Borked Unicode: Tips for journalists on writing clean copy

Good journalists file clean copy. But what does that mean? This article gives journalists the basics they need to know to ensure that every character, word, sentence, and paragraph they intended to write gets correctly saved and reproduced on computer systems, and ultimately online and in print. You’ll learn enough to avoid the dreaded borked Unicode.

Writing clean copy

Clean copy is an established concept in print journalism. Conservatively, the term refers to text that is spelled and punctuated correctly and makes sense. As an editor who was formative in my development, the late Sid Adilman of the Toronto Star, put it, the goal is to write an article that “reads well.” Clean copy is a prerequisite for that.

But I want to expand the definition to encompass character encoding. Your copy can’t be considered “clean” unless and until it is stored and reproduced correctly. Getting character encoding right is an absolute necessity for working print journalists, which is all well and good except for the fact that nobody has ever bothered to teach journalists what character encoding is.

What you’re going to learn

By the time you’re done reading this article, you’ll gain knowledge