UNIT 5 THE STYLEBOOK
3.0 MAIN BODY 3.1 The Stylebook
Each publication tries to maintain some consistency in its style. As stated in the introduction, style is that distinctive characteristic that sets a discipline, a profession, or a person apart from others .The way journalists write is different from the way doctors or lawyers write.
While doctors use a lot of medical expressions, lawyers’ writings contain many Latinate legal expressions. Journalists, because they are writing for a very large and diversified audience, make efforts to simplify and clarify their writing. One does not require specialized training to be able to understand journalistic writing. Even when a journalist is writing on a highly specialized subject, the emphasis is on simplifying the language so that people can understand. Readers do not need to always keep a dictionary handy when reading articles in newspapers. That is part of journalistic style. There are words or sentence structures that are not conventional. The stylebook codifies all these so that journalists can understand and comply.
The stylebook is also used in training people in a specified profession, this time journalism, so that an aspiring professional would know what is permissible or not. It is this that gives successive generations of professionals a distinct colouration, based on their profession. However, the stylebook is not cast in stone. As times change; some elements in the stylebook are weathered. The changes may be radical or very slow, depending on the general orientation of the profession in question. The legal profession is largely believed to have a very strong tradition which is not disposed to dramatic changes. Even when some legal expressions can be translated from the original tongue in which they are couched, they are left the way they were met, to preserve the original spirit.
In the year 2004, Alfred Opubor, a Nigerian Professor of Mass Communication raised an alarm over certain deviations from journalistic style by Nigerian newspapers. He complained that there was an excessive use of high-sounding words by some columnists, and that this caused distractions for newspaper readers. He added that even as a professor, there were many words used by Nigerian newspaper columnists that he did not understand, and that often, he avoided reading such articles. Professor Opubor’s position was based on the fact that there is an expected standard. Where there are no standards, people can
act or write the way they want. But where there are standards, a person’s performance can be measured against those standards. That is what the stylebook is all about .It is a standard by which different forms of journalistic writing can be assessed.
Just as there are general disciplinary or professional standards, there are also in-house standards which are meant to protect and preserve the uniqueness of publications. These in-house standards reflect the style of the publications. In Nigeria, for example, when the Guardian newspaper started, its style was to avoid using people’s title when referring to them.
Each person was addressed by the first name and surname without titles such as Chie, Engineer, Architect, Pastor, Barrister, Alhaji, Hajiya, etc.
That was their style, but it later changed. When they used that style, it distinguished them from other publications that used people’s titles when referring to them. Apart from the use of titles, there are other elements of style, for example, some publications may decide to use a person’s full names, no matter how many those names may be, while others may decide to use the first name and the surname only.
Take a look at the following names, for example:
1. Alhaji Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari or
2. Chief Olusegun Aremu Okikiola Obasanjo Instead of:
3. Alhaji Shehu Shagari or
4. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
Style may also be reflected in spelling. Some publications may choose to adopt British spelling while others may choose American spelling. These are just examples. There are many other elements of style.
Style operates at different levels, but we shall look at two of them, namely journalistic style and house style.
3.2 Journalistic Style
Journalistic style refers to the copy style used by newspapers and magazines. The style of news writing is usually different from the style of essays, letters and other forms of writing. Journalists usually adopt what is called the inverted pyramid style in writing news. All the rules that guide the presentation of copy by journalists are referred to as
journalistic style. As mentioned above journalistic style is different from the writing style in other professions.
To ensure consistency, the various rules that guide journalistic copy preparation are collated and made available to journalists. This may be done at different times by different people. The book that contains guidelines on style is called the stylebook. One such stylebook in journalism is Stylebook published by the News Limited.
It should be noted that style is not all about correctness or incorrectness.
It is about what is acceptable (or conventional) and what is not. A sentence may be grammatically correct but stylistically unacceptable.
3.3 Housestyle
Apart from the general journalistic style of copy preparation, a particular media house may have specific rules that guide the preparation of copy.
This is called the housestyle and it differs from a particular media house to another. The example given earlier about the avoidance of people’s titles by The Guardian is a good instance of a housestyle. The housestyle of one publication may accept something that the housestyle of another publication does not accept. This confirms that style is not a matter of correctness but a matter of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.
As a way of ensuring consistency and compliance with housestyle, publications usually issue a stylesheet which contains their housestyle.
This makes it easy for new staff, interns and others to know the housestyle and comply with it in copy preparation.
3.4 Stylebook Errors
Stylebook errors simply refer to things that are not acceptable in journalistic style of copy preparation, but which find their way through.
The subeditor tries to ensure that such “errors” are eliminated from copy in the process of sub-editing (or subbing) them, but often, some still manage to get published.
Below are a few examples of stylebook errors.
UnacceptableForm AcceptableForm
1. 9 students were in the bus Nine students were in the bus
2. The event took place yesterday Evening
The event took place Sunday evening
3. Segun Oyedepo, a multi- talented chief has bagged a University degree
Segun Oyedepo, a talented holder of a Chieftaincy title, has obtained a degree 4. Chief (Dr.) Alhaji Nweke
Okechukwu declined to make comments
Chief Nweke Okechukwu Did not make any comment
5. Des Barbara, more committed to unwitting pleasure than the prompting of his heart, has embarked upon a trip to South Africa.
Des Barbara has traveled to Sun city, South Africa
There are several other stylebook errors against which sub-eds wage ceaseless wars. They are so stubborn that they keep resurfacing, but continuous vigilance by the sub desk helps to check them to a very large extent. When stylebook errors get published, those who understand the workings of a media house know that they escaped the scalpel of the sub desk. Stylebook errors are part of the reasons why sub-eds work persistently on copy. They are like weeds. One of the ways in which they can be tackled is through training and re-training of staff, ensuring that the sub desk is strengthened and equipped to identify and remove them while still meeting deadlines.
Self Assessment Exercise 5.1
Check through two of tomorrow’s newspapers and identify at least five stylebook errors in each of them.
4.0 CONCLUSION
A copy editor must be very familiar with the stylebook as well as the housestyle of the publication before he/she can properly carry out his/her duty. Since his/her duty is to, among other things, enforce compliance with both the journalistic stylebook and the publication’s housestyle, his/her first task must be to master both (in any case, a person who has not mastered journalistic style is not likely to get appointed as a subeditor). If he/she had mastered journalistic style but not the housestyle of the particular publication, he/she must, as a master of duty master the latter before he/she takes on the assignment of ensuring that reporters’ and other writers’ copies comply.
5.0 SUMMARY
In this unit we have looked at the stylebook, which we said is a set of rules guiding copy preparation. It was explained that style is very important in publishing since it brings out the uniqueness of each publication. Style as it relates to publishing, it was explained, operates at different levels and comes mainly in two forms (i) journalistic style which is general and applicable to the preparation of copy for all journalistic publications and (ii) Housestyle, which is the preferred style of a particular publication. It was also explained that style is not a matter of correctness or incorrectness, but a matter of preference. Style, among other things ensures consistency. Examples of some stylebook errors were considered in this unit.
6.0 TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT (TMA) Discuss the following:
(a) The style book, (b) Journalistic style, (c) Housestyle, (d) Stylebook errors.
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS
Akinfeleye, R. A (1987) Essential of Modern African Journalism: A Premier. Lagos: Miral Printing Press
Butcher, J (1996) Copy Editing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Daily Times of Nigeria Press (1982) Style Handbook. Lagos: DTN Press Plc
The News Agency of Nigeria (1982) Stylebook. Lagos: NAN
MODULE 2
PRINT PRODUCTION
Unit 1 History of Print Production Unit 2 Raw Materials for Printing Unit 3 Type Composition
Unit 4 Methods of Printing Unit 5 Desktop Publishing
UNIT 1 HISTORY OF PRINT PRODUCTION