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By Emily Donovan A viral story with a clickable headline still has to be trustworthy, says Upworthy’s Matt Savener. After Upworthy errantly published a fear-mongering, pseudo-science video analysis of a Chicken McNugget that it had to apologize for back in 2013, the viral content site realized it needed to earn its readers’ trust again. They…

By Gerri Berendzen A new online style guide from the National Center on Disability and Journalism aims to provide context to the words we use when writing or talking about people living with disabilities. The NCDJ’s updated style guide has more than 80 entries. Each entry features background on the term or phrase, the National Center on…

By Matthew Crowley Where’s an undertaker when you need one? Maybe it’s a sign of hyperstimulation or an overwrought effort to break through the substantial digital din. But it seems “die” has died as an expression of extremity Cue the dirge. In a Nov. 29 New York Times article on Internet-text speech hyperbole, Jessica Bennett reported that “I’m…

By Mark Allen The end of daylight saving time brings back the standard point-counterpoint over that middle word: Is it singular or plural? Daylight saving time is the preferred rendering, but in casual use, it’s just as often plural. The form “daylight savings time,” exists for no particular reason except for our predilection to pluralize…

By Gerri Berendzen Today is National Dictionary Day. Why? Because Noah Webster was born on this date in 1758. Trivia fact No. 1: That makes him 200 years older than me. Title page of “A Dictionary of the English Language,” written by Noah Webster. By Noah Webster; engraved by H. B. Hall and Sons, 62…

By Gerri Berendzen Summer may be nearly over, but the tips offered by ACES members Katharine O’Moore-Klopf and Mark Allen during the July #ACESchat — “Summertime and you’re editing” — are good for the entire year. Whether you are freelancing and working from home, or correcting that copy from a traditional office, sometimes it can…

By ACES Staff The National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association issued an open letter Monday for media outlets reporting the Caitlyn Jenner story. The letter said that many newsrooms have questions about how to cover transgender individuals and offers advice on wording so that coverage is fair and accurate. “We are not an advocacy group. Our mission is…

By Matthew Crowley Who goes there? The author, New Yorker copy editor Mary Norris writes, optimally followed by the copy editor, trailing noiselessly behind. In “Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen,” her terrific memoir-cum-usage guide, the longtime New Yorker copy editor describes all the good things editors can do with both activity…