The new style book is here , the new style book is here ! The new CP style book release inspired these thoughts from a non speller who's life was spent in the upside down and backwards world ,( thank God for the pentaprism it could have been so confusing ) , and further complicated by the ethos of looking at pictures sideways on an easel . Also coming from the same tribe who spent decades driving in circles at the behest of black type on paper gang . The arrival of the books was a mysteriously welcoming ritual dating back probably from the time of monks in monasteries . It represents language change . Things on that front are being recognized as changing . Big players , many in business , entertainment and technology changed language in ways that professional wordsmiths simply have to recognize . Ironically writers create phrases but meet a wall when it comes to creating words. iCan not underStand this concept with the depth that is needed but the release of the CP book sure was fun.
A simple All Editorial email was sent out informing the scribes that the new style book had come out . This announcement sparked a surprising avalanche of response from all over the newsroom , institutional outposts , photography and even the country clubs . The seriousness , humour , and frolic was something like a school yard multi grade free-for -all of ideas and responses . Seriously thought ,if the word iPod or iPhone was at the beginning of a sentence, should the copyright word be capitalized ? This is real word mechanics. Where would Thee be without innovation structure and rules . I guess we would be exactly where we are ,in this fast changing , abbreviated and shrinking space.
In pop cultures cool sounding words that normally come from sports and inner city music genres are coming from tech companies that have been changing the fabric of culture through enablement .
The newsroom reaction morphed into some kind of accidental , amped up , spontaneous team building exercise . AND , It was good to see . Our readers think we are robots .
In a business that works better in theory than practice, the responses regarding the new style book are more interesting to me than the book it self. In design or photography , there can be no such book . BUT ,The ownership , the passion and commitment are the same in all of these segments of our crafts.
The rigid thinking of a style book would simply collapse the creative forms . Words are the building block and centre of the print product. Reporters are trained to be like the last ones . No photographer aspires to create pictures like the last generation or any single person in it. Photography has more similarities to creating a song with words and harmony . Pictures can go beyond words . It has it's own life or legs with which it stands. The effect on the reader is part intellectual part physiological .
Pictures that go beyond words are now more common place , with low word content . Captions if any at all are less specific regarding name , age , cross street . It visualality is slowing seeping in. (just made that up)
Again all our specialized skills are out outsource-able but the reaction to the book caused quite a stir across ALL EDITORIAL email setting a few weeks ago . The style book , a bible of sorts , not unlike the real Bible was to be taken with all seriousness . The Bible had some fun parts to. I love when the bad are smited .
Style means something completely different to print and visual . Style as a word has two completely different meanings , one creating and one that formats .
This topic seems to be only point of serious engagement for the entire cross section of the newsroom culture , from , print , the crabby , the creative and production . The book (pdf and in theory cannot be lost or stolen , it seems someone was alway is searching for it ) is tied so closely with the rigid requirement of the various components of mechanical production . It brings specialized ,unfailing , unflinching tenants in the face of deadline pressure . Structure is also a basic human need , especially for a manufacturing job that has very little top end structure.
The style book is the first tightening of tolerances in a very loose and variable editorial system . The tolerances get tighter as the product solidifies , descending floor by floor , ending in an unalterable stopped state at the end of the press . The web is forever, non stop alterable.
Cultures relentlessly collide .
The response says to me this is a core value in a business where there is so much wiggle room in the top floor of basic principles. It would be hard to find a basic principle that has not been affected by time , circumstance , egos , personalities , agendas , marketing , ethics , and market place pressures .The style book is a crucible in the face of these variables .
Our core need , like the printing press is to work in the exact same way everyday all day long. It is press based thinking. Everything stems from the press ,working backwards to the beginning stage of the blank page everyday. Our thinking and approach to the future is also PRESS based . Production structure of starting & stopping , deadlines , segmented beats , sections ,story length in inches ( even though editors scorn a cutline that is not expressed in metric ) much more press based than we like to think .
The pressure is forever rising like the pressure on a submarine hull as it descends to depths driven by a relentless aggressor . The pressure for normal change occurs in every century , it amazes this business has could the same for so long. Even the great and powerful Eastman Kodak Company lost advantage after having the advantage of inventing the modern digital camera .(and the holding on mentality at a corporate level worrying it would kill the film business, sold it off )
Photography is rising , and digital technology revolution is pushing it .
Yet , there is a uneasiness about the course of action that traditionally was not tolerated . Bottom up communication has always been discouraged over past decades only to be sought in recent years . The crew just adapts , busily doing their jobs .Of course the pressure on the hull is constant and predictable through the physics of descending deeper and deeper . Descending fast or slow makes no difference to the end result . Out sourcing weakens like the selling of organs weakens and makes no difference other that a change in the descending angle.
The crew is happy for every breath , everyone is busy , but the physics is unalterable because the response is mechanical in a digital age.
It is clear that the style book has become a symbol , a constant ,the physics of this rapid change . Not being able to express the deep thoughts it all inspires , the style book has become the line in the sand, a beach head or North Star where many opinions , and the underlying madness is expressed . It becomes the constant , calming surreal soundtrack music of well known disasters . It maintains order in chaos.
Print works at the speed of sound . The forever, jovial , sidekick, photography works at the speed of light. A photographer anticipates action in order to frame and focus . Einstein's theory bends time and gives the photographer a premonition to pick up the slack from the action to the brain , eye , the finger to the photograph . It records the exact moment instead of just missing it . It does not ask another for a quote , it is decisive and first person . It can be used as evidence , it is a hard fact it has no slant except for the context of words. New technology also works at the speed of light . There is a fatal delay in the structure of our business . Our business cannot miss this detail , this time . In the game of media musical chairs of survival ,the elements of survival are working at the speed of light .
In newspaper culture the management of the press based printed word is a legitimate core value , a single view point ,it is also part of the DNA of the long grey line formed from the bottom rung to the top . From thoroughbred to inbred in some cases with such a narrow controlling class that is a concern within any organization . Are newsrooms well run ? were they ever ? Evidence from Senate investigations of the late 1970's and early 1980's suggest they were not back then , and today they try to manage new media. Granted a lot has happened in between , but that was also the start of the decline.
With competition from a free, style-less aggressor that does not rely on rigid structure our world is changing .It is in fact the work of an asymmetrical force and combines a vast range of creativity in a weightless , spaceless , aggressive and shared social form. It searches for the “new” in ways never before considered. It searches “ new” relentlessly on every level , all the time , from everywhere in the world . It is our job to see the scale of it .To see our place in it.
The response needs to be in kind, but our DNA and core values prevent a response . The action needs a broad re-thinking , an aggressive response in kind. At least a plan “B” always in the works. Rigid core values , based on historical seniority prevents progressive change because it is the basis for the last strong surviving value. It does not have anything to do with spelling or placement of punctuation ,just the rigidness of the core values in a world of altered values .
Reporting is a lagging indicator , it waits for ...things known , verifiable and on paper.
The important things about our situation will not be written for twenty years . There is no time for that kind of thinking.
Everyone is in the same boat ,our skills are varied , everyone is courageous and heroic and the problem is solvable . A new age David and Goliath story . Just sling it . There is unused DNA . Kg Dec. 2013
Topic: The new Style Book is Here , the new style book is here (Read 1542 times)