The Case of the Missing Italics

In a column by Boston Globe journalist Ellen Goodman, this odd-looking sentence caught my eye: Lets go back to a McCain op-ed that did run in The New York Times before the invasion. Funny, but Id seen this sort of thing before—in a George Will column (from May 2007) that appeared in the online edition of The New York Post: This citys taxi cartel is offering an audacious new rationalization for corporate welfare, asserting a right -- a (BEG ITAL)constitutional(END ITAL) right, (BEG ITAL)in perpetuity(END ITAL) -- to revenues it would have received if Minneapolis City Council had not ended the cartel that never should have existed. Obviously, the parenthetical remarks are computer-speak for begin and end italics—a message that in these two cases had been improperly coded, transmitted, or received. Not an especially newsworthy matter, perhaps, but the question arises: why do newspapers still experience such problems with italics? An answer, of sorts, can be found in The Associated Press Stylebook, the (American) journalists bible: Italic type face cannot be sent through AP computers. Turning for amplification to Ask the Editor at APStylebook.com, we find a number of inquiries pertaining to italics--all of them answered patiently by David Minthorn in more or less the same way: Is it correct to italicize car names, for example, would Prius in Toyota Prius be in italics? - from Pasadena, California on Wed, Jul 30, 2008Italics arent used for car names or anything else in AP news stories. Dont be confused by italicized examples in the AP Stylebook.What is the rule for the title of academic journals? Should they be italicized or put in quotation marks? - from Little Rock, AR on Wed, Jul 09, 2008AP uses straight type for titles of academic and other journals, no quotation marks or italics, principal words capitalized.Us Magazine (entire thing ital) or Us magazine (no ital on magazine)? - on Tue, Jun 03, 2008 Us Weekly . . . AP doesnt use italics in news stories.What is the correct style for the New England Journal of Medicine? Italics or quotation marks? Thanks in advance. - from Washington DC on Tue, May 06, 2008No quotes or italics for titles of publications, so its correct as written.Boat/Ship names should be italicized, but in the instance of USS Arizona, wo uld USS also be italicized? - on Tue, Apr 22, 2008The AP Stylebook would only use USS Arizona in italics as an example, to differentiate from a definition. In AP news stories, italics arent used because the typeface doesnt transmit through all computers. Were left to wonder which model of Kaypro computer the AP still relies on. Most style guides (those without AP in the name) advocate the use of italics for emphasis and with titles of complete works—books, plays, movies, magazines, CDs, television series, and works of art. But then, if you subscribe to The AP Stylebook, theres really nothing left to learn about italics. More About Online Resources for Writers: Top Three Grammar and Usage Advice SitesTop 10 Blogs for Writers, Editors, Teachers of WritingTop Five Business Writing Sites