Happy Monday! Today I want to share an interesting read
shared via another PR Rep I know. We
were having a discussion about AP formatting and how many new publicists either
don’t know what this is or they simply don’t care.
In his words, “The Associated Press Stylebook has been the
gold standard for arbitrating style for journalists and other professional
writers for decades. The wire service guide recently made some changes to the
time-honored bible for writers. The AP changed its rule to allow use of “over”
to also mean “more than.” More recently,
AP has decided to spell out states completely (when used with a city, town,
village or military base). Previously, the AP had its own unique manner of
abbreviating states’ names — unique in that it was a third way — neither
completely spelled out nor abbreviated with two capital letters in accordance
with U.S. Postal Service practices. Hence, Arizona was known to AP initiates as
“Ariz.”, which wasn’t a consistency issue as much as it was a formality issue.”
I do believe the AP standard shouldn’t be ignored. There is
something to be said for the practice of true public relations efforts versus
the enormous amount of “fake it til’ you make it” practitioners opening up
companies everywhere these days. Seeing
an AP styled release is a breath of fresh air in today’s industry. It helps
true PR professionals identify one another.
Why am I saying all of this? If you are looking to jump into
the PR game, please make sure you are learning the practice of AP writing and
wiring. This alone will amplify your status as a true PR professional within
the industry!
Until tomorrow,
Coco the CEO
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