AP makes its (lower)case for internet and web

From fervent denunciations to a tacit ‘What took you so long?’ the online cadre of editors and PR pros are chiming in on the shift, which is in effect today, as the 2016 Stylebook publishes.

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Ding-dong: The 2016 AP Stylebook tolls.

If you’re using a 2015 AP Stylebook, you’re a year behind, and if you’ve capitalized internet at some point today, you’ve already made an error.

So says The Associated Press in its 2016 Stylebook revisions, effective today.

The “definitive resource for journalists, and a must-have reference for writers, editors, students and professionals” has put a decades-long debate to rest with one seemingly simple shift:

The 2016 Stylebook includes about 250 new or updated terms, including lowercase internet and web. https://t.co/x82XygL5Yj

— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) May 27, 2016

Associated Press editors made this change—and several others—known in their review of the 2016 Stylebook at the ACES conference in April.

Editors, reporters and PR pros tweeted a mixed bag of reactions to the initial announcement. Here’s a sampling:

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