in quotes. The word "magazine" is capitalized only if it’s
part of the official name. |
Sally Platkin Koslow was appointed editor-in-chief of McCall’s.
George W. Bush and Al Gore appeared on the cover of Time magazine.
| The titles of magazine
stories are set off with quotes.
NOTE: Titles of songs, movies and artworks are set
off the same way. |
The February issue of
Glamour featured a story titled "My Life with AIDS."
NOTE: The correct word is "titled," not "entitled."
The latter is a completely different word meaning "deserving."
Radio
| Radio
stations' call letters appear in all caps. Use hyphens to separate from AM or
FM:
WDAY-FM, KFYR-AM.
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| "AM" or "FM" are necessary only when two stations
share the same call letters. |
KFNW-AM and KFNW-FM
| The words "radio" or
"television" are not considered necessary in referring
to a station unless it’s critical to understanding multi-media
operations (those with both TV and radio). |
The Moorhead public radio station's name is
simply KCCM-FM, since
only one station uses those call letters ... but use radio station KFYR or
KFYR Radio or KFYR-AM to
differentiate from KFYR-TV and KFYR-FM.
| Stations’ call letters are frequently used
alone with neither a band designation or the word "radio." |
Sandy Buttweiler
has the midday shift at KFGO.
| If the station has created its own marketing designation that isn’t
part of its call letters or an abbreviation, capitalize only the first letter —
not the entire word.
NOT FROGGY 102 or the FOX Network — instead: Froggy
102 or the Fox Network
Marketing
nicknames like
Y-94, Q-98,
The Fox 107.9 or Moose Country 102 are usually
acceptable in references. But in
stories in which the station’s corporate identity is important, the
true call letters should follow in parentheses. |
In stories about the sale of a station, for
example, use this style:
Q-98 (KQWB-FM),
Froggy 99.9
(KVOX-FM)
Television
| Television
station names follow the basic radio rule ... WDAY-TV. Also acceptable: Channel 6.
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| It’s not necessary to use both call letters and the channel
designation in the same reference.
NOT "WDAY Channel 6"
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| Program names are enclosed in quotation marks. (See
AP Stylebook entry
on "composition titles.")
Remember that periods and commas **always** go inside the closing
quotation mark! |
They watched
"Valley News Live,"
"20/20"
and "Lost."
| Capitalize
names of networks when they are true abbreviations. |
ABC, NBC, CNN, MTV, TNN and A&E
are abbreviations for full names (American Broadcasting Company, Cable
News Network, The Nashville Network, for example.)
"FOX" is not an acronym, and
it should be written like a
normal proper noun:
Fox. It’s capitalized in the
channel's
corporate logo, not in life.
Internet and World
Wide Web
| AP style recommendations for the Web and Internet references are
still evolving. Expect to see revisions in years to come, since URLs in
particular are unwieldy and cause lots of typographic problems
when they appear in print stories.
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| Web
URLs should generally be kept
lower-case. Do not underline them when they appear
in print articles. (You may need to outsmart your word processing
program to accomplish this, since most of them sense and
automatically create a hyperlink when a web address is entered.)
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| URLs are generally italicized
or given some other special type treatment to set them off from
text. However,
this hasn’t become news style because italics aren’t
traditionally
available on the AP
wire.
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| In
AP style, URLs may be included at the end of the story, set off
from text by three long dashes. They don't appear in the body of
the story.
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| When a URL is at the end of the sentence, go ahead and add that
concluding period – even though it’s not part of the address. |
Visit our corporate Web site at
www.hansonphoto.com.
If the URL is too
long for a single line, break it at a logical spot and continue on
the next line. Do NOT hyphenate; as this indicates the hyphen is
part of the address.
www.thelookgallery.com/weddings/
bridalgallery.htm
| Note that the words
World Wide Web, Web, Internet and Net (on
second reference) are all capitalized.
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Last updated on
02/12/08
by Nancy E. Hanson
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