I love writing for the local magazine. It keeps me in touch with being on assignment, doing interviews, and formulating headlines and leads of my own. I also used to write for a much bigger paper, the Houston Post (bought by the Houston Chronicle) before I taught and I loved that too. However, I clearly see the difference in how I am edited when it comes the two. When I wrote for the Post, the copy editors didn't edit my content very much, more for errors. When I write for the local magazine, they seem to edit my work quite a bit sometimes. They also don't seem to follow the AP Style Rules in the way that I know them.
It makes me wonder how my students feel when I have totally bled something they have written. Do they feel the same way I do when I see my work published, but changed? Or is it because they are given the chance to make the corrections that they may feel differently?
Don't get me wrong, in my very hectic schedule of life, I don't always have the time to make the corrections myself that they may want, so I appreciate that someone does it. I also appreciate that it opens up my perspective in how I teach new journalists.
Shetye Cypher
Tompkins High School
Katy, Texas
When I send students to intern at The Arizona Republic, they have to hyphenate every compound modifier down to "social-media policy," capitalize Black and White for race and do other things contrary to AP style. But that's their local style, and they're consistent. I won't follow AP's style change allowing "over" for numerical value. In the AP style discussion I won't be able to offer in its entirety, I recommend a local style guide since the only institutional memory in teaching is the teacher. Here's ours: http://bit.ly/1N9SeLo.
ReplyDeleteSteve Elliott
Arizona State University
Phoenix