Never Innocent Again
Not only does the new Associated Press Stylebook include "blog" but it also gets rid of one of the rules I most despised. For years, it has mandated that reporters covering a trial declare someone is "innocent" rather than "not guilty." I always found their logic stupid. From a column in Metro West Daily on the new Stylebook:

The word "innocent" was deleted because it was a throwback to days long ago when the printing process left open the chance that the "not" in "not guilty" might -- literally -- fall off the printer's type tray. Some wise scribe figured it was safer to write that a person was "innocent" and not risk turning a "not guilty" verdict into a conviction.

This new edition of the Stylebook recognizes that computers replaced the old lead printing type decades ago. Now we can finally report what a jury decides: A defendant is found "guilty" or "not guilty." Whether the defendant is truly "innocent" is best left between a man and his maker.

- posted by Amy @ 11/17/2003 12:21:00 PM