Revised June 20, 2006acronyms – Avoid them. If necessary, mention them in parenthesis at first appearance of company or entity name, but use full name on subsequent references. Up to five letters uppercase if each letter stands for a word (CVRD, ECLAC, PDVSA). If not every letter is a word or there are more than five letters, lowercase with first letter in uppercase (Pemex, Codelco).
Exceptions: DirecTV; HP should be spelled out Hewlett Packard or Hewlett--Packard Company on first reference, but no HP in parentheses is needed. Second reference is HP; Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company should be called 3M on first reference.
See: Nafta, DR-Cafta.al-Qaeda – This is the AP style. Also Osama bin Laden.
American – Ignore the AP stylebook on this one. A person from the United States is a U.S. citizen or U.S. resident. People from North America are North Americans, but only say this if you mean Canadians, Mexicans and Central Americans too.
Argentine, not Argentinian.
autoparts, autoworker, automaker – each one word.
-based – We’re using this as a crutch to avoid more direct adjectives. Better to explain the company and place it somewhere. Rather than “U.S.-based Texaco,” “U.S. petroleum company Texaco.” Rely on “-based” only if it makes the text clearer.
Bento Gonçalves– Contrary to the rule of “no diacritical marks” on geographical locations, this place does. Use the cedilla on the Brazilian city name and any other place name in Portuguese.
See São Paulo.
Big Business, Big Pharma, Big Tech – capitalize. But, small business do not.
billion – A thousand million. A number with nine zeros after it. 1,000,000,000. See trillion. Spanish, mil millones. See: milllion, trillion.
bio-prospecting – hyphenated, although biotech, biotechnology and biochemical are not.
book chapters – this is an exception to AP style. Italicize; do NOT put in quotations.
book titles – this is an exception to AP style. Italicize; do NOT put in quotations.
business-to-business – not B2B (except in opinion columns). Always hyphenate.
bylines – All caps bold the names, city in all caps no bold. List writers alpha by last name. Double bylines use no conjunction. No “by” in any language.
MARY A. DEMPSEY * MIAMI
GREG BROWN * MIAMI MARY A. DEMPSEY * MIAMI
In sections, no more than two writers can be credited for a story. In features, no more than five. After five, place all writers at the end in alpha order by last name. Example:
—reported by Liseth Camacaro (Caracas), Darcy Crowe (Bogota), Michael Kepp (Rio De Janeiro), Jen Ross (Santiago), Marisol Rueda (Mexico City), Juan Pedro Tomás (Buenos Aires), María Elena Verdezoto (Quito) and Lisa Wing (Peru)
Cafta – The clumsily named United States-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement in our pages goes by DR-Cafta on second references. On first, find a way to explain it textually, as in "the free trade agreement between the United States, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, known as DR-Cafta."
Central Bank – exception to the AP Stylebook. We capitalize this in reference to the Central Bank (Banco Central) of a Latin American country.
chat room – Two words.
colon – Join two closely related sentences or clauses with a colon. If second is a complete sentence, capitalize first letter of first word. If a clause, lowercase first word.
company names — See entry on Co. For unusual company name spellings, follow their spelling in most cases, for example, DaimlerChrysler, PricewaterhouseCoopers. For technology companies using odd punctuation, grammar or capitalization style, capitalize the first letter unless the second letter is up. Thus, iplan networks is Iplan Networks, while eHealth Latina is unchanged. Drop “.com” on second reference. iNNERHOST, whatever their arguments to the contrary, is Innerhost. Latin Trade is written in small caps, no apostrophe and no “s”. No other Latin Trade product, such as Bravo or a feature, uses small caps. If you are typing the name of the magazine in a technical medium that does not allow for font controls, simply type LATIN TRADE.
composition titles — this is an exception to the AP rules. All book titles, magazine and newspaper names, song titles, play titles, TV show titles, operas, etc. are italicized, NOT put in quotation marks.
co. – abbreviate for Company if part of the official name
corp. – abbreviate for Corporation if part of the official name
compania anonima/S.A. – Do NOT add these to the ends of Latin American business names. Use Co. and Corp. only if the company uses it officially. Otherwise, drop it. See Inc.
customs – lower case in all uses.
Cuzco not Cusco. (Officially, in Peru, the city’s name is Qosqo.)
cyber cafe – Two words. No hyphen, no accent. “Café” alone does have an accent.
datelines – For U.S. datelines, rely on AP Stylebook. The exception is Los Angeles, which should carry “California” so it is not confused with Latin American cities with the same name. In region, use country only if there could be confusion. Capitals never have country names.
de Lastname – For last names starting like this, capitalize the D at the beginning of a sentence. Otherwise, lower case as in Spanish. In Portuguese, drop “da” before last names on second reference unless it is part of the full, legal last name. Example: HP’s Rui da Costa….Costa says that…
de la Lastname – Same as above
directions and regions - Leave in lowercase for general directions. Example:
We headed north back to Caracas.
For specific regions and associations to specific regions, leave in uppercase. Example:
The hurricane is moving westward, straight for the U.S. East Coast. He is a Northern Democrat while she is a Southern Republican who moved to the Midwest. I have a Southern accent. I practice Western business values.
With names of nations, leave in lowercase. Example:
We bought a plant in southern Brazil. I am from the northern United States. He fought in southern Paraguay.
For states and cities, leave in lowercase. Example.
I moved to eastern Santiago. There is soy in southern Parana state. I grew up in southern Florida. EXCEPTION. Leave in uppercase for widely referred to states and cities as well as for proper names. Example:
South Dakota. The North Woods. The South Pole. The West Coast. Southeast Asia. The Middle East. South Florida. Southern California.
DirecTV – an exception to Latin Trade style, which normally calls for all acronymic names to go lowercase if five more letters (Fedex, Codelco, Anatel). The reasoning is that DirecTV is a combination of two common words, direct and TV, while most acronyms are letter--for--word or, in the case of Spanish, partial word for words, replacement. See: acronyms.
dot-com – hypenated
e-business – not upper case. If it’s the first word in a sentence, E-business
e-commerce – not upper case. If it’s the first word in a sentence, E-commerce
e-mail – lowercase e, hyphenated. E-mails should be written all in lowercase. See Web addresses.
Ecuadoran – not Ecuadorean or Ecuadorian
Editor’s note – on letters page, lowercase “note,” print all in italics and bold. Ex:
Editor’s note: Our Consensus Forecast focuses on the eight largest economies in Latin America...
European Union — EU on second reference, no periods after letters.
fiber optic – hyphenate when an adjective, as in fiber-optic cable.
flier, flyer – frequent flier, frequent-flier program. Not flyer.
foreign words – italicize first reference only. Do not italicize words commonly used in that language, e.g. rendezvous, burrito, etc. If in a non-English language and the word you are using is only used in English, no italics, e.g. fondos hedge, site (for Web site), and so on.
Free Trade Area of the Americas – NOT Free Trade Agreement of the Americas
government – when referring to the government of a country, it is preferable—if clear—to simply say the country’s name, as in “Mexico today sued General Motors” rather than “the government of Mexico today…”
government offices, titles – lower case unless before the officeholder, like normal titles. Capitalize the office if linked by context to a specific country. Examples: Foreign Minister Joabim Falano today said…; Joabim Falan, the foreign minister, said…; French Foreign Ministry…; in France, the Foreign Ministry reported…; in Europe, the foreign ministry is an obscure office…
GPS – Global Positioning System, spelled out on first reference. GPS alone suitable for second reference or in quotes on first reference if adequately explained in the text before or soon after. A system of U.S. government satellites, 24 in all, stationed 11,000 nautical miles above the Earth. As they orbit, at least six at any given moment can be detected from any point on the planet. Each contains clocks accurate to three nanoseconds, allowing the receiver to use signal time traveled to each satellite to determine their position to within 300 feet. Using additional calculations, the error rate can be reduced to three feet.
grapes, grape vines – uppercase wines named after a grape (Sauvignon Blanc) and lowercase the actual grape name (merlot, cabernet sauvignon). See: wine.
hard-line, hard-linerhealthcare – always one word no matter if it’s used as a noun or adjective. This is an exception to the AP stylebook.
hyphens – use them between adjectives before the noun they modify, but not after. Exception on combinations of numbers and words. So, light-yellow jacket, but the jacket was light yellow; a US$37 billion agreement, not a US$37-billion agreement.
Exceptions: free trade, credit card. Never use hyphens.
identification card — can be “ID” if an adjective, as in ID card. No periods after letters
Internet service provider — Not Internet Service Provider
Inter-American Development Bank – second reference IDB, not IADB.
IPO – initial public offering (lower case) on first reference, IPO thereafter.
immigrant, emigrant—Use migrant in both cases if the phrases is repeated so often in a story as to be confusing.
Internet – short form: Net.
kilometers vs. miles — always go with the metric measurement
Latin Trade -- Latin Trade is written in small caps, no apostrophe and no “s”. No other Latin Trade product, such as Bravo or a feature, uses small caps. If you are typing the name of the magazine in a technical medium that does not allow for font controls, simply type Latin Trade.
like – put a hypen before it when used as a suffix: Zen-like, child-like, etc.
Los Angeles – exception to AP style. Carries “California” after the city.
magazine names—this is an exception to AP style. Italicize; do NOT put in quotations.
market maker — as a noun. Hyphenate if used as an adjective.
megawatts — always spell out and in lower case.
Miami – stands alone, without Florida.
miles vs. kilometers – always go with the metric measurement
million – One thousand thousands. A number with six zeros after it. 1,000,000. See trillion. See: billlion, trillion.
money – convert to U.S. dollars at rates at time of editing. Use US$ on first reference and $ thereafter, except when first reference is in a quote. In that case, use US$ on second reference and $ thereafter. In Q&As, if US$ appears in the introduction, follow the rule: Any second reference in the body of the interview goes without US. For end of reporting period, use relevant exchange rate. For rates, see
www.oanda.com.
movie titles – this is an exception to AP style. Italicize; do NOT put in quotations.
North American Free Trade Agreement – Nafta (NOT North America Free Trade Agreement). Spell out on first reference.
natural gas — despite the rule that two adjectives must by hyphened, never hyphen in this case. Example, Ica Fluor, a Mexican construction company, said it would build a natural gas pipeline.
Net – short form of Internet
New World — refers to wines from nontraditional wine countries in the Southern Hemisphere, although not necessarily from the Americas. Typically used to mean wines from Chile, Argentina, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. Sometimes used to refer to cuisine from these and other countries as served in trendy U.S. restaurants, often mixing styles (think black beans and sushi on the same plate). Capitalize both words.
New Economy — Uppercase, as you would Industrial Revolution; however, old economy is lowercase (see old economy). Describes the surge of productivity related to the Internet and technology and its impact on business, which many believe has lead to an otherwise hard--to--explain combination of strong, continuous growth and low inflation in the U.S. over much of the 1990s.
old economy — lower case. Applies to any traditional and, by definition, older company with no significant and purely technological investments. Manufacturers and retailers, for instance, are old economy companies.
online – one word, no hyphen
percent – Use % instead of percent, flush to figure, ex. 20%, not 20 %. Round after two digits unless it’s Panorama and you are explaining a merger (company A bought 54.67% of company B, etc).
Examples:
2.37% is 2.4%
9.23% is 9.2%
10.14% is 10%
97.56% is 98%.
If the percents are very close to large fractions, simply: 34% is one-third; 74.3% is nearly three-quarters.
Petrobras – Brazilian petroleum company’s name does not take an accent.
PDA – Personal digital assistant, spelled out on first reference. Syn. Handheld computer. “Handheld” is spelled without a hyphen. Handheld is an adjective, never a noun.
poem title – this is an exception to AP style. Italicize; do not put in quotations.
port names – Capitalize port when a formal name. Example: Port of New York, Port of Long Beach. Lowercase if informal, as in "the port management at Long Beach said..."
post-panamax – do not uppercase the P in panamax. Also, aframax, suezmax, etc.
rainforest – one word
rivers — Capitalize as proper name. The Mississippi River. Do not capitalize if it follows two rivers. The Mississippi and the Missouri rivers.
road show — a tour financiers and companies make to pitch buy-side bankers of the bonds they are issuing. It is always two words.
Rio Bravo/Rio Grande — go with the dateline. If a Mexico story, use Rio Bravo. If a U.S. dateline, use Rio Grande, unless in quotes or confusing.
rounding – Millions round to one place. Billions round to two places. Example: $1.3 million, $3.67 billion.
São Paulo – Contrary to the rule of “no diacritical marks” on geographical locations, this place does.
No accents on Sao Bernardo, Sao Francisco, etc.
See Bento Gonçalves.small business — not capitalized.
small caps, use of — Latin Trade is written in small caps, no apostrophe and no “s”. No other Latin Trade product, such as Bravo or a feature, uses small caps. If you are typing the name of the magazine in a technical medium that does not allow for font controls, simply type LATIN TRADE.
song title — this is an exception to AP style. Italicize; do NOT put in quotations.
Southern Cone — capitalize
Southern Cone Common Market — preferable as Mercosur if referring to Spanish-langauge country, Mercosul if writing about Brazil.
states – contrary to AP Stylebook, write out full names of U.S. states. Do not abbreviate.
spinoff – not two words
start-up – hyphenated
takeover, take over – one word, no hyphen as noun, adjective. As a verb, it’s two words, “take over.”
telephone numbers – Reporters should call any phone number in a story or listing to verify its accuracy. Editors should also call before the story is in production. Many foreign telephones do not have alphanumeric keypads, so convert alpha to numbers and use international conventions, so 800-2FLY-AWA becomes [1] (800) 235-9292. Use the same country, city code convention in all Latin Trade products, which is [country code] (city code) number-number.
trillion – A million million. A number with 12 zeros after it. 1,000,000,000,000. See billion, million.
U.K. — not UK, for the United Kingdom. If a country in the U.K., name the country. The U.K. is Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain, in turn, is England, Scotland and Wales. Ireland is the acceptable name for the Irish Republic. Except for Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic is not part of the U.K.
Web — upper case in reference to World Wide Web and it always stands alone as its own word. (i.e. Web site, Web page, Web surfers…). Webmaster is lowercase and one word, so John is a webmaster, Mary is a webmaster (not webmistress).
Web addresses – always lowercase, as in www.worldbank.org, not www.WorldBank.org. On first reference to companies which use their address as the legal company name, the www. prefix can be dropped unless confusing. On second reference, use only relevant portion of the address, so Bazuca.com becomes Bazuca. Always stop addresses after the suffix unless the next term is a single word relevant to the topic. Example, a review of a handheld computer called a T2 could be listed at palm.com/t2 but not palm.com/products/pdas/usa/t2 and so forth. Mentioning a Web site should have direct relevance to the story. If section style or space permits, large numbers of Web address should be broken out of a story into boxes. While editing, always test Web addresses for accuracy and to check that sites have not closed or moved. See e--mail.
-wide – Hyphenate when a compound modifier. Example: A region-wide showdown has begun.
wine – uppercase wines name after a grape (Sauvignon Blanc) and lowercase the actual grape name (merlot, cabernet sauvignon). See: grapes.
Wimax -- Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. Written by the industry as WiMAX. Follows Latin Trade style as Wimax. It's a long-range wireless Internet standard.
NUTS & BOLTSbrackets and parentheses. If editorial voice, use square brackets. If parenthetical information, use parentheses.
bylines. Generally required, with editorial discretion. Don’t put the word “by”
(Full story)
CASEY WOODS
(Short item)
—Casey Woods
chatline quotes. Put punctuation after the quotation but no punctuation after the source and citation. Example: “He tends to go in when the stock's been beaten up.”— analyst Jorge M. Beristain, on Carlos Slim Helú’s 5.9% stake in U.S. electronics retailer Circuit City Stores (Washington Post) Note that “Washington Post” remains in italics like the rest of the citation. This is an EXCEPTION to our regular rules.
datelines. Required for full stories. The largest domestic city in any country does not need a country in the dateline, just the city. In Ecuador, Quito and Guayaquil stand alone and in Brazil São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro stand alone. Miami stands alone. Consult AP stylebook for other U.S. cities. Cities whose names could be confused between countries (Los Angeles, Santiago, etc.) need country designations.
photo credit lines. PHOTOGNAME/LATIN TRADE (no punctuation at end and do NOT put “PHOTO:” before the credit line anymore).
If a company-provided photo, use
COMPANYNAME
not PHOTO: COURTESY OF COMPANYNAME
For the back page POV, credit line is PHOTO BY PHOTOGNAME/SOURCE
picture cutlines. Generally, the editor has discretion on whether to publish a cutline or not. Photos of individuals usually run with last name only. Also applies to lists and other short text items: Sentences always get punction. Fragments do not
pull quotes. Can be paraphrased lightly. Credit line should be name, title, company although editor has some discretion for clarity. Example: Juan Alvarez, president, Alvarez Flight Safety
quotewrap quotes: Put punctuation after the quotation but no punctuation after the source and citation. Example: “He tends to go in when the stock's been beaten up.”— analyst Jorge M. Beristain, on Carlos Slim Helú’s 5.9% stake in U.S.--based Circuit City Stores (Washington Post) Note that “Washington Post” remains in italics like the rest of the citation. This is an EXCEPTION to our regular rules.
source lines at end of charts/graphs. SOURCE: XXXXXXXXXXXX (no punctuation at end) Always use SOURCE as singular, never SOURCES.
unusual word quotes. Introduce unusual words or phrases with quotes, but only on first reference. Thereafer, lose the quotes. Example: During the 1970s military boom era, known as “Great Brasil,” the government was… In the late ’90s, hoping to revive the Great Brazil era, the government…
chart styles:
Legends go lowercase except for words required to be uppercase by style (GDP, for example). In keys, words are uppercase first word, lowercase thereafter except for words required to be uppercase by other style (U.S., Brazil, etc.)
-- legend: millions of units, % change
-- key: PC shipments, Growth, Consumers who prefer rusty nails over eclairs
US$ billion
US$ million
US$
Alphabetize countries unless information or trend is clearer in another order.
Chart text for beneath titles:
Upper and lower case; if a sentence, puncuate
Example: Brazilian callers drive down prices.
