Jerry Brito

Really modern usage

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Wired News announced yesterday that it is no longer capitalizing Internet, Web, or Net in its stories. The move aims to put those media on par with radio and television, which also aren’t capitalized. Being a bit of a style Nazi since my days as a PR person, I still haven’t made up my mind on this one.

The AP Stylebook capitalizes Internet and Web, and eschews Net altogether. The thing is that unlike radio or television, the Internet is one particular network. One could theoretically foresee another worldwide network being built on a different protocol and with a different name. This is why AP, for example, doesn’t capitalize cyberspace or intranet. But practically speaking, Wired News is right, and the Wired Style guide is path-setting when it comes to high tech usage. I wouldn’t be surprised if AP followed suit. Me, I’ll still have to think about it some more before I decide to make a change in these pages and on Brainwash.

BONUS QUOTE (from Walter Cronkite’s final newspaper column this week): “I am dumbfounded that there hasn’t been a crackdown with the libel and slander laws on some of these would-be writers and reporters on the Internet. I expect that to develop in the fairly near future.”

Aug 17, 2004 | Comments