The Associated Press announced this week it will not capitalize the word “white” in articles concerning race following a style change to capitalize the word “black.”
“There was clear desire and reason to capitalize Black. Most notably, people who are Black have strong historical and cultural commonalities, even if they are from different parts of the world and even if they now live in different parts of the world. That includes the shared experience of discrimination due solely to the color of one’s skin,” the announcement, posted by John Daniszewski, the organization’s vice president for standards, said.
The Associated Press announced the decision on its website Monday in a post titled, “Why we will lowercase white,” a day after the press organization announced the word “black” would be capitalized.
“White people generally do not share the same history and culture, or the experience of being discriminated against because of skin color. In addition, we are a global news organization and in much of the world there is considerable disagreement, ambiguity and confusion about whom the term includes,” the post continued.
Daniszewski went on to address any perceived discrimination against white people for choosing not to capitalize the word and said the organization will “periodically review our decision.”
“Some have expressed the belief that if we don’t capitalize white, we are being inconsistent and discriminating against white people or, conversely, that we are implying that white is the default. We also recognize the argument that capitalizing the term could pull white people more fully into issues and discussions of race and equality. We will closely watch how usage and thought evolves, and will periodically review our decision,” he wrote.
The news wire service serves as a model in journalism in regards to writing style within the industry and releases guides that are followed by news outlets across the country.
