Do we really need to have such a big focus on AP Style in journalism school when SEO is going to be more valuable?
When I was taking my journalism classes in college, I haaaated AP Style. For the record, I do not pretend to be a good writer at all. In fact, I’m barely passable.
I wrote some pretty damn good stories in college but lost many grade points because of AP Style errors. AP Style became the focus of my hatred for print media. I enjoy reading print stories, but knew it would never be my profession.
Now that blogs, Twitter, and Facebook lead American news dissemination, how much does strict AP conformity really matter?
Not at all
There is an argument to be made that journalists should be taught both. I can’t really disagree. However, that’s nearly impossible for many of us.
Most people have the capacity to learn one, maybe two writing styles, and actually be good at them. Your first is the everyday email style of writing. That’s really what I would consider most of my blogging; halfway decent streams of thought.
Second would be your more formal article style writing. Straight forward and clear, but not worrying much about AP Style.
Then there is this third category of New York Times style. The apex AP Style. [Read more...]
