4 ms·

This is mostly unrelated to the point of the article, but I noticed that Trump in this article is repeatedly referred to as "Mr. Trump". Only once as "President

This is mostly unrelated to the point of the article, but I noticed that Trump in this article is repeatedly referred to as "Mr. Trump". Only once as "President Trump." This seems a little bit out of the ordinary to me. I can't recall Obama ever being called "Mr. Obama". This isn't a criticism at all - but simply piqued my curiosity. Is there a reason for this? My only assumption is it's meant to be a minor indicator of the author's sentiment regarding Trump. Or is it just common NY Times style? EDIT: It appears it's simply a well document common style decision. I should have looked it up before posting!

kej 7y ago
Searches for "Mr. Obama" bring up plenty of results, but more to the point it's a fairly common journalistic practice to use President Foo for the first mention and Mr. Foo for subsequent mentions. (Non-presidents usually get Mr. Foo and then just Foo.) Here's an NPR story from the Obama administration about it: https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2011/10/12/141293477/why-do-you-call-him-mr-obama https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2011/10/12/1412934...
foldr 7y ago
>Or is it just common NY Times style Yes. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/reader-center/why-does-nyt-call-president-mr-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/reader-center/why-does-ny...
fouc 7y ago
I did a quick google search and came across: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/no-disrespect-in-calling-the-president-mister/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/no-disrespect-in-calling-the-pr... Which uses the example of Mr. Obama interestingly
msoad 7y ago
It's your assumption which I find out to be wrong. Use Google to search your hypothesis before making a statement: https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&ei=t73uXOCZD5fN-gSPg6z4DQ&q=site%3Anytimes.com+%22Mr.+Obama%22+date%3A2015&oq=site%3Anytimes.com+%22Mr.+Obama%22+date%3A2015 https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&ei=t73uXOCZD5fN-...
kryptn 7y ago
I believe this is just common NYTimes style. [1] > I’m not sure whether one of my long-ago predecessors got similar complaints about The Times’s references to “Mr. Lincoln.” But I can assure readers that we have been consistent for many years in how we refer to an incumbent president: It’s “President Trump” (or President Obama, or President Bush) on first reference, and “Mr. Trump” or “the president” (lowercase) thereafter. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/reader-center/why-does-nyt-call-president-mr-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/reader-center/why-does-ny...
likpok 7y ago
It seems to be a stylistic choice amongst some major publications. The first time they say "President Foo", the second time Mr. Foo. From the Times directly: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/reader-center/why-does-nyt-call-president-mr-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/reader-center/why-does-ny... And NPR discussing the same style for Obama https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2011/10/12/141293477/why-do-you-call-him-mr-obama https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2011/10/12/1412934...

kej 7y ago

Searches for "Mr. Obama" bring up plenty of results, but more to the point it's a fairly common journalistic practice to use President Foo for the first mention and Mr. Foo for subsequent mentions. (Non-presidents usually get Mr. Foo and then just Foo.) Here's an NPR story from the Obama administration about it: https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2011/10/12/141293477/why-do-you-call-him-mr-obama https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2011/10/12/1412934...

foldr 7y ago

>Or is it just common NY Times style Yes. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/reader-center/why-does-nyt-call-president-mr-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/reader-center/why-does-ny...

fouc 7y ago

I did a quick google search and came across: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/no-disrespect-in-calling-the-president-mister/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/no-disrespect-in-calling-the-pr... Which uses the example of Mr. Obama interestingly

msoad 7y ago

It's your assumption which I find out to be wrong. Use Google to search your hypothesis before making a statement: https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&ei=t73uXOCZD5fN-gSPg6z4DQ&q=site%3Anytimes.com+%22Mr.+Obama%22+date%3A2015&oq=site%3Anytimes.com+%22Mr.+Obama%22+date%3A2015 https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&ei=t73uXOCZD5fN-...

kryptn 7y ago

I believe this is just common NYTimes style. [1] > I’m not sure whether one of my long-ago predecessors got similar complaints about The Times’s references to “Mr. Lincoln.” But I can assure readers that we have been consistent for many years in how we refer to an incumbent president: It’s “President Trump” (or President Obama, or President Bush) on first reference, and “Mr. Trump” or “the president” (lowercase) thereafter. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/reader-center/why-does-nyt-call-president-mr-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/reader-center/why-does-ny...

likpok 7y ago

It seems to be a stylistic choice amongst some major publications. The first time they say "President Foo", the second time Mr. Foo. From the Times directly: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/reader-center/why-does-nyt-call-president-mr-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/reader-center/why-does-ny... And NPR discussing the same style for Obama https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2011/10/12/141293477/why-do-you-call-him-mr-obama https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2011/10/12/1412934...