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Unapologetically surprising
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If you’re reading this newsletter, you probably already understand the importance of word choice, especially in news coverage. Just last week we covered language surrounding abortion, for example. Choosing your words carefully when you're covering political or social topics often carries extra importance. But it’s not just these big “vocabulary words,” such as antiabortion or pro-abortion rights, that matter. Our friends at Trusting News, whom we’re partnering with to update our style guide this election season, have asked news consumers what signals indicate that a news story is unfair. The respondents often point to words that journalists might not give a second thought to, such as “surprising” or “unapologetic.” This might sound, well, surprising, but these words can convey a point of view or reflect a journalist’s assumptions. You might be turning people off, or polarizing your coverage, even as you’re trying to remain neutral. And with trust in news at a record low, every word counts, especially in an election year. So if you want to build your audience’s trust in your election coverage, or your coverage more generally, consider bookmarking this Trusting News resource and double-checking yourself when you use one of the words on the list. And now when you ask Stylebot about one of these words, we’ll share Trusting News’ advice with you. If you’d like to get advice like this in your newsroom’s Slack or Teams workspace this election season, reach out to us or see if you qualify for free access through the Knight Election Hub. ❤ Team Stylebot
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Stylebot
Hone your writing skills and never use "hone in" again. Get writing tips, have fun with words and learn something new in a one-minute read each week by signing up for Stylebot’s newsletter.
Here at Stylebot, we've been racking our brains to figure out how to help more people with their writing and editing needs. And a few weeks ago, we asked you what topic you'd like to learn more about. Most people who responded said they'd like advice on how to avoid common writing mistakes. So today, we're excited to share our first e-book on that very topic. It walks you through four common writing mistakes and the grammar rules you need to know to fix them. Think of it as a condensed...
Writing about abortion is a good reminder of why language matters. In fact, the terms “pro-choice” and “pro-life” are so well known that they scarcely need explanation. But the reason you know the terms so well is precisely the point: They are the preferred terms of advocates, who choose their words carefully to frame the issue in a way that advances their arguments. With the 2024 election on the horizon, we’re devoting some issues of this newsletter to writing about election-related topics....
Football season is nearly upon us, with the NFL wrapping up its preseason games this weekend. To celebrate, we're resharing one of the first editions of this newsletter, in which we weave together football and grammar. Enjoy! NFL referees may know the rules of football, but they clearly need to up their grammar game. If you’re a football fan, you’re likely familiar with the phrase, “After reviewing the play, the ruling on the field stands.” And if you’re not, we’ll catch you up: When NFL...