Time references: Maybe 'today' should be history

[kmayer]

Has any desk out there recently abandoned "yesterday," "today" and "tomorrow" in favor of naming the day of the week? Does any desk still use "yesterday," "today" and "tomorrow?"

For decades, we've used the former style, believing it to be a reader service. But now, as Web publishing pushes the traditional news cycle into a 24-hour blur, it doesn't make sense: Reporters file early versions for the Web and write-thrus for print, and the time references are a tangle.

We're not exactly despondent over the idea that we would no longer have to change most of the time references in wire copy. But we do expect the laws of unintended consequences to be in full effect if we make this change. Any thoughts?

[Gerri Berendzen]

In print, we use "today" (we're a PM paper, so today usually works). We follow AP style on "yesterday" and "tomorrow," which is to use them only in direct quotations.

About a year ago, we refined that rule a little more ... "today" in print only; always use the day of the week on the Web. (I suspect we sometimes forget to go back and change that, but we try.)

[Cosmo Fishhawk]

We did this. Reporters still use yesterday and today. Just another thing we now have to fix.

[MFranco]

Denver Post still uses "Today", which gets confusing when copy comes over straight from having been used earlier on the website, which uses a different "today". (On website, "today" is today; in paper, "today" is tomorrow, ya see) .... Haven't messed it up yet as far as I know, probably because web copy reads differently, so we just know when to check on "today." (Is there a seminar on how web copy reads differently from paper copy??)

[Paul Soucy]

I'd go one further and suggest that all time references in Web stories be supplemented with calendar dates. Too many times I've tried to track down the date of an event, only to find a story that said it happened "Wednesday," and the post date was simply "07/05/2006." Not having a perpetual calendar at hand, that's not much help. Or when a story says so-and-so event will happen Thursday at 10, but it's not clear when the story was posted -- this week or last.

[JerseyJoe]

In print (and when those print stories are posted to the web) we use yesterday/today/tomorrow.
When posting break news items to the web we use the day of the week.