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This is a stylebook I created for The Cambodia Daily in 1996 and installed on the network so that it was available from any workstation. Some of the early material was collected by other staff members (notably Roy Greene), but the bulk of what you see here is my work.
If you are viewing this on the Web, please be aware that this was originally a Microsoft Word tabular document. Return to my |
The Cambodia Daily Stylebookas of Feb 1, 1997The Cambodia Daily generally follows Associated Press style and US spelling. Modifications to this style are listed below, to the extent we have thought of them so far. When there is a question, we tend toward brevity, as our paper is very small. Consistency in following these styles contributes to the professional appearance of our paper--but don't take it too far. If something looks stupid, the fact that it conforms with these rules will not help. About Cambodia box The refers in this box can be shortened versions of the actual headlines, but follow the same format rules as for Headlines. Try especially to keep key words in. The refers can be one or two lines as needed to fill the box, and they should appear in the order of importance of the stories as seen on the pages. All local stories appear whether written in-house or not, and no matter the page. Letters should be listed as Letter: Bla Bla Bla. Leading and spacing should be consistent within the box. About Cambodia box, rationale accents See diacritics. accused of is vague. Do you mean suspected of or charged with? Use the word allege when necessary, and only then. acronyms Use acronyms sparingly to avoid alphabet soup. In stories refer to the full names of organizations on first reference; if the organization is mentioned by acronym again in the story, normally follow the first reference with the acronym in parentheses: In Brussels on Tuesday, the European Union (EU) agreed to attack Germany. You can also set it off with commas, as in the European Union, or EU, ... Lots of acronyms do not make the story look professional; they just make it harder to read. You can often avoid the acronym by using part of the name on further references (The Civil Aviation Board...the board decided...) See also headline abbreviations and acronyms. acronyms, capitalization Most acronyms are capitalized. To be lower-cased, they must be both: (1) pronounced as words in casual usage and (2) five letters or over. Acronyms that pass both tests: Asean, Funcinpec, Untac, Unicef, Concern, Ecpat. Acronyms that fail test (1) are USAID, UNHCR. Acronyms that fail test (2) are NATO, AIDS. Sometimes you have to guess whether an acronym is pronounced or not. For a brain teaser, figure out why we use AusAID. Be careful--CARE is no longer an acronym, but is still in caps. acronyms, widely known Some acronyms, including political parties that have seats in the National Assembly (CPP, Funcinpec, BLDP) do not need to be spelled out. Untac, RCAF, NATO and UN need not be spelled out (Example: UN Development Program). Use the before the acronym if it would be used with the full-length phrase. In Briefs and sidebars, these rules may be relaxed and the list of acronyms that stand alone may be expanded. advertisement placement Should normally be placed on bottom and on outside columns when possible, so that editorial content is in one bunch in the top/middle of the spread. Exception: on the back page, ads should be on the bottom and right side. adviser Never advisor (No, passing the spellchecker is not good enough!) However, advisory. AFP In text, treat as any other Acronym: spell it out. age as an identifying characteristic, just add it after the name: van der Zeen, 38, was arrested... If it is relevant to the substance of the story put it in front: ...the 38-year-old Dutchman was seen in the company of a 15-year-old... Always use figures to express age: She is 5 years old. ahead of does not mean before in the sense of time passage. In contexts such as He changed his position ahead of this summer's election, change it to before, preceding or in advance of. American US is much shorter, and usually more accurate, in adjectival form. As a noun, we use US citizen.. And Also is a section on page two, featuring offbeat, humorous, or even unusual slice-of-life stories. Bizarre sex, shocking violence, grotesque medical oddities, extremes in human stupidity--this is the stuff of a great "And Also." If there's only one And Also, it should sustain fascination throughout. If two, they are great when linked in some way, and the headlines can reflect that linkage in a clever, engaging way. apostrophes are not used with names of decades (the 1960s). Association of Southeast Asian Nations is Asean on first reference. attributions The political and legal environment in Cambodia is fragile. Many laws are vaguely worded, and untested in courts. Information tends not to be in as wide currency as in a society with better-developed communications, so there is less "common knowledge." For these reasons, we are particularly careful in attributing sources to all but the most commonly known and objectively provable statements in our paper. If we do not attribute a source to a statement, that means the Daily is vouching for the accuracy of the statement. The more anonymity we grant a source, the less responsibility they take--and the more responsibility shifts to us. Be careful, especially when attributing past statements to politicians: When was it said? In what context? attributions of news sources For full stories (Tag for brief) THE CAMBODIA DAILY (Name of reporter) or leave blank AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE (AFP) AGENCE KHMERE DE PRESSE (AKP) DEUTSCHE PRESSE-AGENTUR (DPA) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (AP) THE NEW YORK TIMES (NYT) NEW YORK TIMES FAX (NYT) DOW JONES NEWS SERVICE (DJ) KYODO NEWS SERVICE (Kyodo) THE WASHINGTON POST (WP) THE LOS ANGELES TIMES (LAT) COMPILED FROM NEWS SERVICES (News services)
In stories based on press releases, use the form ...said in a statement (not a press release). In stories based on press reports (pick-ups), you can say something like ...according to a report in local Khmer-language daily Rasmei Kampuchea or ...the BBC reported Tuesday. boxes For lists, directions or other peripheral matter associated with a story, or captioned charts or maps associated with a story, make a box one or two columns wide, with a 1pt frame and 2pt inset. The text inside is Futura 8pt bold, like a caption. At the top of the box is a black banner with the title of the box in Futura 11-14pt bold reversed out (WOB)and centered, and a 3pt runaround on the bottom. See also Sidebar, which is a different animal. brackets [in quotations] Square brackets appear only inside direct quotations where something has been added or changed in a quotation for clarity. Bracketed information represents words that the speaker did not actually say. They must not change the person's meaning in the least. If the brackets are at or near the beginning or end of the quotation, you can usually move the bracketed information outside the quote: He said, "[The president] should be dipped in hot Boston baked beans reads better as He said that the president "should be dipped in hot Boston baked beans." If there is more in the brackets than out, it's time to paraphrase. build-operate-transfer a business deal in which an investor builds a facility, operates it (and presumably profits) for a period, and then transfers it (usually to the government, which gave it the deal). Avoid using the jargon "BOT" and similar acronyms for related kinds of deals. Burma is what we (along with most of the world) call the country called Myanmar by its ruling junta, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, or Slorc. Its capital is Rangoon (not Yangon), and one of its principal tourist sites is Pagan (not Bagan). Leave Myanmar in quotations, adding [Burma] where necessary for clarity. Be sensitive to the political implications of a speaker's choice. Nationals of Burma are Burmese. Burman member of one of Burma's ethnic groups. bylines Short wire-service articles, such as And Alsos, may run without bylines. Longer wire service pieces get bylines, when they are noted. Local stories can have tags at the end if appropriate, such as (Additional reporting by Chea Sotheacheath). If more than three reporters work on a story (ie two in the byline, one additional reporter) the story should simply be bylined the cambodia daily. Writers: Please include the appropriate bylines in your completed stories as you believe they should appear. See also Attributions. cadre refers to the nucleus of a political group, the organizers, or a member of that group. Cannot be made plural as in "Khmer Rouge cadres." callouts, and pull quotes Normally only used on the Opinion page and in feature-type articles, callouts can help break up an otherwise intimidating mass of gray text. Callouts should complement the headline, since they are read right after the headline. Avoid hypenating words in callouts; each should read almost like a poem. The kind that only has a rule on the bottom must be centered and immediately below the headline. Callouts that will be surrounded by body text need a rule on the top, too. Rules are 4pts wide. A pre-made one is in the Opinion Library. Also see the suggestions for Hangs. Cambodia Daily, The Avoid using our name in stories or headlines, in constructions such as "Joe Schmoe told The Cambodia Daily"--unless we have a quote that was so exclusive and so hard-to-get that readers must be reassured that we got it: Pol Pot told The Cambodia Daily on Tuesday that he is sheltering the elderly Adolf Hitler in his Thai border hideaway. The name itself is capitalized on all three words, except when used as an adjective. Cambodia-Japan Friendship Bridge Crosses the Tonle Sap from the north end of Monivong Blvd to Chroy Changvar (Route 6A). Less formally, the Japanese bridge. Cambodian Bar Association is the proper name of the organization of approved lawyers (the bar). The elected leadership of the bar is the Cambodian Bar Council, or the council. Cambodiana is shorthand for Hotel Sofitel Cambodiana (the only place in Cambodia where Bernie says you can eat salads). In headlines and on second reference, the Cambodiana is fine. It is not a five-star hotel. Cambodians Citizens of Cambodia; also Khmer citizens. See Khmer. capitalization Don't overcapitalize. See also: Acronyms, Headlines, Titles, and see the AP Stylebook. capitalization of Ministries and other high-level units of government are up, whether it is the full title or shorter reversed version (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Ministry), but commissions and other subgroups of the National Assembly are down. (But note as per AP: ministries of Interior and Defense. capitalization of regions in Cambodia are lower case: the northwest, the northeast. Commonly understood world regions may be capitalized: the West. capitalization of the Constitution and other laws The Constitution (of Cambodia) is capitalized, but not as an adjective. Articles in it are cap (but not articles of other documents, laws etc). Other laws are only capitalized when they are in effect and their full proper name is given. capitalization of the King and the Royal Palace The King is always capitalized, with or without Sihanouk, but other royals' titles follow the general rule. The word royal is capitalized in certain phrases: Royal Government of Cambodia (which should only be used within quotations) and Royal Palace, but not royal family or other instances of use as a mere adjective. Similarly, Kingdom and Kingdom of Cambodia are capitalized, but appear only in quotations. CDC Council for the Development of Cambodia ceasefire One word Central Market is not the name of Phnom Penh's giant yellow market, Phsar Thmei is. If you have space, you can write Phsar Thmei, the city's main market or the like. (Phsar Thmei means "New Market." There is another market, Phsar Kandal, which is properly translated as "Central Market" but is often called "Lucky Strike Market" (or "Phsar Lucky"). This error is so old that many Cambodians often call Phsar Thmei "Central Market" when speaking English. Some of them probably think that "central" means "new.") Chaktomuk Theater not Hall. Chamkarmon Palace a government building Chroy Changvar The peninsula at the confluence of the Mekong River and the Tonle Sap. Chroy means peninsula, so don't write "Chroy Changvar peninsula." clarified cannot take a relative clause as its object. You can clarify your position, your mind and your butter, but you cannot "clarify that" A equals B or anything else. Try pointed out, explained, claimed or just plain said. co- applied to posts shared between two individuals is not capitalized, even when the title is: I saw co-Minister of Defense Tea Banh smoking crack cocaine in Haight Ashbury. When reversed in titles, use the form Defense co-Minister. Columbia is a university in New York, or the second half of the name of a Canadian province--NOT a country in South America. That's Colombia, please. comma in a series We do not normally use a comma to separate the penultimate item in a list from the "and" or the "or." Therefore, Kiri, Mr Pin and Tra were barbecuing toads on the sidewalk. Use it if necessary for clarity, in a list of compound items, for example. When items have commas within them, separate them with semi-colon. communist is capitalized only when it is a proper name (of a particular political party, for example). As an ideology it is lower case. company names Include the abbreviated classifiers (Co, Ltd, Bhd, SA etc etc), but only on first reference. contractions are discouraged. They're more acceptable in feature and opinion pieces than in hard news. See also Headlines. cop acceptable in headlines only. copyfitting A quarter-page of the Daily, with a single-line head, holds about 320 words. Corrections Corrections and Clarifications usually appear on the page where the original sin occurred. Like sidebars and jumps, they have no box, no inset. Just a 2pt rule across the top. Also, there is no headline. It just leads off with the word Correction: or Clarification: in bold (not sm caps). Give each item its own paragraph, and specify in the first sentence the headline and date of the offending article. Do not in general implicate an individual reporter or editor; it is the Daily's fault. Readers must have a fair chance to notice a correction to an article they have read. courtesy titles see Mr, Mrs, Ms courts, proper names Phnom Penh Municipal Court Battambang Provincial Court ? Appeals Court ? should check this with someone who knows crime reporting See also accused of. In longer pieces where Phnom Penh's rapid-reponse police are mentioned, try to include their hotline numbers: 366-841/720-235, and 366-442/724-793. dash The m-dash--used to set off items deserving special attention--is not accompanied by any spaces. (Shift+Command+hyphen). Do not use it in place of commas, or simply to wedge in material that should be a sentence on its own. dateline Where the bulk of the reporting for a story physically occurred. Phnom Penh is never used as a dateline. Other localities in Cambodia and the world are. The rule of thumb is that the dateline should mean something to a well-informed reader who might be from anywhere in the world. Major world cities can stand alone (see below list), as can Asean and regional capitals. Smaller cities usually need to be accompanied by the name of the country, unless the country name is in the headline and the lead. Smaller towns in huge countries (and in Cambodia) may also need the name of the state or province they are in--especially if their name is one that is likely to be shared with other towns in that same country. It is pointless to add the name of a little-known state or province to a better-known city name--Baltimore, Maryland is a fine example; it should appear as baltimore, USA (as opposed to springfield, Massachusetts, USA). Ask yourself: Would the average reader get any information from the way we've presented this? When there is no dateline, the first paragraph is indented. Places that can stand alone (adapted from AP): auckland, bangkok, beijing, berlin, calcutta, chicago, geneva, gibraltar, guatemala city, hanoi, havana, ho chi minh city, hong kong, jakarta, jerusalem, kuala lumpur, kuwait, london, los angeles, luxembourg, macao, melbourne, mexico city, monaco, montreal, moscow, new delhi, new york, ottawa, panama city, paris, pyongyang, quebec, rangoon, rome, san marino, singapore, seoul, sydney, tokyo, toronto, united nations, vatican city, vientiane, washington. days and dates Use days of the week to refer to days within one week of the publication date, if that is sufficient for clarity. Otherwise, use calendar date. Try to put the day where it would occur naturally in speech. Use on, especially after other capitalized words: Jeff called Lily on Jan 10. Abbreviate months when they are used with a date: Feb 7. However, when months appear alone, in quotations, spell them out. Last February, when Hun Sen bombed The Cambodia Daily... Spell out months when used with the year along: February 1996. Do not abbreviate March, April, May, June and July. decisions are made, not taken. diacritics are not used in the Daily, because if we used them at all, we'd have to use them all the time, and pretty soon, someone would lose an eye. Exceptions may be made for borrowed words in English when they might be confused with other words: exposŽ, resumŽ. director-general hyphenate the modifier -general. Also as in secretary-general, but not general secretary. Note: in military titles general has a different meaning. Therefore: Lieutenant General Srey Kim Loeut. Not electronic mail. Ecpat The overall network is called End Child Prostitution in Asia Tourism, but the Cambodian branch of this coalition has renamed itself End Child Prostitution and Trafficking. ellipsis points do not have space on either side...if a sentence ends and another begins within an ellipsis, give it four dots (one is the period). Do not end a quote with an ellipsis; if the following matter is relevant it should be included. ensure/insure Ensure means to make certain; insure means to cover with insurance. European Union should be spelled out on first reference. expatriates not expats, are people living outside their own country. If they do not reside here they are foreigners, perhaps tourists or visiting business people. football The sport Americans call "soccer." They prefer to play--or rather watch--American football. Down Under they play Australian-rules football. The ball is also a football. graphic design The Daily's graphical style is meant to present our readers with the information they crave in an orderly manner that is easy to interpret, while cramming it into a tiny space. The styles are cues to the reader: What stories do we feel are most important? How are they related to each other? What kind of stories are they? The layout of each page draws in the attention of readers, especially those with a particular interest in the material on that page, and directs them steadily from story to story. On a higher level, the overall design and consistency of the paper earns the confidence of readers by telling them how professional and trustworthy we are. Gulf War For the proper name of the one fought between Iraq and the "US-led coalition," we use 1991 Gulf War (as opposed to the Iran-Iraq Gulf War) gun Is it a pistol? Automatic, revolver--or squirt? Is a rifle? A semi-automatic or automatic? A machine gun? These are important differences. hang mugs A little half-column picture of the principal person in a story not only attracts the reader's attention, but makes them feel that they understand the story better. A pre-made one is in the CD 1&2 Library. Get the mug shot itself from the Now Clipart "Cambodia mug shots" in the Apple menu), and export it as TIFF-Mac gray to the cd file folder of the page you are making, then click on the hang mug from the library, and Get Picture. Also see the suggestions for Hangs. hangs (like Related story on page 4, Letter to the Editor, etc.) Pre-made ones are in the Library for the page you are on. Avoid having your hang run into a paragraph indent or end-of-paragraph gap, ie, it should be snugly surrounded by text. headline abbreviations and acronyms Try to avoid these in headlines, especially in longer ones where you have more flexibility. However, a few contractions are grudgingly allowed: Battambang: B'bang Department: Dept Foreign Minister: FM Funcinpec: F'pec Government : shortened to Gov't Hong Kong: HK International: Int'l Khmer Rouge: KR (better: Rebel) Kompong: as in K Cham National Assembly: NA Prime Minister: PM Siem Reap: S Reap Sihanoukville: S'ville Vietnam: VN headline breaks Pay attention to how two- or three-line heads break on each line. If the break seems awkward, rewrite it--try not to break up phrases that should be together. headline capitalization Capitalize all words over three letters, words at the beginning of a line, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions in phrasal verbs. Capitalize words that reverse the sense of things: But, No and Not. Capitalize forms of the verb to be, except for the infinitive to be. Capitalize both parts of hyphenated words. headlines, design of Use the Styles for 24, 25, 26 pt heads, tracked from -6 to -2. The front-page lead story is the only one which can have a bigger headline--even in bold if appropriate. Top-of-page stories have larger heads; they get smaller as you go down the page as befits their relative importance. Roughly alternate between plain and italic styles. Adjacent heads with the same number of decks should be same point size; the one on the left should be a little shorter than usual so there's a bit of extra space between the two. One of the heads must be italicized (probably the one on the left which is more likely to be lower-ranking or softer news). On multi-deck heads, at least one deck must fill the space, and the others should come pretty close. Adjacent heads should have the same number of decks unless the stories are of radically different depth. Number of decks: proportional to depth of story. One-column stories have two or three decks--very rarely, four; two-column stories have one or two decks; three-column and up have one deck only. In other words, a headline is never more than four column-lines long. 1-column briefs: Brief heads. Upper items may have 2-deck heads, lower items 1-deck. 2-column briefs: Brief heads, one deck only. Try to fill the space, but this is not as necessary as it is with regular heads. headlines, writing them Heads are very important instruments for enticing readers into stories. Do not underestimate their power. Read the entire story before writing the headline. Tell the reader exactly what is new and important in this article. Except in features, the headline should match the lead, without restating it in the same words. Try hard to use a strong, specific verb in the active voice, to signal movement and excitement; weak verbs sound lazy and passive. Ask yourself who is doing what to whom. Krisher Ousts Daily Staff and Venerated Vespa Buzzes Into 50th Year. Ask yourself: Is the headline supported by the lead? If not, the reader will be misled. Headlines are typically in the present tense. The future is sometimes implied, as in CIA to Come Clean on Kennedy Plot (a story about a plan). The past may be used as in Second Assassin Fired From Grassy Knoll (a revelation about an old topic). Avoid the words New, Now, Still, Current, Then and the like in headlines (and in leads too). Everything is assumed to be now; when you find yourself using one of these words there is almost always a clearer way to express the idea. Be careful of any word that can be used as either a verb or a noun. Avoid using the same major word in more than one headline on a page (or even on a facing page). hill tribes include the following: Jarai house ads Available from the House Ads Library in the cd file. They are named for their size. Please tell the Business Department if a house ad needs to be changed or updated. hyphenation Do not hyphenate single-syllable words; the reader may be led astray. in fact Not for general emphasis. Properly used, it contrasts the truth, revealed by us, with fiction, claimed by someone else. The general said he paid for the car himself. In fact, he took the money from the orphanage. Indochina is the French name for the colonies in Southeast Asia: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Avoid it, except in historical contexts. Internet Upper case, as is the World Wide Web, but not e-mail. Both are ways to use the Internet. Try to cut Web addresses (http://etc) until our readers can use them. italics In text, italics are used only for the Latin names of plants and animals and for editor's notes and contributor descriptions on the opinion page. judgment One e only, American style. jumps Jumps should almost always be at the bottom of the page. No box, no inset. Just a 2pt rule across the top above the jump head. Karen, Karenni Two different ethnic groups, who live mostly in Burma and partly in Thailand. Can be used as a noun or adjective. Katmandu not Kathmandu. Keo Pong Known as Heng Pong until he defected from the Khmer Rouge. Khmer Do not use Khmer interchangeably with Cambodian. The Khmer people are one of numerous ethnic groups indigenous to Cambodia, including the Cham, Vietnamese, Chinese and a passel of hill tribes (Khmer Loeu). See also Cambodian. Khmer citizen is also an acceptable way of referring to Cambodian citizens. Khmer is also the name of the language spoken by most Cambodians. Politicians and others often use them interchangeably--we do not. Khmer Rouge term applied by Sihanouk, not by the movement itself. Up to two million Cambodians died during their nearly four-year regime (April 17, 1975 to Jan 7, 1979), most of hunger and disease, not execution. They called their regime Democratic Kampuchea. There is open debate about whether it was a genocide, attempted genocide or neither. Khmer Rouge is singular in reference to the organization, plural in reference to more than one member of it. One member is called a Khmer Rouge soldier, ~ member, ~ cadre, etc. Any suggestions on a standard phrasing of this? King Norodom Sihanouk on first reference; subsequently King Sihanouk or the King. The King (and other French-influenced types) sends us a lot of things with odd titles: "CommuniquŽ" = statement "Mise au point" = clarification "Declaration" = declaration See also Capitalization. KPNLF Khmer People's National Liberation Front. krama Khmer scarf of cotton, silk or a blend. Land Cruiser, Land Rover Trademarked names of models made by Toyota and Range Rover, respectively. Use 4-wheel-drive vehicle unless the make and model are relevant. land mine Two words. Formerly one word in The Cambodia Daily, and just about nowhere else. Laos Full name is Lao People's Democratic Republic, but Laos (not Lao) is enough. Lao is the adjective for that country as a whole, the name of the language, and the term for an ethnic Lao person. Lao citizens are Laotians. masthead In center two columns, bottom of Opinion page. Original is in the Opinion Page Library. All changes must be cleared with the publisher ("the masthead is sacred"), and put into the library. measurements Spell out meters, grams, tons, hectares and liters on all references. Abbreviate km, kg on all references that are part of measurements. On first reference, use centimeters, millimeters, cubic centimeters etc, then revert to the abbreviation: cm, mm, cc etc. Mekong River on first reference, then the Mekong if it's clear. memorandum of understanding sort of a contract Jr. Avoid using the acronym MOU (and its equally nasty sibling MOA, for memorandum of agreement) and don't cap the phrase. metaphors Be especially careful, considering many of our readers have limited English. Here's a real-life example of what to avoid: "It's too late for glass house rocks. The decision to let the killer wolf out of the trap was the real wild roll of the dice in the gulf war, and we lost." (from New York Times Fax) metric system We use it. Convert miles to kilometers, acres to hectares, gallons to liters, feet and yards to meters etc. In The Cambodia Daily, a ton (not a tonne) is always a metric ton. Within quotations, add the metric in square brackets. Avoid idioms that include English system measures; if you must use them, don't change to metric. Rounding off: If it is likely a figure has been estimated, round off the conversion as well. In general, three significant figures are enough in any number (0.00123, 1.23 or 1,230,000, for example). Computer tip: Use the Convert program on the networked computers. Be careful with tons, Convert's "tons" are long tons (2,240 pounds). Make life easier on editors; if they might be confused about whether figures have been converted, put a note to the editors right in the text in [brackets], so it's clear. Wire services: DPA and AFP use metric measurements. AP sometimes uses them, but always includes imperial in brackets when it does. military police Not to be abbreviated as MP or PM (despite their armbands) because both can be confused. military ranks Capitalized before a name, and spelled out (not Gen). See also titles. Brigadier General = one star Major General = two stars Lieutenant General = three stars General = four stars Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications Note the s on the word Posts. This ministry is headed by So Khun, the secretary of state for posts and telecommunications; there is no minister. minster n. a monastery church. Passes the spellcheck, and frequently appears where minister should. MPs are members of the National Assembly (members of parliament), never military police. Acceptable only in headlines. Mr, Mrs, Ms are eschewed. Dr should be kept only for medical doctors and when relevant to the story. Muslim Not Moslem. Myanmar see Burma. names The style is based on the name's ethnicity, not on the person's ethnicity. names, Cambodian On first and subsequent references, use the full name. However, exceptions are made on occasion: Skadavy Math Ly Roun is Skadavy on subsequent references. names, Chinese Use China's official Pinyin spellings, except for famous names such as Mao Tse-tung (not Mao Zedong), and Lee Teng-hui (and others from Taiwan or Hong Kong). Family name (first name) only on second reference. Use Pinyin also for place names in mainland China. See AP Stylebook for further explanation. names, Indonesian Many Indonesian names have only one part. Try to write so this is clear without explaining this. names, Korean in the format Kim Jong Il. names, Thai In Thai, the given name is first, family name last. Proper usage on second reference is to use given name only, as in Banharn Silpa-archa, or Banharn. names, tough and the titles that go with them. Ahmad Yahya, National Assembly member Chea Peng Chheang, undersecretary of state for finance Chem Snguon, Minister of Justice (also senior minister) Chhim Omyon, president, Liberal Democratic party Chhim Seak Leng, governor (not mayor) of Phnom Penh Xavier d'Abzac, adviser to Prince Ranariddh Galabru, Kek, president of Licadho. Kek's daughter Eva is director. Heng Peo, chief of national anti-drug police. Hok Lundy, national police chief. Hor Bunleng, deputy director of the Ministry of Health's national AIDS program Kann Chhoeun, Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutor Ke Kim Yan, chief of general staff (of RCAF) Keat Chhon, Minister of Finance Keat Sokun, secretary of state for women's affairs Khau Meng Hean, vice-governor of Phnom Penh Khieu Kanharith, secretary of state for information Kieng Savuth, the national commander of military police, Loy Sim Chheang, deputy secretary of the National Assembly and secretary-general of Funcinpec Lay Bun Song, director of foreign relations for the Ministry of Defense Ly Thuch, cabinet director for First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh, and secretary of state for the Ministry of Environment. Mok Chito, chief of municipal penal police Nady Tan, secretary-general of Council of Ministers Nguon Soeur, president of Khmer Citizen Party, former vice president, Khmer Nation Party Nhiek Bun Chhay, first deputy chief of general staff (of RCAF) Nouth Narang, Minister of Culture Om Yentieng, adviser to Hun Sen Prak Sokhonn, adviser to Hun Sen Pok Marina, undersecretary of state for foreign affairs. Pok Sam Ell, director of the Civil Aviation Authority. Pou Sothirak, Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy Sar Kheng, co-Minister of Interior Sarakhan (one word), Ministry of Finance chief of cabinet Serey Kosal, security adviser to First Prime Minister Prince Ranariddh. Skadavy Math Ly Roun, Interior Ministry adviser to Interpol. Skadavy on subsequent reference. Son Sann, BLDP faction leader Son Sen, late Khmer Rouge commander Srun Vong Vannak, martyr. Vannak on second reference. Sun Chanthol secretary of state for Finance. Suon Sopheak, municipal fire chief Tak Ban Tha, deputy police chief of Sihanoukville Ta Mok, the hard-line Khmer Rouge chief of staff. Not the notorious one-legged butcher, no matter what the wire copy says. Tao Seng Hour, Minister of Agriculture Tat Ly Hok, vice president, Khmer Journalists Association Teng Bunma, Phnom Penh Chamber of Commerce president; managing director of the Thai Boon Roong Group Than Sina, general secretary of the National Assembly Thor Peng Leath, governor of the National Bank of Cambodia Tioulong Saumura, former vice governor of the National Bank of Cambodia Toan Chay, governor of Siem Reap Ung Huot, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Minister Vichit Ith, former chairman of Royal Air Cambodge. Ith is his family name. You Hockry, co-Minister of Interior names, Western-style, and initials Revert to using their family names on second reference. Drop middle initials--even when the New York Times supplies them--unless there is potential confusion or the person traditionally uses it (eg Alfred E Neuman). When a name starts with two initials (PW Botha, for example), put a thin space between them (in QuarkXPress, kern to 30 between the letters). National Assembly is the proper name of Cambodia's parliament. Caps. On second reference (and in headlines), the Assembly. Its members are National Assembly members, but they can be MPs in headlines. Newsmakers Only the personal names--not titles--of living people are bold and small cap. Names of non-famous/irrelevant persons should have been edited out. The dead only get bold small caps if they "made the news" by dying, or doing something while alive. The bullet is made by the letter "n" in the font Zapf Dingbats. Put a little space between the items, using Space Above in Formats. Non-government organizations can be abbreviated to NGOs on first reference. Northbridge Not Northridge. Thai company building a walled housing development near Pochentong Airport. numbers In general, spell out zero through nine and use figures for 10 and higher. Exceptions: Spell out numbers where they occur in pairs and would look stupid otherwise (there were six to twelve people in each group), and when you must start a sentence with a number. Follow AP style unless it is listed here. Use figures below 10 for the main highways in Cambodia (Route 1, Route 2 etc) measurements (4 kg, 5 sq km) sections or articles in legal documents (Article 6 of the Constitution) designations (Building 3 burned down, Ieng Sary may not have been Pol Pot's No 2) including units and regions of armed forces (Division 7, based in Region 8) dates (see Days and Dates). Ordinal numbers follow similar rules: first through ninth, then 10th on up. Commas group numbers over 999: 1,000 on up. Try not to break number/unit combinations over two lines. Wrong: 300 km Ochateal Beach Beach in Sihanoukville, informally known as "Untac beach." Has sand fleas and a military police base. opposition leader a person who leads an opposition party within a parliament. Sam Rainsy is an opposition politician. Orussei Market Pacific Rim Upper case. Cambodia is a Pacific Rim country. Paris Peace Accords were signed Oct 23, 1991. On second reference, the Accords. Also Paris peace agreements. percent spelled out as one word, never % except in headlines. periods (some call them "full stops") To save space, we use very few of them, except to end sentences : Dr Gavin Scott, N Korea (in headline), 8 am to 10:30 pm. Phnom Penh districts Russei Keo, Tuol Kok, Don Penh, Prampi Makara (not Jan 7 district), Chamkar Mon, Meanchey and Dangkao. photo caption refers Use (see page 10) or just (page 10), which is in English and clear to readers, rather than (see story page 10). photo captions Futura bold, 8pt. Tracked at +1 or 2. Normally is left-justified, but can be centered or occasionally right-justified in some cases. Leave a respectful distance between caption and body text below. photo credits Futura 6pt, right-justified, and very close to the photo--almost touching it, in fact. It's easiest to put the photo itself in front, with a 0 pt runaround, with the caption behind. photos, design of No frame on photo or caption box. If front page photo is unrelated to story below, put a 1.5pt rule under the caption. If the front page photo stands alone or refers to an inside story, then the photo and its caption go into a 0.3pt frame, with a 2pt inset between the frame and the photo. If a runaround is required (for example when the photo runs halfway into a column of text) give it a decent runaround on that edge, like 6 pts. When a photo accompanies a story and is the same width as the story, the headline is below the photo, not above it. From the top, then, it's photo, photo credit, caption, headline and finally story. The only time the headline is above the photo is when the photo is inset within the story, ie a 2-column photo with a 3-column story where the first column comes up to the headline. Try to avoid having people in photos looking off the edge of the page. place names in Khmer not normally translated, even if they have English equivalents. Only capitalize the name, not the classifiers, ie, Battambang town, Battambang province. Pochentong Airport International is not necessary. political parties The CPP is the Cambodian People's Party and the acronym can stand alone. The BLDP is the Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party and can stand alone. Funcinpec stands for a long French phrase that hardly anyone remembers and can stand alone--as can Molinaka, the fourth party represented (barely) in the National Assembly. Spell out the Khmer Nation Party on first reference, as in the Khmer Nation Party (KNP). Referring to the KNP party, CPP Party or BLDP party is redundant, since party is in the name. political party designations Work party affiliation into the story when it is relevant. If necessary, put the party name in parentheses after the person's name. population of Cambodia No census has been done since 1962. Estimates range from eight to just over ten million. A survey aided by the UN estimated 10.7 million as of March 1996. press release Call it a statement if possible. The statement said whatever. Prime Minister, Premier are equivalent in Cambodia. When the first and second premiers are referred to together, they are the two prime ministers (or two premiers), not the co-prime ministers or co-premiers. provinces of Cambodia Banteay Meanchey Battambang province Kampot province. Kandal Koh Kong province Kompong Cham province Kompong Chhnang province Kompong Speu province Kompong Thom province Kratie province Mondolkiri Oddar Meanchey Preah Vihear Prey Veng province Pursat province Ratanakkiri Siem Reap province Stung Treng province Svay Rieng province Takeo province The word "province" in lower case is only necessary to avoid confusion with the name of a town. For the benefit of readers, try to include in the story what region the province is located: Ratanakkiri, in the country's northeast...or Battambang province, west of the Tonle Sap lake... Phnom Penh, Kep and Sihanoukville are municipalities, administratively equal to provinces (that's why they have governors) but not part of any province. Kompong Som is the former name of Sihanoukville. Queen Norodom Monineath on first reference; subsequently Queen Monineath or the Queen. quotation marks Single in headlines, double in callouts. Ranariddh In stories involving civil politics, First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh on first reference; subsequently Prince Ranariddh or the first prime minister or the prince. In stories not about politics, first prime minister may not be necessary. In briefs and sidebars, these rules may be relaxed somewhat, but make sure his whole name and the relevant title are there at some point. In headlines Ranariddh may stand alone. RCAF The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. It includes the Navy and the Air Force, along with the Army. See acronyms, widely known. refugees, boat people used by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)to mean a specific class of people seeking refuge for political--not economic--reasons. Take care to use it that way in UN-context articles. Boat people (two words) is acceptable for those who migrate illegally in boats. riel is both singular and plural--never riels. Royal Government Avoid it; the government is fine. In quotations it is capitalized. Sangkum Reastr Niyum People's Socialist Community, a movement led by then-Prince Sihanouk after his abdication in 1955. The phrase is also used as the name of the regime. scale For maps and models, use the format 1:1,000. scheme Use plan, unless it's a devious one. Secretary of State for... Each ministry has a secretary of state. You can say secretary of state for defense, rather than "secretary of state for the ministry of defense." security don't use as a catch-all for military, crime etc. sidebars Sidebar stories should be substantially shorter than the main story. Sidebars to jumps should be shorter than the jump they accompany. If it's not working out, maybe the two stories should just be parallel to each other, or compiled into one story. No box. Just a 2pt rule across the top. Can be one or two columns wide (never three), but text in the box is one column. Brief headline style. Sihanoukville a municipality formerly known as Kompong Som. Slorc, the Burma's State Law and Order Restoration Council, comes with a the. soccer See football. some When it means approximately, is better replaced by about. spelling We use US spellings in almost all cases. Even British organization names are US-ized for consistency. Examples: center, not centre labor, not labour organization, not organisation archeology, not archaeology (or arch¾ology) traveler, traveled, labeled, not traveller etc. practice, never practise spelling dictionary All Cambodia Daily QuarkXPress pages are already connected to one spelling dictionary in the cd file, which contains many spellings of local words and names. Caution No 1: The dictionary may accept both Chea and Chhea, for example, but only one is correct for a particular official. Caution No 2: Do not be too hasty in adding words to the dictionary. Only add them if you know for a fact that your spelling is correct, and that word is certain to arise repeatedly in the future. Caution No 3: Certain alternate spellings will pass the spellcheck even though they are not acceptable in the Daily; some of these are noted elsewhere in this guide. story placement As a general rule, more important (higher-ranking) stories have larger-size headlines, longer headlines, are higher up on the page (top right on the front page), are more columns wide, have non-italicized heads, and--especially--are longer. All of these are tips to help the reader, so try to be consistent. street addresses No comma between building number and street, no number sign, use English classifiers (Street, Road, Blvd): 50B Street 240, 246 Monivong Blvd. However: He ran down Monivong Boulevard. subdecree one word. A body of regulations created by a ministry to add detail to a law. Does not require National Assembly vote. T3 prison Phnom Penh's decrepit French colonial-era prison has a lower-case p and no hyphen. Tehran No middle E. telephone numbers in Cambodia are shown in groups of three, with hyphens. A land line is written, for example, 426-490. A mobile telephone number, 015-202-001. that A relative pronoun that introduces an essential clause, unlike which, which normally introduces a nonessential clause and is set off by commas. You can use which in place of that when two thats would otherwise come in a row. That can also introduce something said, hoped, felt etc. In many cases the that can be implied, but often it is necessary for easy comprehension. Here is a sentence that appeared in the Daily on Friday, Aug 27, 1996: Botte said child-sex operations she has seen forced out of Thailand by stricter laws and NGO pressure have reopened here. Puzzled? Now try: Botte said that child-sex operations which she has seen forced out of Thailand by stricter laws and NGO pressure have reopened here. Two words are a small price to pay for clarity. time of day is written as 8 am, 8:30 pm.. 12:00 is neither am nor pm; it may be 12 noon or 12 midnight. Do not let a line break separate the numeral and the am or pm. Should we close this up, like 8am? Dutch, Michael say yes. titles Upper case only official titles, preceding the name, that are "so specific that the designation becomes almost as much an integral part of an individuals identity as a proper name itself" (from AP Stylebook): Governor Pol Meanith. Do not capitalize occupational titles or generic position names before names: Police said that copy editor Roy Greene was caught running naked through the market. Try to place long titles after names, in lower case, setting them off with commas: Ly Thuch, secretary of state for the Ministry of Environment. Don't capitalize former titles. ...former first prime minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh. See further explanation in the AP Stylebook. titles, abbreviating Many titles can be abbreviated after the first reference, including most military ranks: Pvt, Sgt, Cpl, Maj, Cmdr, Col, Brig Gen, Gen, and some other titles: Gov, Rev, Sen, Rep. But if it looks stupid, spell it out. Never abbreviate President, Prime Minister or other national-level executive titles. thmei not Tmei or Thmey, except in proper names of organizations (eg Krousar Thmey). It means new, as in Psar Thmei, the New Market. Tonle Sap, the The Tonle Sap lake is the big lake up at the other end of the river from Phnom Penh. Tonle means river. undersecretary one word. UNHCR the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. That's CommissionER. Unicef The UN Children's Fund is sufficient as its full name. University of Phnom Penh Correct style is Royal University of Phnom Penh. The Royal University of Fine Arts is separate, as are the Faculty of Business, the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Law and Economic Sciences (Faculty of Law is fine). Untac UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia. See acronyms, widely known. US-centrism We get much of our news from US-based services, which assume that their audience is US-based. Adjust stories from news services to the needs of our readers. Some examples: "the Pentagon" = (US) Department of Defense "the House" = (US) House of Representatives "the GOP" = the (US) Republican Party "the Civil War" = the US Civil War UXO acronym for Unexploded Ordnance (not ordinance): nice things like bombs and missiles that lie around waiting for villagers to try to break them up for scrap, or kids to bang on them with rocks. Vietnam war Call it the war in Vietnam, in context. (In Vietnam, they call it "the American War," and don't forget that people here have fought their own "Vietnam war.") which See that. Yasser is Arafat's first name, not Yasir or others. years To show spans of years, the following forms are acceptable: from 1975 to 1979 (started in 1975, ended in 1979) between 1975 and 1979 (about three years) 1975-79 (adjective form of from...to... ) the 1970s Not acceptable: from 1975-79; the '70s, etc. yuon Khmer term for Vietnamese people (slang) |