Updating AP style on Hillary Clinton

Effective immediately, the AP is changing its style from Hillary Rodham Clinton to Hillary Clinton. The AP generally refers to people by the name they prefer. Until recently, the presidential candidate, former senator and secretary of state used all three names. It was how she had been known for many years. It was the name she used as an author and how she signed legal documents (“H R Clinton”) as late as this summer. However, the campaign has branded itself from the start as Hillary Clinton. When asked, the campaign says to go with Hillary Clinton. She is filing for ballots as Hillary Clinton and signing her name that way. Therefore, AP will use simply Hillary Clinton. On second reference, she is Clinton. If a story includes her husband, the former president, we will say Hillary and Bill Clinton, or Bill and Hillary Clinton, on first reference. When it is necessary within a story to distinguish between the two people, AP will use Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton. We will not use courtesy titles, such as Mrs. Clinton, to distinguish between the two. AP stopped using “Mrs.” long ago.