Style.
It's the one thing that separates the journalist from the everyday writer. For instance, it's knowing what a dangling modifier is and knowing that it weakens your writing. It's knowing all those grammar rules and telling your friends that their grammar sucks. And yet, most of us don't feel the need to capitalize the letter "I" when writing an e-mail to a friend, including me. Does that mean style rules simply disappear when writing a web story?
Well, no. In fact, web style is not only a good thing, it's a necessary thing. If CNN.com or The New York Times web site simply ignored good journalistic writing style in their online stories, not only would people stop reading them, their credibility and reputation undoubtedly would be tarnished. I can even remember my professors in Multimedia Editing saying that good grammar is simply one thing that you can't ignore. The lay person may not know all the style rules, but he or she can tell the difference between good writing and bad writing. Also, the public will start to wonder if our reporting is even worth a damn if we, as journalists, can't even learn our comma rules or how to spell somebody's name right.
A strong news presence on the Internet grows every day. Some day, people will turn to their computers for news and information more often than they read a newspaper or watch a T.V. news broadcast. The Internet has to set the new standard on appropriate style for all others to follow. Will it follow print rules? Broadcast rules? Both? Maybe all these rules or none of them. Maybe the Internet will develop new guidelines, but for online journalism to function and gain a reputation as a legitimate way to present news, style rules must develop to distinguish journalism from the seemingly endless sea of other written poo-poo out there. In the end, it's style that gives journalists their identity and their credibility.
After all, writing is our job.
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