"Blog post" was the text I received from someone in this class reminding me to write this. Meanwhile, as I checked the message, I rolled my eyes, annoyed that I had yet another thing to do. I wasn't annoyed because I had a lot of homework or anything, but because in less than 15 minutes The Star Ledger needed the PDF files to print, pack, and ship The Stute to the Howe Center in the morning, and we were still a ways to go before the paper was finished and the deadline was met.
Now, as I write this paragraph, I just finished a less-than-four-second search on Google News with the keyword "standards." Shale drilling standards... common core standards... olive oil standards — I wasn't into any of this. I thought for a moment about discussing professional wrestling standards, but I didn't want to repeat the same topic as two weeks ago. Plus, this was a full topic that couldn't be tackled in a single blog post (at least well). Alas, to make my long prelude short, I decided that in this post I would discuss overall standards regarding The Stute and, in turn, the newspaper industry.
Let's get it going.
From top to bottom, The Stute (or any printed publication for that matter) oozes standards: headline size, headline font type, border size for images, formatting for captions, image color modes specific to print, and several more. Some of these standards are devised by us, but almost all are derived from the authority on newspaper style, the Associated Press (AP).
A juicy example of voluntary consensus, the guidelines set forth by the AP Stylebook, the Holy Bible of the news industry, are not law. However, all professionals in the news industry have an understood agreement that the AP Stylebook is the standard for how news and newspapers should be formatted and agree to adhere to its guidelines by their own volition.
The Stute is no exception.
For example, let's examine some of AP's recent changes to its style guide:
- In 2011, "website," "email," "cellphone," and "smartphone" lost their hyphens and spaces and became one word.
- In 2012, "illegal immigrant" was defined to include anyone who "resides in a country in criminal or civil violation of immigration law."
- In 2013, then changed "illegal immigrant" to "illegal immigration," because the crime is illegal, not the person, and (I won't even paraphrase here) "reversed its opinion that the term 'partners' be used to describe legally married same-sex couples. The stylebook now recommends that 'husbands and wives' be used to describe such couples.
While those four changes are just a microscopic sample of the amount of content AP features in its style guide, it is telling of a key component that defines the Associated Press: recommendation. AP's guidelines do not necessarily correspond to what we see on Gizmodo, high school essays, and even college work. In fact, the notion of putting two spaces after each period is a custom we learn in high school and is one that many still adhere to today. However, according to AP, only one space is to be used after a period. Plus, we see "e-mail," "E-Mail," and "E-mail" all the time. What the heck is all of this? A prime example of voluntary consensus on a global level.
From CNN to ESPN, the titans of the news industry follow what are essentially made-up guidelines by some non-profit newsies in New York. Who allows them to recommend the ban of the word "homophobia" in news publications? Who allows them to define what an illegal immigrant is or isn't? Who gave them such power? We did. Yep, by voluntarily agreeing to some group's suggestions (and I understand that is oversimplifying the Associated Press), a tomb of "tips" became pseudo-law.
I'm not against the Associated Press. In fact, The Stute is not the most strict follower of AP's guidelines either. Most of The Stute is derived from AP, but is not necessarily AP itself. In fact, The Stute only truly adheres to AP with respect to formatting text. We don't have a ban on "homophobia" in our writing, nor do we have one on really any other word, except for profanities and other inappropriate words or phrases that we deem so at our own discretion. We use AP as a guide, not law. This point may seem obvious and, well, pointless, but it's a clear-cut example of an organization that participates in the most unique relationship borne from standards: voluntary consensus. And while we don't follow AP to the letter, our organization has been recognized on numerous occasions by the Associated Press' collegiate journalism sect for excellence.
Not everyone's looking to mandate and control. Concepts like voluntary consensus may seem dismiss-able in theory, but in practice, we don't even notice the phenomenon is occurring. It simply does.
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