Every publication needs a style. Many take cues, or follow exclusively, the Associated Press Style. We’re going to do the former. Below are the specific style treatments that every assignment should follow. For everything else, we’ll refer to AP Style.
Acronyms: When an organization or group refers to itself as an acronym, the first mention of that organization should use the full name. Subsequent references will use the acronym only. Never put the acronym in parenthesis after the full name.
Attribution and links: Cite sources in the body of your piece using hyperlinks, and link to other relevant sites mentioned in your story to provide context or reference specific events.
Captions: Captions are “informational,” meaning they need to include more than just a name or location. Captions should be full sentences and include information that’s part of the story, but need to state the first and last name of every person in the picture unless there are more than four people.
Credits on photos you took should be formatted as follows: Caption / FIRST LAST (write the name of the person who took the photo in all caps)
If you are using a courtesy photo, add ‘COURTESY:’ after the forward slash.
E.g. Caption / COURTESY JENNY ROBERTS
Headlines: We’ll use down style headlines. The first letter of the first word in a headline should be capitalized, along with any proper nouns in the headline. Every other word should be lowercase.
Human Sources: Every person will be referred to by first and last name on the first reference.
- Titles (such as mayor, senator, officer, etc.) will appear along with these names. Subsequent references will identify people by their last name only. Do your best to make titles as succinct as possible.
DO: Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said Tuesday…
DON’T: Jim Kenney, the mayor of Philadelphia, said Tuesday…
- When using people who share the same last name, their first reference should include full names. On following references, use first names.
Non-Human Sources: Must have a first- or second-degree connection to the story; an establishment’s website does NOT count as a non-human source. These must also be reputable sources — make sure you research and explain any potential bias from sources produced by think tanks or organizations. When attributing information to a non-human source, make sure you write the information “according to [the source]” and not “said [the source].”
Photos: Every post needs a featured image which can be a photo you took or a screenshot of a video you made. It must be original material. All photos need a caption and credit.
Videos: Must be embedded in your post, and cannot appear as a URL. No “floating links.”
Temple University Multimedia Storytelling 