Allan M. Siegal

Allan M. Siegal shaped newsroom standards during more than forty-five years at The New York Times, finishing his career as assistant managing editor and the paper's first standards editor. The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage codifies decisions about spelling, grammar, titles, attribution, ethics, and the practical consistency of daily journalism. Siegal prepared major editions with fellow Times editor William G. Connolly, while later editors continued revising the guide. The Shorenstein Center also records Siegal's work on the team that edited the paper's Pulitzer Prize-winning Pentagon Papers coverage and his leadership of internal reviews concerning accuracy and credibility. His book therefore reflects a working editor's approach: language choices are treated not as ornament but as part of a newspaper's responsibility to readers.