Titles and colors change over the years

This post was published in the Wilson Times July 17, 2020

How people are referred to in newspaper articles is not a discussion topic that attracts much of an audience, but that issue has been discussed, criticized and defended periodically throughout my three-decade career as a newspaper editor.

The earliest controversies of my career (in the 1970s and ‘80s) were over the use of courtesy titles for women. The growing feminist movement saw feminine courtesy titles as antiquated or offensive. The prevailing “Miss” and “Mrs.” were supplanted by the more modern “Ms.” Some women objected that the titles revealing marital status were not applied to men. Newspapers set their own rules, but daily papers mostly abided by the Associated Press Stylebook, for consistency if nothing else. For a time, reporters would ask a woman what courtesy title she preferred — we left it up to the woman being interviewed or written about. She could be Miss, Mrs. or Ms. Take your pick. This led to some awkwardness, as you might expect. But it seemed necessary to follow the guidance that a woman should have the right to decide how she is referenced in a news story.

Keep in mind that, as this evolution was going on, most newspapers used courtesy titles only on second reference. On first reference, a woman would be referred to as “Jane Doe.” On second reference she would be Miss Doe, Mrs. Doe or Ms. Doe.

Old ways of thinking about women and their roles in society resulted in some women insisting that they be identified by her husband’s name, e.g., Mrs. Donald Doe. I fielded a few phone calls from (mostly older) women who were irate that the newspaper used her first name instead of her husband’s in a first reference to the woman. Explaining that the newspaper’s courtesy title rule gives women their right to their own identity didn’t go over well. A revision of AP’s rules made all second references, male or female, last name only. Two major newspapers, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, took a different tack: They used courtesy titles on second reference — Ms. or Mr. Not many smaller papers followed that lead.

Another courtesy title, Dr., caused some consternation when the Associated Press Stylebook ruled that the public associates the title of Dr. with medical doctors and could be misleading if the reference is to another type of doctor, such as a Ph.D., doctor of divinity, etc. To avoid complaints and to more clearly identify people, I recommended that all references to doctors of all stripes use the degree or certification after the name, such as, Jonas Salk, M.D., or Albert Einstein, Ph.D.

Those issues of the past 40+ years have largely been settled by societal evolution and other factors, but a new reference controversy has generated some controversy and a quick change of heart. My daughter brought this to my attention. A young, African-American reporter became angry when a copy editor told him that “black” as a reference to race should not be capitalized. The AP Stylebook at the time (just months ago) had declared that black should be lower case because it’s a color, not a nationality (e.g., Italian), ethnicity (e.g., Arab) or race.

But in light of the worldwide protests following the murder of George Floyd, the AP changed its policy. Black, referring to race, is now capitalized. Some have wondered whether people now referred to as Hispanic or Latino might lobby for a capital-B Brown. And if Black and Brown are capitalized, won’t you have to capitalize White, to be consistent.

Uh, Oh. That runs into a problem, some have noted. White supremacists have been insisting on capitalizing White. My guess is that AP will not want to follow the lead of white supremacists.