Changes to the Washington Times Style Guide

By Eric Pfeiffer | February 25, 2008 5:41 PM | | Comments (1)

As a number of my former Washington Times colleagues can attest to, the hiring of John Solomon as  the paper's editor-in-chief brings with it many hopes for enhancing the paper's reputation, overall quality and staff morale.

One of the paper's most embarrassing components has been its reliance on outdated, and some would say, loaded, stylistic preferences: homosexual "marriage," in place of gay marriage; illegal aliens instead of illegal immigrants, and so on.

Well, it appears that Solomon is on the same page as those wanting a more respectable, albeit still conservative, voice emanating from 3600 New York Ave. The following "style changes" email was issued about an hour ago from the paper's Patrick Tuohy:

From: Patrick Tuohy <ptuohy@washingtontimes.com>
Date: February 25, 2008 4:43:13 PM EST
Cc: Patrick Tuohy <ptuohy@washingtontimes.com>
Subject: Style changes

All:

Here are some recent updates to TWT style.

1) Clinton will be the headline word for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

2) Gay is approved for copy and preferred over homosexual, except in clinical references or references to sexual activity.

3) The quotation marks will come off gay marriage (preferred over homosexual marriage).

4) Moderate is approved, but centrist is still allowed.

5) We will use illegal immigrants, not illegal aliens.

Thanks.

Patrick

Tags: Media

    Comments

  1. We are in big trouble when the Washington Times resorts to politically correct verbage. With new editorial direction taking hold, I will no longer refer to the "conservative voice" of the Washington Times. You are like the congressional republicans who morphed into democrats and lost in '06. They will lose even bigger in '08 with McCain and the "new" Washington Times.
    A once proud reader of the Washington Times.
    Tom Shupper
    Tulsa, OK USA

    Posted by: nav8tor Author Profile Page | February 26, 2008 7:23 PM

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