The latest edition of the Canadian Press Stylebook has been updated to provide reporters and editors with enhanced guidance on writing about issues involving mental illness, race, climate change, COVID-19, and many other “sensitive subjects.”
The 19th edition features advice and guidance for writing and editing, including:
- Extensive help on writing about the COVID-19 pandemic, including hot topics like vaccines, variants and the ever-evolving language of public health.
- New advice on writing about sensitive issues such as sexual misconduct, age, mental illness, addiction and dependence.
- Modern rules to govern the use of terms like Black, Indigenous, white, brown and Uyghur, among many others.
- Expanded guidance on how to incorporate more diverse voices into your work, and how best to navigate the shifting norms on race and ethnicity.
- Fresh counsel on handling tricky subjects like disabilities and mental illness.
- An all-new section on writing about climate change.
- Updated information on how best to handle polls during election season.
- Keeping up with the latest changes to the Canadian Senate.
- Current advice on how to use access-to-information laws.
- A chapter on writing for, with and about the internet and social media.
- Food for thought when it comes to naming individuals in certain circumstances, such as after a gender-related transition or in cases of minor criminal allegations.
- A comprehensive look at how you can safely and effectively practice and promote your craft with tools like Twitter and Facebook, while keeping true to basic newsroom principles of impartiality, fairness, accuracy and even-tempered discourse.
- Detailed rules governing the use of unnamed sources.
New guides can be purchased online here.
