Thread by @MotherJones

1/ For the first time in our 44-year history, we published our style guide!

It’s the handbook we use for guidance on choosing our words, and we’ve updated it to include more accurate language about race, gender, abortion, immigration, climate, and more.

2/ You can read our living, constantly updated style guide here: bit.ly/37c4oCB

3/ A handful of newsrooms have released their style guides: BuzzFeed News (@styleguide), @theguardian, @nytimes, @BBCworld, and others. We’re sharing ours to encourage readers, and ourselves, to learn out loud about words’ consequences and constraints.

@styleguide @theguardian @nytimes @BBCWorld 4/ Some highlights:

• The distinction between disinformation and misinformation
• The distinction between victims and survivors
• A default to gender-neutral occupational titles (with exceptions)
• Climate language like "accepting" scientific facts, not "believing" in them

@styleguide @theguardian @nytimes @BBCWorld 5/ When it comes to gender, go with “all genders,” not “both genders.” bit.ly/37c4oCB

@styleguide @theguardian @nytimes @BBCWorld 6/ On abortion, Mother Jones’ preferred terms are pro-choice and anti-choice or anti-abortion rights—not pro-life unless attributed or important in context. bit.ly/37c4oCB

@styleguide @theguardian @nytimes @BBCWorld 7/ On immigration, our writers and editors use the words “legal” and “illegal” only to describe an action—not a person. bit.ly/37c4oCB

@styleguide @theguardian @nytimes @BBCWorld 8/ African American and black/Black are not interchangeable: African American refers to an American black/Black person of African descent. bit.ly/37c4oCB

@styleguide @theguardian @nytimes @BBCWorld 9/ Questions we’re debating:

• When should we use Latinx?
• Should Black and Brown always be capitalized (but not white) or should individual writers and sources decide on their own terms?
• What’s the distinction between “white supremacy” and “white nationalism”?

@styleguide @theguardian @nytimes @BBCWorld 10/ There are some gutlessly neutral, deeply flawed style guides out there, examined in our intro (link below). While Mother Jones doesn’t hesitate to take a stand, we also don’t make blanket pronouncements in cases where there’s good reason to leave things open.

@styleguide @theguardian @nytimes @BBCWorld 11/ Our style guide is a work in progress. Reach us at styleguide@motherjones(dot)com and weigh in with comments.

Our copy team will answer all of your nontrolling questions (and most of your trolling ones).

@styleguide @theguardian @nytimes @BBCWorld 12/12 Read more from Mother Jones copy editor @danielkingtime—and tell us what you think—here: bit.ly/2w6Kjkq