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The Journalists Formerly Known As…

April 6, 2009

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What’s in a name? Well, if you’re ASNE, not the word “newspaper.” The professional organization–née, eighty-seven years ago, the American Society of Newspaper Editors–today officially changed its title. To the American Society of News Editors.

To bolster the nominal transformation, ASNE also changed its bylaws to allow editors and other leaders at both online-only news outlets and journalism schools to join the association.

Eventually, one presumes, ASNE will include all sentient beings and be known only by a stylized symbol that cleverly combines a printing press and a fail whale; in the meantime, here’s more on the changes afoot among the newspap–er, news–editors.

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Megan Garber is an assistant editor at the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University. She was formerly a CJR staff writer.