Dear AP:
Copy-editing students
discover discrepancy
in stylebook

It’s known as the journalist’s “bible,” but the Associated Press Stylebook was at odds with itself about Muhammad.

Students in a School of Journalism news editing class spotted a discrepancy in the spelling of the prophet’s name in the 2001 edition of the stylebook. It was spelled correctly under the entry “Muhammad,” but under the entry “Islam” it was spelled Mohammed.

Students noticed the error in October, during a copy-editing quiz in professor Sheri Venema’s class.

The students had to correct a sentence with reference to the religious figure, but couldn’t determine the correct spelling with the AP Stylebook. Two of Venema’s students, juniors Dickie Bishop and Lindsay Henderson, sent letters to the stylebook’s editor to point out the mistake.

“We thought it might be a good idea to inform the AP of the error, to prevent further confusion,” Bishop said.

The AP didn’t reply to Bishop or Henderson. Venema, however, received a letter from the stylebook’s editor, Norm Goldstein, thanking her for pointing out the discrepancy. Goldstein commented that Venema had “sharp-eyed students.” He listed the correct spelling of the religious prophet as Muhammad, and he promised to fix the error in the book’s next edition.

While they didn’t receive a reply from the AP, Bishop and Henderson did receive extra credit in Venema’s class.

“I joked with Dickie that ‘we’re really making a difference,’ because it was just sort of silly,” Henderson said.

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