At PRSA’s ICON 2025 in Washington, D.C., this past October, PRSA’s editorial team, John Elsasser and Amy Jacques, interviewed Anna Jo Bratton, editor of The Associated Press Stylebook, and Colleen Newvine, product manager for The Associated Press Stylebook, to discuss how style guidance is developed — and how it’s evolving as language, news cycles and AI move faster than ever.
You can read the full interview in the February issue of Strategies & Tactics. Below is some bonus content from our conversation, along with several video clips.
Elsasser: There have been reports that young adults say only squares use punctuation. I see it on Instagram, where people won’t use punctuation, and it just kills me.
Bratton: I get asked a lot why it’s important to still use good style and to follow AP Style or any other style. Because you see social media and texting, where few people follow style guidelines or use correct grammar.
But if you’re professionally writing and you want to be taken seriously, it’s important to show that you care enough to write in a clear and concise way, and in a way that shows you took the time to prepare something meaningful and didn’t just dash it off as an afterthought.
I have kids who are 10 and eight, and don’t use any punctuation. But I will still teach them that, when they are students and professionals, using good style and grammar shows respect for their audience and that they took the time to do something meaningful.
Elsasser: You are an exhibitor at PRSA’s ICON 2025. What kinds of queries are you getting from people, and what conversations are you having with PRSA members and attendees here?
Newvine: Well, Anna Jo has signed her first autograph.
Bratton: I wasn’t sure whether that made the Stylebook worth more or less to me for having signed it. [Laughs.]
Newvine: The enthusiasm at ICON is amazing. We’ve had people audibly gasp when they walk by the booth, and I tell them that they’re talking to the Stylebook editors. The conversations are deep passion, deep nerdery. It’s fun to know that we’re among our people.
Bratton: I don’t know if “nerdery” is in the dictionary or the Stylebook.
Newvine: I just made up that word.
Bratton: We’ll consider adding that.
Bratton: We’ve talked a lot about things like datelines and why, with some cities, you can use them without including the [U.S. state or foreign] country. We also have people ask about the Oxford comma.
Newvine: Over and over and over again.
Bratton: And I will just say, “AP does not ban the Oxford comma.” We don’t. We say in a simple series, if it’s not necessary, don’t use it. But if there’s any chance of being misunderstood, you should use the final comma in the series.
On their favorite Stylebook arguments…
Did you know? PRSA members receive a 20% discount on several of the AP Stylebook products:
• One single-user subscription to the AP Stylebook Online
• One single-user subscription to the AP StyleGuard Pro
• One registration for the AP Stylebook Workshop
• One registration for the online writing course “Write Your Way to Success”
Start using your PRSA-AP Stylebook benefits now.
