Journalism in the Digital Age

 

7 The language of print: a style guide

cable fullier oftener promptlier stop your service badly beaten alround lacking human interest colour drama personality humour information romance vitality

Evelyn Waugh

Scoop, 1938

 

WRITING STYLE

Newspapers use individual house style so that they have their own way of writing and layout. Most newspapers and magazines have their own house style book, which new recruits have to learn. It’s therefore difficult for a book such as this to give a prescription of style that will be common to all newspapers. Instead, this chapter aims at making generally acceptable stylistic points. The rest you will learn on the job.

There isn’t much space in a newspaper, so the language we use must be:

• clear

• unambiguous ...