Style Guide

The following is the style guide for the Ballyfermot Post. (Edition: Web edition, lasted edited March 2008)

0

1 - 10
from one to ten is spelled out – does not apply to ages

78a

a

abbreviations
abbreviations should be used after the term has first been explained in full, however common abbreviations (Dart, Fifa, BCFE) do not first need to be written in full – the general rule for abbreviations is if you say it as word (Dart, Fifa) only the first letter is capped, but if you say as letters (BCFE, VEC) all letters are capped 

ages
use brackets, eg, John Doe (5) 

b

Ballyer
a slang term for Ballyfermot, avoid use outside direct quotations

Ballyer.net
web address of the Ballyfermot Post

Ballyfermot College of Further Education
BCFE is normally ok, do not use the long version after first use

Ballyfermot college
on its own, it’s not a proper name, so college is in lower case

Ballyfermot Post, the
unless at the start of a sentence etc, it should generally start with lower case ‘the’

Bebo

billions, millions, trillions
€4m and €4bn, but four million people, four billion years ago, or 12 million bicycles (a million is 1,000,000; a billion is thousand million, so €4,000,000,000 is €4bn, a trillion is 1,000,000,000,000)

Blue Monday
is a song by New Order among other things - no reference should, however, be made to "the most depressing day of the year" or other such nonsense, although stories about such still appear in the media the apparent equation was debunked in 2006 and the Cardiff University distanced them selves from it in the same year

British Isles
out-of-date and outdated, avoid use

c

cafe
never café

Calcutta
if the former name of the city of Kolkata, it should not be used outside brackets, for example: Kolkata (formally Calcutta)

Cannes Film Festival
Cannes alone is fine on second mention or with some context, for example, when the film industry has been mentioned first

Chav
this slang abbreviation, and its long-form, are banned unless direct quotes

Citywest
an area of south-west Dublin - Citywest Business Campus, Citywest Hotel, etc, not 'CityWest', or 'City West'

Commission for Communications Regulation
simply ComReg, the communications regulator, is fine as it is widely used by the regulator and among the main stream media

copy formatting for reporters and writers
writers should submit articles to their editor in the Notpad or Word formats (.txt or .doc). Your document should start with the following – short article description (not headline), word count, your name for the byline. For example…

Band interview, feature
news / pullout / sport
2,000 words
By Eric Blair

currencies
use lc - euro, sterling, dollars, use symbols on front of numerical amounts which are not spelt out; for example, € for euro, £ for sterling, $ for US dollars, C$ for Canadian dollars, AU$ Australian; only use euros - with an 's' - when speaking in an informal tone. The old Irish currency was punts, not Irish pounds. It is €4m, €4, €4.50, but 50c

d

dates
include the day (ie Monday, Tuesday etc) if suited, then month, then date, then year if needed, for example, Monday October 22, 2007 – never use 22^nd or 22nd

Dart
not DART

decades
50s for ages (never 50’s etc), fifties lower case for time period, eg, she was in her 50s in the fifties

Department of Education and Science
Department of Education is ok for general education articles

Department of Health and Children
Department of Health for health articles, but in full for first reference in stories relating to children

Dublin City Council

Dublin Heuston
is the official name of the Irish Rail station, use Heuston station for heavy rail, but Heuston Luas stop or the Luas stop at Heustion station

Dublin International Film Festival
the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival

Dublin VECs
there is a City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee (City of Dublin VEC), and a County Dublin Vocational Education Committee (County Dublin VEC); BCFE is under the City of Dublin VEC, however for grants etc students may come under any VEC

e

EC (European Community)
Do not confuse European Community (EC) with European Union (EU), the EC is part of the EU

Electronic Arts (EA)
games developer and publisher; use Electronic Arts at first reference and 'EA' then after

email
not e-mail

f

Facebook

Fianna Fail

Fifa
not FIFA

Fine Gael

first person shooter (FPS)
a genre of computer games; use shooter – not FPS – on second mention

full points (full stops)
should be used a lot to make short sentences, but never in abbreviations

g

Garda
one police officer is a garda, plural is gardai, never use fadas or any kind of accents

Game
first letter higher case  for UK computer games retailer with Irish outlets, on first reference say “computer games retailer Game” or “Game, the computer games retailer, …”

game
lower case for any other use then retailer

GameStop
GameStop is a US retailer; they purchased the Irish retailer Gamesworld, re-branded, and expanded

gamer
used to describe any person who plays computer games

gaming
(or computer gaming) do not use when writing about gambling

Google

Google Mail
the name for used in Gmail in the UK (for trademark reasons), generally use Gmail

Greenwich Mean Time
used to refer to the atomic time standard Coordinated Universal Time; Irish Standard Time is the official name in Irish law

h

high speed rail
is above 200 km/h (125 mph); there is no high speed rail services in Ireland, while Irish Rail have carriages which could achieve such a speed, there is currently no locomotives in Ireland which can reach such a speed – high speed rail came to Great Britain in 1976 (although they were not first), and, in France, the TGV set a passenger train record of 574.8 km/h in early 2007 (not used in normal service)

i

.ie
the domain name suffix for Ireland

I
‘I’ is not allowed in news stories, reviews, or most features unless it is within quote marks and quoting a third party, not the writer – light columns are the main exception 

I-journalism
further reading: Pick up a copy of the Sunday Independent for a prime example, also see ‘viewspaper’

IE
short for Internet Explorer, Microsoft’s internet browser; use full name and not the abbreviation

Independent News & Media
IN&M

internet
lower case, avoid the world wide web

Irish Rail
The company's registered name is 'Iarnrod Eireann - Irish Rail', they use both, sometimes haphazardly - use Irish Rail, never Iarnród Éireann

IT
information technology - avoid both short and long versions 

ITC
information and communication technology - avoid both short and long versions

italics
names of newspapers, magazines, online publications, songs, albums, films, TV programmes, radio programmes, computer games, books, plays, and poems should be italicised – however foreign words should not, and italics should never be used just for emphasis

j

job titles, etc
job titles should normally be in lower case; managing director, chief executive, chairman, manager, founder, barrister, presenter, co-presenter, reporter, business journalist, etc

k

km/h

l

left-wing
and right-wing – if possibly, avoid as they overly simplify complex matters

London Calling
not London’s Calling

Los Angeles
LA is ok after first mention or in headlines - LA is a city, however the city commonly confused with LA County, if unsure, do not use ‘city’ or ‘county’

Luas

m

media alert
hyped word for a press release; do not use

Microsoft

Microsoft Games Studio
the brand name for Microsoft’s computer games division; use Microsoft

movie
use film rather than movie

n

names
full name and then second name in most cases, for example, John Doe is Doe on second reference; in lighter pieces the first name can be used after first reference – no Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss

Netherlands, the
Holland is only a small part of the Netherlands

newspapers
all newspaper titles are italicised, any which start with ‘the’ should generally be written in lower case – for example,  the Irish Times, the Guardian, the Ballyfermot Post

o

O2
should always be simply O2, do not use extra formatting on the ‘2’

ok
never OK or okay

p

paparazzi
or a paparazzo

percent
one word; never use symbol in articles - but % is ok in headlines

per capita

PSP
PlayStation Portable

PlayStation or PSOne

PlayStation 2
use PS2 on second mention

PlayStation 3
never ‘PLAYSTATION 3’ - use PS3 on second mention

press release
a document which normally contains information about a product or service that is given to the press freely

program, programme
computer program, TV programme, an event’s programme

q

quoting
direct quotation uses double quotation marks, for example; “Direct quotation uses double quotation marks,” said the style guide. For quoting within quoting, use: “John did not say ‘hello’ when I meet him,” said Tim.

r

RTE

s

Sex and the City
not Sex in the City

Sony Computer Entertainment
place name included (Ireland, Europe, North America etc) when and article is place focused; SCE (or SCEE) on second mention

Sony Computer Entertainment Ireland
SCE IE or SCE Ireland, never "SCEI"

Sinn Fein

smartcard

Smyths Toy Superstores
Irish toy retailer and games stockiest; use Smyths – never Smyth’s

the Student Union
never lower case, and never the Student's Union or the Students' Union

t

Taoiseach
the Taoiseach, not ‘An Taoiseach’ (how often do you hear people say An Taoiseach?)

TM
trademark - always remove the symbol from article copy etc, in other uses always use long version

trains and trams
Intercity, Commuter (no longer Arrow), Dart, Metro, Luas

u

Ulster
cannot be used to describe Northern Ireland

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
use UK, or United Kingdom; Northern Ireland is part of the UK, but is not part of Great Britain which is England, Scotland and Wales. The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are also not part of the UK

v

viewspaper
while a newspaper is centred on news, a viewspaper is centred on views, opinion and comment

vox pop

w

Wii

Wikipedia
is not for fact checking

world wide web
outdated - use internet or even 'the net'

WWF
World Wide Fund; never World Wrestling Federation, the former name for the World Wrestling Entertainment

x

Xbox 360
'the 360', in headlines or after first reference; not X360, or Xb360

Xbox
never “Xbox” or “X-Box” etc

Xtra-vision
best known as a video rental retailer, its shops sell and rent games, and sells music and entertainment electronics; the company is owned by Blockbuster - but there is no current plan to use the parent brand

y

You, you’re
Should not be used in news unless in quoted text - the same applies with reviews, which should not use a conversational style 

YouTube

z

ENDS