Even editors who confess to being ‘visually illiterate’ (which is rarely the case!) have at least five minutes of conversation and opinion on the subject of italics. That suggests that a bit of slant to the right is more controversial than any other weight or style for a typeface.
At one point, perhaps in the 1950s, italics were mostly found in the women’s section of the newspaper. Fifty years later, thanks to the newsroom legacy syndrome, the rumor persists: italics are not macho enough — never use them for sports stories, never on hard news stories. And so, one still sees beautiful italics as decoration for articles about flower arrangement, new recipes for quiche, and the latest fashions from Paris.
It is time to give italics a bit of credit. Readers do not associate italics with a specific gender. They do not perceive italics as being less forceful — it is the words that make a headline strong or weak! Readers do not slow down when the headline is in italics, either.
Having said that, I would like to express some personal thoughts on italics:
- Do not use them for every headline in the newspaper. This is a matter of avoiding monotony more than anything that has to do with perception.
- Give italics a job to do through your creation of story structures. In other words, do not use italics for a feature today and for an opinion piece tomorrow, and then for a lead international story the next. Whatever its particular use happens to be, italics must be used consistently and continuously in that role.
- Avoid excessive use of italics for text. Italics are suitable for headlines, quotes and highlights, but are not as attractive in text size.
And if anyone wants to run a sports column in italics, even one written by a male reporter, go for it. But, it’s true — italics can also make that new recipe for caviar quiche very appetizing!
All or a portion of this column was originally published in the IFRA newsletter.
