Stan, Good advice.
However I would omit the word 'always' because it will still read the same:
[revised]: Original units should be reported first ...A practical benefit is that an exception to the rule, as in the presentation of a table or a chart for example, won't conflict with the rule just because the particular case was not what the rule was applicable for.
On 2008 Jul 08 Tue DoY 190, at 01:04, STANLEY DOORE wrote [USMA:41346]:
Original units always should be reported first with associated units given in another measurement system in parentheses. For example, 400 m (440 yards if necessary) for the Olympics. If events were run on a quarter mile track or swum in a yard designed swimming pool then it would be 440 yards (400 m). Similarly, reporting could be used in reporting quantity of oil: barrels vs. cubic meters/kL or pounds vs. kg for the mass of oil. This is straight forward reporting without a reporter/editor trying to second-guess readers. This is even more necessary now since more reporting and communication is done via the Internet internationally. This guideline or procedure also would add knowledge of what original measurements were used, including furlongs per fortnight. This is what's known as straight forward reporting without interpretation or introducing reporter/editor bias.Stan Doore ----- Original Message ----- From: FunkyMart.com To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 3:22 AM Subject: [USMA:41344] Journalism & AP GuidelinesI've been thinking about the issue of the AP style guidelines that came up a couple of weeks back, and it seems to me that we need to put our heads together and decide what our best shot is at doing something about this. Requiring traditional units in news stories, typically to the exclusion of metric units, is obviously a huge obstacle to general use of metric. But it's a barrier that doesn't require legislative action to fix, something we lack the influence and/or money to achieve. It wouldn't be easy to change AP's mind, of course, but it would be easier than changing Congress's mind, and would represent an important and concrete step forward.First, we could use our existing connections to assemble the largest coalition of scientists, educators, journalists, etc., that we can. Through networking, the group of signatories could grow quite large. We may need to circulate a draft for some time, perhaps a year or more, and we should focus on recruiting as many journalists and journalism professors as possible. Then, we need to jointly and formally approach AP with our statement, and the angle we should take with them, it seems to me, is objectivity. Journalistic style guidelines should not require reporters to take sides on social issues, or to advocate for particular political outcomes. Traditional units, we should point out, are not the law of the land, but a social preference. And in fact, it was the intent of Congress to initiate and encourage a voluntary transition away from that historical social preference and toward the metric system. Should this transition take place or not? That's a social and political question that a journalist should not be required, as a matter of style, to take sides on. And yet, that is just what AP is doing. It would be as if AP specified that journalists not use the term African American in place of black. Social preferences continually evolve on such issues, and good journalists are witnesses, not advocates, during such transitions.Thoughts?
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