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See above the Times' memo on the style entry for bin Laden's name. (Credit: Poynter, screenshot)
The New York Times made “two style decisions” for reporting on Osama bin Laden following his death, Poynter’s Jim Romenesko reported.
The Times has “dropped the honorific” Mr. and started capitalizing the “b” in Bin Laden.
Associate managing editor Tom Jolly, who sent the e-mail news out, tweeted that “Honorifics not used for people of renown like Hitler, Stalin but also Einstein.”
Slate noted that the Times referred to Saddam Hussein as Mr. Hussein as recently as last month and the Times’ adherence the policy was “inconsistent” as bin Laden’s obituary had no honorific, but some news stories did.