A manual for inclusive storytelling
Writing the news in a way that is easy for the reader to understand includes using definitions and grammar in a consistent and consequent way. News agency Associated Press has in the US established itself as the publisher of a manual for this – the AP Stylebook. A new edition is on its way with a number of updates, including a new chapter on inclusive storytelling.
The new edition contains updates and expansions covering disabilities; race-related coverage; gender, sex and sexual orientation; pronouns; and religion. Some of entries presented at a conference in Texas with the Society for Editing include:
- A new entry on deaf, Deaf, hard of hearing, advising to use the uppercase Deaf for the Deaf culture or Deaf community in references to those who use sign language and have a deeply ingrained sense of community built around the experience of deafness and sign language. Use the lowercase form deaf for the audiological condition of total or major hearing loss, and for people with total or major hearing loss, when relevant to the story. Hard of hearing can be used to describe people with a lesser degree of hearing loss.
- A new entry on deadnaming (calling a transgender person by their birth name) advising to use a transgender person’s previous name very rarely and only if required to understand the news, or if requested by the person.
The AP Stylebook has been a guide used also by other media since 1953 when it first was publicly available. The first internal edition was issued in 1909. Today Stylebook editor is Paula Froke.
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