Young & Old

How old is "old"? Last week in his Weekly Log, Associated Press Executive Editor Alan J. Gould, 54, answered this question for A.P. men. "To a young reporter in his 20s," says the Log, "a man of 55 is probably old, but to a veteran on the desk ... it is just the prime of life." To keep reports more uniform in the future, Gould proposes that A.P. men "consider a man youthful until he's 35, in middle age from 35 to 65, and thereafter eligible for an old-age pension." Added Gould "'Nearing our own 55th milestone makes us no less sensitive to the importance of discriminating use of the adjective 'old' in or out of the news report."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.