Determination
80
Minnesota
News Council
In the Matter of the Complaint of
MACCRAY School District against the West Central Tribune
Appearing for the complainant school district were Roger
Rueckert, superintendent, Gary Sims, high school principal, accompanied
by board members Gerald Winkelman, David Roskens and Craig Dirksen.
Appearing for the West Central Tribune was its managing editor, Forrest
Peterson. Also in attendance was the publisher of the weekly Raymond
News, Bill Paterson.
The issue is whether appropriate journalistic practice
in this instance should expect the newspaper to print the school district's
name as it is legally registered, i.e., all letters of the name in
capitals.
Background: In 1989 the school districts of
Maynard, Clara City, and Raymond decided to form a cooperative school
district operating under a tri-school board and one superintendent.
Each community's school board continues to exist and operate, but
the three school boards meet as one board on matters involving overall
cooperative matters. Elementary schools are operated at Maynard and
Raymond; the junior and senior high school is at Clara City. Arriving
at this arrangement was difficult and painful as it required each
community to surrender some of its identity and traditions. These
concerns were reflected in the search for a name for the new cooperative
school district. The board members did not want to have an "alphabet
school"; they wanted a name that was pronounceable, readable, and
which recognized the tripartite nature of the new school district.
The name selected, with the aid of the students,
joined the first two letters of Maynard, the two initials of Clara
City, and the first three letters of Raymond, to create the word "maccray."
Because this word identified a specific organizational unit and because
the board members thought it was an acronym, the word, as officially
adopted and legally registered, was "MACCRAY."
The West Central Tribune at Willmar serves a wide
area including the three communities here involved. The name of the
new school district appears infrequently in news stories, but it does
appear frequently in the sports pages. Initially, the Tribune used
"MACCRAY" in its news stories and "Maccray" on the sports pages. In
the interests of consistency, the Tribune has finally decided, however,
to use "Maccray" throughout the newspaper. At least some other newspapers
in the area use "MACCRAY." The question is, then, what should be the
proper usage?
Discussion: The problem here is not unique.
More and more small communities are combining their schools under
a variety of arrangements, giving rise to a variety of hybrid words
and acronyms. For example, the acronym KMS stands for Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunberg,
the name "Rocori" represents the communities of Rockville, Cold Spring,
and Richmond; and "Win-E-Mac" represents Winger, Erskine, and MacIntosh.
An acronym is "a word formed from the initial letters
or groups of letters of words in a set phrase." A word such as KMS
or NAACP does not lend itself to be pronounced except by reciting
the letters, and, consequently, each letter should be capped. The
need for capitals is less evident, however, when the newly-coined
word is pronounceable, such as "scuba" But when the new word is used
as a proper name, at least the first letter must be capitalized, as
in Rocori.
The difficulty with capitalizing only the first letter
of a newly coined proper name is that, over time, the origin of the
word may be forgotten. Using the word "Maccray" in print tends to
obscure the fact that the name stands for three distinct communities.
Presumably, loss of community identity is less likely if MACCRAY is
used.
Newspaper editors have wide discretion in matters
of style. Editors are rightly concerned with readability, consistency,
and correctness, and the avoidance of unnecessary capitalization.
The fact that the school's legal name is all in capitals, and should
so appear in legal documents, does not mean that a newspaper editor
may not choose, as a matter of style, to capitalize only the first
letter (for example, Cenex). Then, too, practical problems in printing
may in some instances make it awkward or inconvenient for a newspaper
to print a seven-letter word all in capitals as, say, in headlines
and compilations of sports scores.
In viewing this case, the News Council believes it
should limit its comments to matters of accuracy, that is, to whether
the manner in which the name is printed accurately conveys the meaning
intended. Generally speaking, unless to do so would be misleading
or deceptive, we think a newspaper should strive to print the names
of people and organizations as these people or organizations, acting
in good faith, wish them to be printed. In this case, the use of "MACCRAY,"
all in capitals, is intended by its authors to convey a special meaning;
namely, to be a reminder that Maynard, Clara City, and Raymond remain
distinct communities united in a limited cooperative endeavor. This
new district is still in its first year of existence. So long as these
three communities feel strongly about their individual identities,
as they unquestionably and sincerely do, their feelings and resolve
should be honored.
Nor does the fact that Rocori capitalizes only the
first letter of its name suggest that only a matter of style is involved
here. Quite the contrary. Rocori was the merger of three schools into
one, thereby creating a single new independent school district. MACCRAY,
on the other hand, represents a much looser arrangement. Printing
the name of this venture all in capitals more accurately reports the
news story involved here, namely, that Independent School District
127 at Maynard, Independent School District 126 at Clara City, and
Independent School District 346 at Raymond each wish to keep some
measure of their own identities. In this situation, while it is a
close call, we think newspaper style should yield to the substance
of the community feelings.
Grievance upheld.
Concurring: Beaulieu, King, Orwoll, Parrish,
Persons, Stauffer, Sundin, Warder
Abstaining: Simonett
Dissenting: Ashmore, Casey, Hanley, Larson, Stone,
Swain, Tanick - The majority determination came from the Minnesota
News Council's heart, not its head. It's easy to feel sympathy for
the school districts and the trauma their people went through during
consolidation. In the end, that sympathy did not cloud the newspaper's
judgment; unfortunately, it did cloud the Council's. Notwithstanding
the school officials' attempts to equate "MACCRAY" with groups of
letters such as "AIDS, MADD" and "BOLD," MACCRAY breaks new stylistic
ground. There is no commonly-used stylistic precedent for presenting
in all uppercase a group of letters intended to be pronounced as a
word when each letter does not signify a word. Professional newspapers
do not decide to use uppercase or lowercase letters because of a school
board demands it. They set up rules that, in their people's judgment,
best help the readers quickly and fairly understand the printed information.
The editor did not "slight" the school district. He simply applied
stylistic rules already in place. He applied them fairly, he applied
them consistently (once an inconsistency was brought to his attention),
he applied them in good faith. He does not deserve to have a News
Council complaint against him upheld.
It is significant that council members tried unsuccessfully
to formulate a determination that would find fault with the newspaper
in this case, without appearing to dictate the newspaper's style.
We can't have it both ways. The News Council is dictating style, and
we have good reason to feel uneasy.
The majority argues that the unity expressed in MACCRAY
is important to the communities, and that the newspaper should respect
that fact and present the name as school officials wish. An editor
who truly strives to serve readers keeps his or her head clear of
such cheerleading and presents information clearly and with consistent
style, regardless of influential citizens' pressure to do otherwise.
That editor realizes a primary responsibility to provide information
without the value judgment implied by a special stylistic exception
such as MACCRAY. That editor sticks to the rules and lets the reader
make value judgments based on the most objective information presentation
possible.
The West Central Tribune has an editor who stood
by sound principles in the face of strong pressure to give in. Journalists
and readers would applaud him. With this unfortunate determination,
the Minnesota News Council is telling him he should not have bothered.
Dissenting: Casey, Hanley - In upholding the
complaint of the Maccray school district, the Minnesota News Council
has deviated from its tradition of weighing the merit of cases on
the basis of accuracy, fairness or balance. The fairness and accuracy
of the West Central Tribune were not called into question Ñ only the
fact its style for use of the school district name deviates from the
expressed wishes of the officials of the school district. The Council
has, in effect, made a determination that does nothing more than question
a style judgment by the newspaper.
Newspaper styles have, for decades, resisted attempts
by businesses or organizations to call additional attention to their
names in news columns by adopting proper names or trademarks using
all capital letters. Those organizations contend these all-capital
names are their "proper" names and should be published as such. Most
newspapers, however, reject all-capital proper names and publish them
in conventional capital-lower case format, Against this background,
the style of the West Central Tribune is not unusual. Many daily newspapers
facing a similar decision probably would have made the same decision
in similar circumstances.
The case of the Maccray school name is different
only from the standpoint that the participating districts were not
motivated by a desire to call undue attention to the name of their
school. Their decision was a "political" one - an effort to appease
all three communities with a name that did not appear to be dominated
by any one. At the same time, however, the districts also sought to
develop a recognizable, pronounceable name - not an "alphabet soup"
of initials.
At the most basic level, "all-cap" businesses and
organizations and the Maccray school district all are concerned about
image. Only their motives differ. If a newspaper style rejects an
all-capital name perceived to be motivated by a desire for publicity,
why is it significantly different to reject one motivated by a "political"
decision (no matter how well intentioned)?
Maintaining or contributing to the image of a business,
organization or school district is not the responsibility of a newspaper.
The newspaper's duty is to inform; it should seek to do so with clarity
and conciseness, keeping the interests of its readers foremost. Most
experts agree that, from a visual standpoint, all-capital words (and
names) are more difficult to read than capital-lower case words. Arguably,
then, readers are better served by newspaper styles that are visually
more appealing and more easily perceived.
It also is important to place the issue in perspective.
The West Central Tribune is a regional daily with a circulation of
slightly more than 17,000. Maynard, Clara City and Raymond are only
a part of this region and the combined circulation in those communities
(most recent circulation numbers) is 982 - only 5.8% of the total
circulation of the Tribune (Circulation breakdown: Maynard 183, Clara
City 436, Raymond 363).
The majority of the Tribune readers are probably
unaware of - and unconcerned about - the fragile nature of a new school
district formed among three communities fearful of the loss of their
identities. To those readers, MACCRAY would, indeed, appear to be
some sort of favoritism, regardless of where it was published (general
news columns or sports pages). To the vast majority of Tribune readers,
Maccray is just another school name, no different than Jefferson or
Lafayette (Willmar elementary schools).
The factors underlying style decisions are quite
different for the West Central Tribune, as a regional daily, and the
Clara City Herald and Raymond News, as weeklies located in the school
district. Each newspaper must make its own style determinations based
on its own community and circumstances. These newspapers have done
that in arriving at differing styles on Maccray.
Officials of the Maccray school are to be admired
for their efforts to better serve the educational needs of their three
communities by undertaking the very sensitive issue of school consolidation.
Their concern for their new and probably still fragile alliance is
understandable. In taking their case to the News Council, they visibly
demonstrated to their communities that they view all partners equally
and that they are willing to "fight for" that principle.
That was all that was really necessary. School officials
made the point they needed to make for the residents of their districts.
That would not have been lessened by the Council's denial of the complaint.
In its admiration for the school officials and the
delicacy of their task, the Council majority appears to have lost
sight of an important principle - the right of the newspaper to exercise
its best judgment when that judgment does not impair fairness, accuracy
or balance, The Council has, several times in the past, upheld that
principle, even though members may have disagreed with the specifics
of a "judgment call" by a newspaper.
With this determination, has the Council opened the
door to other questions of newspaper style? Most newspapers have style
policies that individuals or organizations question. For example,
is a newspaper's style for courtesy titles discernible from its style
for capitalizing names? Both involve the manner in which a subject
prefers to be identified.
The News Council has risked the impression of trivializing
by straying from its primary concern for accuracy, fairness and balance.
February 2, 1990
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Determination 81
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