In Brief: The Decision to Capitalize Black; The Dangers of Tokenism

AP Changes Stylebook to Capitalize Black

The Associated Press has changed its style to capitalize the word “Black” in racial, ethnic or cultural contexts, it announced on June 19. According to the Poynter Institute, AP determines the writing style that news organizations follow, but in recent weeks some newsrooms had already begun to capitalize Black.

Although AP announced its decision on Juneteenth, they stated that the style change arrived after “more than two years of in-depth research and discussion with colleagues and respected thinkers from a diversity of backgrounds, both within and from outside the cooperative,” John Daniszewski, AP’s vice president for standards, wrote in a blog post.

He said AP discussions on style and language consider many points, “including the need to be inclusive and respectful in our storytelling and the evolution of language,” and that capitalizing Black in a racial, ethnic or cultural sense conveys “an essential and shared sense of history, identity and community among people who identify as Black.” 

The change is consistent with AP standards for other racial and ethnic identifiers, such as Latino, Asian American and Native American. The AP said it continues to discuss whether to capitalize “white” when referring to race. 

How ‘Token’ Employees Face Discrimination and Pressure

Any employee can be a “token” — part of an organization, department or team that has 15 percent or fewer people like themselves — and face problems as a result. But according to a new review of research from the past quarter century, being a token is most difficult for women and people of color.

“It’s hard being the only one, or one of a few,” said Marla Baskerville Watkins of Northeastern University, the study’s co-author. Compared to women and racial minorities who work in more balanced environments, tokens have higher levels of depression and stress and are more likely to experience discrimination and sexual harassment, she said. Men can be tokens in fields such as nursing and K-12 education, but female tokens “tend to have a more difficult time advancing to leadership positions.” 

Tokens are more visible on the job, leading to increased scrutiny and performance pressures, the study’s authors wrote. Managers should make employees aware of the dynamics that can occur within teams that include token members, Watkins said.

In Video Meetings, Better Body Language Holds Audience Attention

With the COVID-19 outbreak still forcing many people to work from home, rules about body language in public speaking now apply to video meetings. As USA Today recently pointed out, your body language during webcam conferences can determine whether your audience — perhaps your boss, co-workers or clients — pays attention to you. 

“Virtual meetings require us to up our game in presentation skills,” says Mimi Bliss, a former TV-news reporter whose company Mimi Bliss Communications in Nashville, Tenn., helps executives improve their presentation skills. “We need to be more engaging, and more concise, because people are sitting behind computers, where their attention spans are shorter.”

Using your hands when you speak gives your voice more energy and lights up your face, she says. Conversely, keeping your hands folded, clutched together, or leaning on the table drains energy from your voice. In addition, to project authority in a webcam shot, sit up straight and lean in slightly. 

Instagram Set to Surpass Twitter as Source for News

Instagram will likely overtake Twitter as a source for news within the next year, the Reuters Institute’s 2020 “Digital News Report” predicts. 

Although Instagram was originally conceived as a photo-sharing app, its use for news has doubled since 2018. Eleven percent of people surveyed across all age groups now use Instagram to find news, while 12 percent use Twitter for that purpose, according to the Reuters Institute report that was based on data from 40 markets around the world.

Instagram now reaches more than a third of those surveyed and two thirds of respondents under the age of 25. More than two thirds of those surveyed use their phones to get news every week, and respondents who use their phones as a primary means for receiving news are more likely to access that news via social networks, the report finds. 

In April in the U.S., 26 percent of respondents ages 18–24 used Instagram to find coronavirus news. But when it comes to information about the virus, just 26 percent of all people surveyed said they trust social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.