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2015 AP Stylebook adds more than 300 new or revised entries

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The Associated Press today released the 2015 edition of The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, which includes about 300 new or revised entries. 

Stylebook editors worked with AP Assistant Sports Editor Oskar Garcia to completely review and update the sports chapter, with guidance and input from AP sports editor Michael Giarrusso. It includes updates on baseball, basketball, football, horse racing, soccer and winter sports.

For the first time, an 85-page index has been added to the back of the Stylebook so that users can more quickly find words and definitions.

At more than 600 pages, the AP Stylebook is widely used as a writing and editing reference in newsrooms, classrooms and corporate offices worldwide.

Among the changes to the 2015 Stylebook are:

  • Sports updates range over baseball playoffs, basketball’s NCAA Tournament, horse racing, injuries, Olympic Games, race distances, soccer tactics and titles.
  • New guidance is given on covering suicide in news reports. The phrase “committed suicide” should be avoided except in direct quotations from authorities because it may imply an illegal act. Alternate phrases are killed himself, took her own life or died by suicide.
  • Global warming can be used interchangeably with climate change.
  • Other new or revised entries include Affordable Care Act; animal welfare activist; autism spectrum disorder; Ebola, execution-style; justify; obscenities, profanities and vulgarities; One World Trade Center; and privacy.
  • Nearly three dozen new entries, ranging from amaretto to tsimmes, have been added to the Food chapter, and more than a dozen to the Fashion chapter, from Manolo Blahnik to Alexander Wang.

AP Stylebook Online is updated throughout the year with the new and revised entries.

AP Stylebook editors David Minthorn, Sally Jacobsen and Paula Froke will answer questions about the new book today at 2:30 p.m. ET in a Twitter chat, using the hashtag #APStyleChat.

The AP Stylebook is available in print and digital formats.

The subscription-based AP Stylebook Online includes all Stylebook listings, plus an Ask the Editor feature with more than twice as many entries as the book itself, a pronunciation guide with phonetic spellings and audio pronouncers, and topical style guides about news events. Users can add their own entries, make notes and get notifications throughout the year when AP’s editors add or update listings.

Stylebook & Webster’s New World Online adds 185,000 definitions from Stylebook’s primary dictionary to Stylebook Online’s subscription website. A single search delivers results from both and clearly identifies the source of each entry.

This year we are transforming AP Stylebook Mobile from a standalone app to an iOS view of AP Stylebook Online. Users can access Stylebook Online via iPhone or iPad, even when they don’t have Internet connectivity. The new app is expected to be available soon.

The 2015 book costs $20.95, or $16.75 for member news organizations and college bookstores. AP Stylebook Online prices are $26 for individual subscribers for one year and $16 for news organizations that are AP members. Prices for online site licenses are based on the number of users, starting at $210 for 10 users for a year. The mobile app is now free to download; users must have an active Stylebook Online account to access content.

AP works with two technology companies to provide electronic proofing for AP style, and both products are being updated to reflect the latest guidance in the 2015 edition. Tansa offers an AP Stylebook module for its proofing tools, which work with newsroom production systems, and the company also developed AP Lingofy, which proofs text composed in Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and now Safari. AP StyleGuard, powered by Equiom Linguistic Labs, is a plug-in for Microsoft Word and Office that reviews text for AP style.

The new print edition and digital subscriptions can be ordered online at http://www.apstylebook.com.

AP also offers Spanish style guidance with its Manual de Estilo de la AP, an online-only style guide for universal use by publishers, broadcasters and readers from all Spanish-speaking countries, with an emphasis on Latin America and the United States.

Updated regularly since its initial publication in 1953, the AP Stylebook is a must-have reference for writers, editors, students and professionals. It provides fundamental guidelines for spelling, language, punctuation, usage and journalistic style. It is the definitive resource for journalists.

On the Web: http://www.apstylebook.com/

On Twitter: http://twitter.com/apstylebook

On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/apstylebook

Contact

Paul Colford
Director of Media Relations
The Associated Press
212-621-1895
pcolford@ap.org

Erin Madigan White
Senior Media Relations Manager
The Associated Press
212-621-7005
emadigan@ap.org

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