Passive Voice: Avoid the use of passive voice (e.g. The policy
was approved.) and use active voice instead (e.g. The committee approved the
policy.)
Direct Address: Only address your audience
directly in commentary and editorial articles. (e.g. You should do
...)
First Person: Only use first person in commentary
and editorial articles. (e.g. I, we, me, my, etc.)
Full
Identification: Full ID includes a person's rank, first name, last
name, unit of assignment and duty title.
Abbreviations and
Acronyms: Do not use abbreviations. Acronyms are only used on second
reference when the meaning is clearly understood.
Jargon: Avoid the use of jargon and technical language.
Have experts explain technical in common terms.
Attribution: All news articles should include direct or
indirect attribution from two or more sources.
Military
Ranks: Associated Press style is used for military ranks on first
reference. For a list of appropriate Air Force abbreviations
click
here.
Courtesy Titles: Courtesy titles or
conversational ranks, as appropriate, will be used in second and later
references to people in all internal information products. For example, Lt. Gen.
William J. Johnson on first reference would be referred to as General Johnson
throughout the remainder of the product or, in subsequent references;
individuals can be referred to by their job title (e.g. the maintainer) or by
generic rank alone: the general, the sergeant, the senior airman, the colonel,
etc. For Airmen with specialized titles, the specialized titles will be used in
subsequent references. For civilian men, use Mr. with their last name in second
and subsequent references. For civilian women, later references are to Ms.
Jones, unless the woman asks to be known as Miss or Mrs.
Capitalization of Airman: Capitalize Airman and Airmen
when referring to individuals in the U.S. Air Force: He is an Airman. If a
generic term is needed, use the term Airmen: The Airmen returned to their base.
An exception is when "airman" is part of a compound lower-case noun: A staff
sergeant and a senior airman received awards.