The Associated Press Stylebook

Phoenix

June 27, 2012

I have purposefully avoided this little book. It was thick and full of things that were very detailed. The first three years I was an adviser, I was so overwhelmed. There were so many problems with the program: a depleted budget account, lagging ad sales, old equipment, out-of-date software, inappropriate student behavior, in-fighting, low self-esteem among staff members and inferior production quality, just to name a few things. I wasn’t sure why I cared whether or not there was a comma after the last “and” in a series or whether or not the correct spelling of “its” or “it’s” was used.  I made final edits of all stories and pages, trying to making sure that every spelling of “public” had an “l” and every spelling of  “technology” did not have an extra “l”.

My astute students realized that there were not a lot of things that they could not control, but by golly, they could control whether or not they followed the stylebook. So for the past three years, while I worked on all of the structural problems, such as justifying and purchasing new equipment and software, stressing teamwork, and balancing the budget, the students have learned and focused on news writing skills and the stylebook. I am so lucky. My students and I have made such a great team. I have learned SO much from my students while I have taught them my business savvy skills.

Now, it is time for me to learn this little but thick book called The Associated Press Stylebook. My goal is to have a professional program. During today’s session over The AP Stylebook, I learned the importance of following the stylebook 100 percent of the time. If I am to educate students to be professional journalists, I need to teach them how to check their stories against the stylebook.

Hearing Steve Elliott say today that he has recently let someone go because they continued to use the incorrect spelling if “its” versus “it’s” reinforced for me the importance of paying attention to the details.

This little thick book will become an important resource towards my goal of creating a professional journalism program.

Good Luck and may all of your “l’s” be correctly paced. Oops, I mean “placed”.

Linda Hopson

Three Penny Press

Bellaire High School

Bellaire, Texas