We'll gather here occasionally to discuss the verities and vagaries of news editing. I hope you'll find the links on the right helpful, too.We'll start the semester with a missive from master editor Robert C. McGiffert, an emeritus professor of journalism and one of my mentors, who passed along two things that set him off as he scanned this week's news.
First was a reference to John Roberts as "chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court." Actually, McGiffert says, the correct title is "chief justice of the United States." The former description, he adds, is "(s)ort of like calling W 'president of the U.S. government.' "
An erroneous reference to the "Congressional Medal of Honor" also stuck in McGiffert's craw. The correct description is Medal of Honor, and those who wear it are recipients, not winners.
How do we know? The Stylebook tells me so.
