New AP Stylebook entries: Why is ground zero now lowercase?
Author: Suzanne Yada Date Posted: August 27th, 2010 (1:48 pm)
If you have an online subscription to the AP Stylebook, you probably just got this e-mail. I haven’t found it posted anywhere else online yet, so I thought I’d do it here:
New entries have been added to the AP Stylebook Online. As an online subscriber, you can receive these updates whenever the Associated Press makes them. Every time you log into AP Stylebook Online, you can easily find recent updates by clicking on “New Entries” or “Recent Changes” in the left navigation bar.
Editor’s Note: New entries on al-Shabab, foodborne, ground zero, NPR, Sudan, video recording and videotape have been added to the AP Stylebook Online.
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al-Shabab: The preferred spelling for the Somali militant group
foodborne (adj.)
ground zero
NPR: Acceptable in all references to National Public Radio. Producer and distributor of noncommercial news, talk and entertainment programming. Headquarters is in Washington, D.C.
Sudan: Use Sudan or Southern Sudan when referring to the governments. But it’s south Sudan and north Sudan when referring to locations.
video recording: Precise term for digital audio and visual recording. Digital has largely replaced videotaping.
videotape (n. and v.): Largely replaced by digital recording. The terms apply only if tape is used.
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“Ground zero” is the most interesting entry. [EDIT: It's not a new change. See tweet below.] Â The addition must be in response to the erroneously named “Ground Zero Mosque” (see Poynter’s column on why that’s bad for journalism and good for SEO). But it’s still unclear whether the lowercase “ground zero” makes the term generic, not referring to the World Trade Center site specifically.
I have a tweet into AP Stylebook and will update this blog post if there is a response. Or maybe I should use old-fashioned e-mail. Or older-fashioned phone calls.
EDIT, 8/27/10, 4:30 p.m.:
Two responses from @apstylebook:
@suzanneyada The term ground zero was inadvertently listed as a new entry. It isn’t new and our style hasn’t changed.
AP Stylebook
APStylebook
@suzanneyada It’s lowercase based on our primary reference, Webster’s New World College Dictionary.AP Stylebook
APStylebook
I’m still not quite satisfied. To me it just makes sense to capitalize Ground Zero in reference to the World Trade Center site, and the rest can be done dictionary-style.
But I can see Bob Collin’s argument that Hiroshima and Nagasaki are far more deserving of the capitalization. Still, in modern context, when people talk about Ground Zero, it’s generally assumed that it’s in reference to Sept. 11.
So what do you think? Is there another term out there that is comparable?
Tags: ap style, ground zero, videotape
Category: copy editing
August 27th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
I can see why ground zero is lower case. There’s more than one. Before 9/11, ground zero was known as the point where an explosion took place. Until 9/11, Hiroshima was ground zero. My guess is, as least for people in Hiroshima, it’s still ground zero.
August 27th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Maybe they just mean don’t hyphenate it?
August 27th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
I can see why it’s generic. Your argument of “in modern context, when people talk about Ground Zero, it’s generally assumed that it’s in reference to Sept. 11″ is myopic — doesn’t apply to people outside of America in general.
August 27th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
True, it may be myopic, but the AP Stylebook is specifically for the U.S. in any case.
That aside, I can see why Bob’s reasoning — and yours — makes sense. But how do you feel about Twin Towers vs. twin towers? AP’s “Ask the Editor” column says it should be lowercase in all instances, and that argument is harder to hold. Unless there is another Twin Towers disaster that I don’t know about…?
August 27th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
Twitter Trackbacks…
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August 27th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Woah- to say AP is for US usage is, I think, a major error. There is no equivalent UK English alternative; the major international styleguides are all based in the US for some reason. Those of us who spell correcltly :) still need a relliable reference guide.
I think the AP has realised it is an international body, and has stopped acting like a regional US service appropriately.
August 27th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
Adding to Dave’s comment, news written in AP style when transmitted through the AP News network reach a much wider audience than Americans in America. When you say twin towers, granted my first thought is of those that stood in NY, but my immediate second thought is of those that still stand in Malaysia (the Petrona towers). They’re known as the twin towers in common parlance. They’re not THE twin towers. Just like the ones in New York weren’t the Twin Towers. It’s truly a well-connected globalized world we live in now. We can’t afford to be just all about America and events here…and our language/style needs to reflect that.
January 19th, 2011 at 3:15 pm
You can name anything “Ground Zero,” and then it will be capitalized: a candy bar, a pub, a disco.
But the term has been around a very, very long time as a common designation of the closest point to a disaster or explosion. If one is speaking of the site of the 9/11 attack in NYC, then it can be capitalized.
Whenever it *is* capitalized as the name for the site of World Trade Center attack, it will not be sufficient *just* to capitalize it. It should be made clear from the context also that it is referring to that spot in particular and with reverence — not to another disaster’s ground zero, or candy bar, or pub.
No need to bring international sensibilities into the mix at all.
Same with Twin Towers. Classification, in language, is by function. If you treat something in English as a proper noun, capitalize it. If you’re treating it as a common noun, don’t. No book — AP or otherwise — is going to be able to prescribe every function every specific user has for everyone one of our one million or so words.