Stylebook reads

The National Hispanic Media Coalition is a national group that has an office in Pasadena. There are several of us in the Pasadena area who are working with them to encourage more frequent, more diverse, and generally better coverage of the Latino community.

One of the ways that we have been doing this is by going to visit local media outlets and share concerns as well as opportunities for achieving this task. At a recent meeting there was a request that the phrase "illegal immigrants" not be used. There are several studies that show that contrary to the AP's position that this is "accurate and neutral for news stories." The quick response was that this was the phrase that is used in the AP Stylebook. I guess it is to journalists as the Chicago Manual of Style is to writers.

So dear readers, if you are so inclined, please check out the links below, and let your voice be heard. Sometimes words don't seem like much unless you, or those you care about, are affected by the use of a label; even the most subtle differences in language usage can have an impact a person or a group.

"We're already looking ahead to the 2012 edition of the AP Stylebook and would like to hear from you. What new entries would you like to see? What terms would you like defined? What questions would you like us to answer?

Stylebook editors will consider all submissions when putting together the new Stylebook, and some may be used.

The editors also will select their favorite suggestions and give the winners either a free year's subscription to AP Stylebook Online or a free download of the AP Stylebook mobile app for iPhone, iPod touch or BlackBerry".

http://www.apstylebook.com/?do=social_media

http://www.nhmc.org/