A style guide is one of the most basic pillars of newspaper journalism. It offers writers a chance to present a consistent style to the readers. It helps avoid confusion and gives the reporter a bare-bones view on how they should be putting their stories together.


So, why didn't the Globe have one? That's a question that I asked myself the day I started here. Of course, we used the Associated Press Style Guide. All newspapers do. But, what happens when our reporter needs to write about the Dodge City Commission?


Obviously, the AP isn't going to offer up any words of wisdom on local problems such as that. That's why most newspapers have their own style guide, produced in-house by the reporters and copy editors.


Yet, the Globe conspicuously lacked one. Part of the problem, so I was told, was that there was no real set way. Because we don't have a full-time copy editor (welcome to small-town newspapers), we were just picking up stories as they came to us.


Naturally, this led to problems. Misspelled company names, different ways of capitalizing the exact same thing, etc. So, to help combat these issues, and in an effort to make the Globe a more attractive paper, we're working on one.


For the past six months that I've been here, I've been working closely with the other reporters and photographers to get an idea of how they feel their respective beats should be covered. It's already gone through at least five re-writes, filling in missing information, correction mistakes, etc.


So, keep an eye for that. It should be in place by Jan. 1. I was once told by a reader that the Globe has been improving, but there's a long way to go.


Hopefully, this will put us one step closer to being the paper this community deserves.


- Mark V.